Tilapia, also known as St. Peter's Fish, Hawaiian sunfish and Nile Perch, has a sweet and firm-textured flesh suitable for dry and moist heat cooking methods. Top preparations for tilapia on restaurant menus are filet, grilled, sautéed, broiled, blackened, fried, roasted-in-a-bag, pan-seared, baked and crusted.
Due to the fish's nutritional composition, many restaurants, such as Red Lobster and T.G.I. Friday's, include tilapia on their “Light Menus.” Iguana Mia also uses tilapia as a substitute for skirt steak in Pescado Asado.