[8] The album has garnered positive reviews from AbsolutePunk, American Songwriter, The Boston Globe, Entertainment Weekly, Roughstock, Taste of Country, and the USA Today.

American Songwriter music critic Eric Allen noted that "Fishbowl displays a serious yearning to stretch and dig a little deeper into life’s foibles, as if Chesney is trying to figure them out himself, but in a good way.

Chesney has an uncanny knack for finding top-shelf material which sounds autobiographical and mixing it with his own to craft a uniquely distinguishable musical statement.

[19] Jerry Shirver of the USA Today rated the album a two and a half out of four stars, and said that "Though the arrangements of these dozen tunes are up to date and his voice retains that bland average-Joe quality that the masses and radio programmers adore, most of the themes are calculated standard issue.

[11] In closing, Erlewine stated that "Wedded to this warmth is a crisp clean sheen, a sound so bright that it threatens to get goofy when Chesney and crew rock out – they're no longer as urgent as they were even five years earlier, which gives the gurgling swing of the title track a stiff white-boy funkiness that isn't necessarily alienating – but such chipper charm permeates the entirety of Welcome to the Fishbowl, turning it into an everyday feel-good record, the kind that generates moments of warmth when heard fleetingly on the radio, at the grocery store, in a doctor's office, at work, or even at home.

"[21] The Rolling Stone music critic Chuck Eddy called this a "Fairly depressive, in total – but these days, Chesney sounds more convincing when he's less upbeat.

"[15] At Omaha World-Herald, Kevin Coffey noted how the album "has the party vibe some Chesney fans will be looking for, but a closer look at the lyrics reveals it’s a rant against paparazzi, celebrities and a culture that glorifies everyone’s 15 minutes of fame.

[23] On February 13, 2017, the album was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for sales of over one million copies in the United States.