13 Things You Should Never Order From A Seafood Restaurant

Whether it's Red Lobster or your favorite local seafood shack, or even a high-end, fine-dining restaurant, when it comes to ordering seafood out, there's a little bit of risk involved. Sure, you could order seafood out for years and never have an issue, but talk to most seafood connoisseurs and you'll soon realize that many have at least one horror story under their belt — the far-from-fresh scallops that ruined their weekend, the sushi that was most definitely not the type of fish it was advertised as.

Additionally, many diners assume seafood is healthy across the board. After all, we're constantly told how healthy fish is — low-fat, filled with Omega-3 fatty acids, part of a heart-healthy diet, better than red meat. But that doesn't mean that unhealthy items aren't lurking on your favorite seafood restaurant's menu. And on top of all this, consuming seafood is tied to many negative environmental factors. For instance, overfishing endangers important fish populations, while poor fishing practices result in pollution and waste in our oceans. So, with all this said, how are you supposed to even enjoy eating seafood? Well, it all comes down to what you order. 

Being careful with what you order at a seafood restaurant can go a long way in ensuring you're only eating healthful, relatively risk-free options, as well as seafood options that aren't potentially endangering the planet. That being said, here are the 13 things you should never order from a seafood restaurant.

If you have a particular love for sushi, you may enjoy the occasional tuna roll, but you'll want to watch out for bluefin tuna, which sometimes goes by other names, including maguro, akami, toro, otoro, and chutoro. Bluefin tuna, according to the World Wildlife Fund, is one of the largest types of tuna, and there are three different species of bluefin tuna, the most endangered species being Atlantic bluefin tuna. Despite the name, Atlantic bluefin tuna aren't actually sourced from the Atlantic Ocean; instead, most of them come from the Mediterranean. 

Both in the United States and abroad, Atlantic bluefin tuna is a top choice for sushi and sashimi and, as a result, bluefin tuna is overfished. Why exactly is this a big deal? Well, bluefin tuna rank pretty high up on the marine food chain, so when they're gone, it impacts a huge swathe of other marine life below them. 

And why can't the bluefin tuna fishing just be managed properly to prevent overfishing? As the World Wildlife Fund points out, a lot of the bluefin tuna fishing is done illegally, allowing fishers to get around regulations. You can do your part to help address this issue by asking your restaurant what type of tuna they're using. Yellowfin tuna and bigeye tuna are more sustainable options.

Eel, sometimes referred to as unagi when served grilled, basted, and in sushi, is a popular treat both in Japan and in certain U.S. restaurants. Unfortunately, eels are endangered across the world and overfishing puts them at great risk, but despite the concerns, there's still that huge unagi demand. 

According to The Houston Press, in Japan, freshwater eel populations declined 90% over the last three generations. In Maine, where a lot of eel fishing takes place, baby eel theft is on the rise, with baby eels going for as much as $1,500 apiece; this is partially because eels can't feasibly be bred in captivity, so they're all wild-caught. This is no new problem, though. It was nearly 10 years ago when the Japanese government first added the freshwater eel to its endangered species list, calling the multi-layered issue, "an environmental crisis for the endangered species and its habitat, a financial crisis for the centuries-old unagi industry, and a cultural crisis for the Japanese public."

For now, American restaurant-goers are urged to stop ordering endangered eels, if only to help alleviate the growing issue. And if the declining eel populations isn't enough to convince you, maybe consider that eel is extremely toxic if not properly cooked, even in minuscule amounts.

Fish and shellfish come with some risk of high mercury, but for the most part, it's not necessarily a worry. According to Harvard Health Publishing, most men don't need to worry about mercury exposure from seafood. Unfortunately, that's not the case for pregnant women, breastfeeding women, or children. That's because, as the FDA says, while mercury occurs naturally in the environment, it's also released into the air via industrial pollution and that mercury can accumulate, fall to the ground, and then infiltrate local water sources, the ocean, and rivers.

The mercury is then absorbed by the fish, which you then absorb when you eat the fish, and this pollution-caused mercury is the type that can harm women and children. However, mercury becomes more concentrated in certain types of fish, and king mackerel is right at the top of the list, alongside shark, swordfish, and tilefish, the FDA reports.

Looking for fish low in mercury? Go for shrimp, salmon, pollock, or canned light tuna.

Tilefish has become a relatively popular seafood option, but it's one to steer clear of, for more reasons than its high mercury content. Tilefish, which are caught along the Atlantic Coast of North America, all the way from Nova Scotia and down to the Gulf of Mexico, are usually caught via longlines, and they are, according to the Environmental Defense Fund, "highly susceptible to overfishing" and management plans have been put in place to help tilefish populations rebound. 

Even with these management plans, though, there's still an issue with the way tilefish are caught. The longlines, the National Audubon Society explains, cause a multitude of problems for other species. Longline fishing kills what's known as "bycatch," or marine animals unintentionally killed by a fishing operation; longline bycatch includes blue marlin, turtles, bluefin tuna, and sharks. Unfortunately, fixing this issue isn't an easy one, and one of the simplest ways to cut down on longline fishing damage is to simply reduce demand; in other words, don't order the tilefish.

Most tilapia is farm-raised, which comes with a few downsides. Depending on the fish farm, the tilapia will be fed grain-rich diets filled with GMO foods, including corn and soybeans. Additionally, there's a chance that farmed tilapia could contain toxins, depending on where it's raised. 

If the tilapia is raised overseas and imported, things get worse: As the Washington Post reports, Chinese-imported tilapia are sometimes fed diets of poultry and livestock waste (still, the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch only cautions diners to avoid tilapia imported from one specific country, and that's Colombia).

Beyond all this, though, tilapia is a tough, hardy fish, which makes them dangerous to their ecosystems. Farmed tilapia are known to escape (yes, really) and, once they're out, they wreak havoc on local fish populations. Escaped "feral" tilapia over-compete with other fish for resources (and win) and can significantly alter habitats via eating water plants and even building nests.

To avoid all of the above, maybe skip the tilapia the next time you dine out?

As a deep-fried, fatty food, tempura isn't going to be the healthiest option on any seafood restaurant menu, but there's another reason why you might want to avoid it the next time you dine out. Culturally, the Japanese warn against eating tempura under very specific, but seemingly harmless, conditions.

A journalist for The Japan Times wrote about a nasty experience following enjoying some tempura and watermelon: "I'd indulged in a classic bad food combination, or tabeawase. Called gasshokukin or shokugokin, these are foods that are not supposed to be eaten with each other for health reasons, especially during the summer when the grueling heat and humidity take a toll on our bodies." In other words, pairing deep-fried, oily tempura with anything cold and watery, from watermelon to other fruit (though watermelon is the most commonly warned-against tempura pairing), is a recipe for digestive disaster.

So, if you're watching your waistline, skip the tempura. If you're worried about tummy troubles, though, just watch what you're eating alongside your tempura.