The first time I heard that Long John Silver's even existed, I thought it was a brilliant idea…read more There are, after all, lots of fast food places, but the range of dishes you can get is surprisingly limited: burgers, sandwiches, fried chicken, and pizza... after that, the pickings get pretty slim. So pretty much any place that offers a different option is going to interest me. Add to that the fact that my sweetie loves fish with a passion that knows no bounds (and that very few fast food places even offer fish burgers, let alone actual fish and chips), and the concept sounds like a winner coming out of the gate.
Unfortunately, Long John Silver's doesn't seem to be very successful. I would expect locations to be popping up everywhere, but even the ones we manage to find keep on disappearing.
But this location in Erie has survived (so far, anyway). So when we were in Erie, I made sure to check it out. This review is based on that single visit, so what went right that one time may not necessarily go right every time. (Deep frying anything is hard to get right. I've been to any number of places where the fries are over- [or under-]cooked, and with the number of different sizes of items that Long John Silver's offers [not just fish, chicken, and shrimp, but hush puppies, popcorn shrimp, clam strips, crab cakes, waffle fries, etc.], the chances to over- or under-cook something must abound. I wouldn't want to have to train the kitchen staff.)
On that day, what I ordered (fish, shrimp, and waffle fries) was all cooked properly. The cocktail sauce that came with the shrimp wasn't the best I've ever had, but it was far from the worst. My sweetie and the offspring enjoyed theirs, too.
Getting mushy peas as a side was too much to hope for, because Long John Silver's shows no sign of taking any inspiration from the "chippies" that used to be the standard places to get takeout in the UK. (They do at least offer malt vinegar on demand, but like most fast food places that offer fish at all, they also offer tartar sauce, which is an abomination, kind of by default. Me, I tend to put ketchup or chili sauce on my fish, and vinegar, salt, and pepper on my chips.)
Sadly, Erie is far enough outside our normal stomping grounds that Long John Silver's is probably going to remain a very occasional treat.
