Long John Silver's opens new restaurant in Plainview

Plainview sits about 45 minutes north of Lubbock on US-27, and for folks out that way, fast food options have always meant a drive or settling for what's already there. Long John Silver's is known for its battered fish, shrimp, and chicken, the kind of fried seafood that doesn't have many competitors in the region.

The announcement didn't include an opening date, so residents are left waiting on that detail. The address puts it on a commercial corridor familiar to anyone who's passed through town on a grocery run or heading back from the Panhandle.

For people in Plainview and the surrounding communities, this adds a fast food option that hasn't been available locally. Whether that fills a real gap or just adds another drive-through to the mix is something the lunch crowd will sort out pretty quickly.

Long John Silver's has had a complicated run nationally over the past decade, closing hundreds of locations while trying to stabilize the brand, which makes a new opening in a small West Texas market an interesting bet.