I Tried 7 Side Dishes from Long John Silver's. These Were the Worst
Gold at Silver's
Is fast-food seafood your thing? Long John Silver's is frying up shrimp, chicken, and fish on the daily, and in several of its combo meals, you're given the option for two sides.
Which ones do you pick? Having never been to a Long John Silver's before in my life, I decided to head over and taste all seven side dishes and see which ones reigned supreme. Here's how it went down.
Prices and availability are subject to change.
Methodology
For this test, I went to a Long John Silver's restaurant in Asheville, North Carolina. This is a short drive, and the food was still hot by the time I got home. And, credit where credit is due, the food was actually ready at its estimated pickup time.
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Best: Corn
$2.99
Texturally, this is pretty far away from what you want from real corn. I'll just say that right now. It's chewy and a little bit tenuous; nothing like fresh corn.
The flavor profile, however, is bang-on. We've got butter and pepper duking it out all over every single piece, and that's never something I'm upset about. If I ever find myself returning to a Long John Silver's, perhaps in some sort of fast-food writer "Saw" trap, I'd get corn again.
2. Fries
$2.99
You really have to be an exceptional bonehead to screw up french fries. Long John Silver's can take any credit for this one, because when you fry a bunch of potato sticks and cover them in salt, they're going to taste good. That's just how it works.
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3. Coleslaw
$2.99
I'm the guy who gets coleslaw. In just about every scenario where I get fried food side dish, I'm choosing coleslaw if the option is there.
Long John's hits all the right notes for me; creamy, crunchy, not too sweet, and resting in a controlled amount of mayo. Don't bathe me in too much mayo. Can't have that.
Related: The 8 Best Fast-Food Sides Under $5 You Should Be Ordering
4. Rice
$2.99
I feel like an absolute fool putting a plain cup of rice lower than this. It's rice, ya know? Silver's rice is soft and well-cooked enough that there should be no issue for any person on the planet.
There's some mild flavor here, like it got off Dirty Rice Express at the first or second stop. I appreciate the value of rice more than anything else, and I respect that Long John Silver's is giving you the option to guarantee that you get full from your meal.
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5. Hushpuppies
$1.49
I can't help but shake the feeling that these should be incredible. This should be one of those things that Long John Silver's does really well, especially considering it's in a league of its own as a fast-food side dish. Truly, hushpuppies should be the flagship side.
I'm not expecting the single greatest hushpuppies I've ever had or anything (those would be the puppies Ashleigh Shanti is frying at Good Hot Fish), but I expected more than just plain cornmeal with a little bit of pepper.
6. Green Beans
$2.99
There are some smoky, deep flavors here, but they're not too bold. The beans themselves are cooked to death, falling apart in a soft mess. "Just came out of a can" is written all over these greenies, and even with a solid flavor profile, you won't catch me eating these again.
7. Cheese Bites
$4.99
Fried cheese is an incredibly beautiful thing, for a certain window of time. The minute it starts to lose its ooey-gooey-ness, I'm uninterested. I'm also a white-cheese-over-yellow-cheese guy in a lot of situations, so I'll generally lean towards a mozzarella stick over a cheddar curd.
No exception here. These ain't for me. Doubly so when they've hardened and become one with the flavorless batter.
This article was originally published on Cheapism
