Davy Jones' Conveyer Belt: fast food fish sandwiches

McD's F-O-F - the tartar sauce really makes it.

Enya

It's not listed, so a write-in vote for Captain D's. McDonald's a close 2nd. Wendy's and Hardee's (Carl's Jr) docked points for sandwiches that are approx 1/2 the size shown in ads.

McD's? Y'all gotta be kidding me, it's an unidentifiable rectangle with a piece of American cheese inside the worst bun ever.

Culver's is pretty good. But I miss New Orleans, where the humblest convenience store fish poboy is insanely good.

http://laist.com/attachments/la_elise/nawlinscatfishcrop.jpg

McDonald's Filet of Fish is so disgusting it doesn't even scan as food

it's one of the few fast food sandwiches that turn my stomach and I eat stuff that is basically grease slathered in bacon fat

my fast-food standards are different from my real-food standards

I don't even have real food standards. I couldn't finish the last FoF I had cuz it made me feel sick.

meanwhile I'll eat their crappy quarter pounders forever cuz <3 them

The F-o-F isn't great, but the quality, or rather the mediocrity, is consistent. The decision making process is something like: "I'd like something with fish in it and I don't want to sit down in a proper restaurant to eat. I could take a risk with some other place that might be either amazing or serving fish flavoured cotton wool, or I could get a F-o-F, which will just be average, but I know that I'll be able to eat it, even though I'll gourmetically be unfulfilled."

Y'all gotta be kidding me, it's an unidentifiable rectangle with a piece of American cheese inside the worst bun ever.

fish and cheese . uh nonono

as a temp at McD's HQ we did a lot of consumer tests for these — the flavor definitely varies.

wow that would be a fascinating temp job. i think, anyway

it was fun. we spent most of the time cooking fries to test different cooking oils/fryers. after the first hour of each day none of us wanted to eat french fries ever again.

the FoF is actually the only one of these I've ever had, and that wasn't recently. I think popeye's chicken makes a fish sammich too, but I haven't had that either. What am I doing on this thread.

i keep craving a fish sandwich and i've been tempted to get a FOF but past experience warns me that if it's even slightly less-than-fresh it's about as appetizing as wax paper.

i sort of assume the LJS one is better than the rest since they're a 'seafood' place and not just throwing a fish sandwich on the menu as a novelty. but fish just doesn't seem like something that fast food places can do well.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/892945/mcdonalds_filetofish_vs_burger_king.html?cat=22

Up until last week, I hadn't eaten a fish sandwich from a fast food restaurant in approximately two months. More often than not, when I do order a fish sandwich from a fast food restaurant, it is a Filet- O- Fish (R) sandwich from McDonald's(R). Last Friday however, I was at the Burger King (R) restaurant located close to my apartment, when I remembered that as part of a summer promotion, their fish sandwiches were "Buy one, get one free" on Fridays. I had never eaten a Burger King (R) BK Big Fish (R) sandwich before, in fact, I had never even seen one. But, because I love a bargain and was in the mood for something besides burgers, I decided to order the fish sandwich(es) "to- go". As soon as the friendly counterperson handed me the bag containing the two fish sandwiches, I was surprised at how heavy the bag was. As I walked away from the counter, I peered into the bag and saw that the Burger King (R) fish sandwiches were quite large. In fact, they appeared to be huge. I looked- up the BK Big Fish (R) sandwich on the wall- mounted nutrition chart in the restaurant and read that this fish sandwich weighs over four ounces.

When I got home, I wasted no tme in opening one of the BK Big Fish (R) sandwiches. I was very impressed and amazed at what I saw. Compared to the McDonald's (R) Filet- O- Fish (R), the Burger King (R) sandwich looked humongous. To me, the circumference of the BK Big Fish (R) easily appeared to be as large as a Burger King (R) Whopper (R). The sandwich contains a sizeable golden- brown, breaded fish filet nestled in a large flavorful bun. Accented by crisp, green lettuce and very tasty Tartar Sauce, this fish sandwich means business. Upon taking my first bite of the sandwich, I thought to myself "This sandwich is awesome". The fish filet possesses a clean taste of the ocean that is mild, yet very authentic and pleasing. I was being as objective as possible, regarding my opinion of the sandwich. After all, I'm still a big fan of McDonald's (R) Filet- O- Fish (R). Something that I noticed immediately was that there was no cheese on the Burger King (R) fish sandwich. Although the sandwich tasted great, I think that the addition of some cheese would put it over- the- top. The BK Big Fish (R) sandwich is so big, that I only ate 3/4 of one sandwich and refrigerated the remainder, to be microwaved later, along with the other sandwich..

Two days ago, I was in downtown Hartford, Connecticut and passed a McDonald's (R) restaurant. I was fairly hungry, so I went in, remembering the Burger King (R) fish sandwiches that I had consumed a few days earlier. I ordered a Filet- O- Fish and ate it at the restaurant. As I sat and ate, I examined the sandwich closely, mentally comparing the two varieties of fish sandwiches. No question, that the BK Big Fish (R) was bigger, but the Filet- O- Fish is no slouch of a sandwich, either. The question was; Which sandwich was more satisfying ? Strictly from a quantity point of view, the BK Big Fish (R) is more filling. From a flavor, or taste perspective, it's close to a draw, or tie. Each of these fish sandwiches possesses its own attributes. The Burger King (R) sandwich, to me, has more of a "seafood", or real fish taste. The McDonald's (R) Filet- O- Fish maintains more of a "fast food" taste, but that is not necessarily a bad thing. With its delicious yellowish- orange cheese and top- rate Tartar Sauce, the Filet- O- Fish (R) is a classic American product that I absolutely love. To be quite honest about it, I'm very glad that I tried the Burger King (R) BK Big Fish (R) sandwich. In the future, I would like to continue eating both types of fish sandwiches. These sandwiches are similarly- priced and are regular menu items. Nutritionally, the McDonald's (R) Filet- O- Fish contains 380 calories, with 18 grams of total fat. The Burger King (R) BK Big Fish (R) contains 640 calories, with 32 grams of total fat.

we also had a Spanish woman in charge of the project who pronounced it "feeletto feese"

never had any of these but the mcdonalds FOF, which is clearly disgusting (you have to scrap off most of the tartar goo before even trying to eat it), but which i loved as a kid, probably due to the fact that it tastes like fried nothing.

i don't often eat fish sandwiches, but my favorite came from a deli somewhere around the intersection of cleveland & macomb streets in cleveland park DC*, back in the late 80s. they had a great selection of bottled beers from all over, and for four or five bucks, they'd fry up whatever kind of fresh fish you wanted and slap it on a po-boy roll with little to no accompaniment. awesome, esp with a few shakes of trappey's or w/e. that's what i want in a fishwich.

* near an awesome italian deli called vace (still there to the best of my knowledge). good cheeses and meats, handmade pasta, and a freezer case full of their own prepared foods like lasagna, stuffed manicotti, meatballs, etc. loved that place.

vace is awesome. way good pizza

iirc Filet-O-Fish tastes like batteries

I have to go with Arbys, their's is actually recognizable as fish. It would have been Culver's, but the last fish sandwich I ate there still had a bunch of scales on it.

• fish sandwiches suck
• fish tacos rule

iirc Filet-O-Fish tastes like batteries

― free inappropriate education (Abbbottt), Friday, June 10, 2011 10:57 PM (29 minutes ago) Bookmark

Fish is the only meat I eat, so I should know this one, but I don't...

Arby's Fish Sandwich - Never had it, haven't been to Arby's in probably 20 years
Burger King Big Fish - Never had it, haven't been to BK in probably 10 years
Carl's Jr. Carl's Catch - It's alright
Culver's North Atlantic Cod Filet Sandwich - Never heard of Culvers, don't think we have them in CA
Jack in the Box Fish Sandwich - It's alright, equivalent to the Carl's Jr. version IIRC
KFC Fish Snacker - Never had
Long John Silver's Classic Alaskan Pollock Sandwich - Never had it, aren't any LJS around here
McDonald's Filet-O-Fish - HORRIBLE. A tiny square of fish with no lettuce or tomato or anything.
Wendy's Premium Fish Fillet - Never had it
What-a-Burger's Whatacatch - What a what?

iirc Filet-O-Fish tastes like batteries

this reminds me that the last time i ate a chicken sandwich from arby's (years ago) it had this weird aftertaste that reminded me ever so slightly but unmistakably of COUGH SYRUP (!!!).

i knew i shouldn't have looked in this thread FU FILET HATERS

This distinction is very important so I'll note the Filet-o-Fish is topped by a Kraft slice and not actual cheddar cheese, but the 'fish and cheese doesn't go' thing is overstated because Mornay sauce, duh. The Kraft slice is intrinsic to the FoF experience in much the same way as it is intrinsic to a diner cheeseburger, and there are few things in the world that despatch my hangovers better. I cannot comment on US fish sarnie options other than to say Arby's is and will always be RANK.

One amazing part of British snack cuisine: the fish-finger sandwich.

haha yeah suzy FoF is my number 1 hangover go-to, obv there is something in the tartare sauce

Not seen anyone eat one since my mum used to order them when I was a kid. Observation a stoner friend who worked in McDonald's made: in Glasgow only Asian dudes eat them. Don't remember pescatarianism being a tenet of islam.

Not eating COW: welcome to the Indian subcontinent - I think this transcends Muslim/Sikh/Hindu differences. Indian McD serves lamburgers instead!

think fish is usually a reasonably safe option if you have religious dietary prohibitions innit? also they are the nicest sandwiches in McD's to be honest.

I will give one a try. My next annual 'fuck it I'll just have a mcdonalds' moment.

It's such a rarity because there's a turkish kebab shop nearer.

i don't do McD's often cos really there's only the Filet and the occasional novelty sandwich that i ever crave

The McMuffin delivers a genuine US sausage patty - 'links or patties?' being part of the American breakfast order conundrum - and free range egg, plus a hit of Kraft. I'm allowed them in Heathrow situations because all other options are overpriced chi-chi versions of British Rail sarnies or require sharing public space with the kind of rough diamonds who frequent licensed premises in airports.

the mcmuffin is a guilty secret of mine. i genuinely pretty much love them. never tend to be round a mcdonalds at breakfast time unfortunately though, or fortunately i suppose.

Hardees breakfast biscuits kind of make McMuffins a moot point around here.

do they do mcgriddles in the UK

don't think so...

breakfast really isn't a meal i feel mcdonalds do well, even within the limited confines of what they do at all. can't beat actual sausages/bacon etc...

yeah., despite my love for the mcmuffin i prefer the roll and square sausage, black pudding, fried egg, bacon, and tattie scone i had last weekend.

mcgriddles are like mcmuffins, but instead of a mcmuffin your egg/meat/cheese is sandwiched between two... i dont really know how to describe them... syrup-filled pancakes?

xp This is true, LG! But for about 100 years the only place that had THOSE hash browns and the sausage patties was yr Golden Arches. MIDWESTERN PROUST RUSH.

My go-to breakfast sandwich during farmer's market season is the worker's special - organic fried egg, split Lincolnshire sausage and smoked bacon on a surface-toasted roll with onion marmalade and ketchup. £1.50.

There is nothing wrong with the standard mcmuffin. Even mcDs can't screw up a real egg.

But they can! I'd rather they use scrambled egg instead of putting a whole egg in a ring mold, because they cook it until the yolk is hard and chalky. Fried eggs are supposed to have a runny yolk, the end.

i love a boiled egg and anchovy sandwich in the morning...

Yeah see, I'm not a fan of runny yolks so I think the ring mold does just fine. They messed up a simple BLT rather amazingly though - pasty bagel, nasty pre-cooked bacon, and sugary(?!) mayo.

Up until last week, I hadn't eaten a fish sandwich from a fast food restaurant in approximately two months.

How the hell did you survive this harrowing ordeal?

my cafeteria at work serves a Big Bob sandwich that is seriously the grossest shit on the planet

iirc Filet-O-Fish tastes like batteries

batteries taste kind of great though. I mean, I'm talking about that put-tongue-on-9v tangy jolt here. I don't know if there are a range of different battery flavors but I'd imagine there must be. Filet-o-fish doesn't taste that interesting imo.

I miss H. Salt Fish & Chips. Not that they did sandwiches, but it's the only great fast food chain fish I've ever had.

My local place sells fish like this. http://completelyinthedark.com/main.php?g2_itemId=14167

So not a sandwich snack really. But at least she cuts the fins off for me
http://completelyinthedark.com/main.php?g2_itemId=14176
Still, there is always the bacon shop next door.
http://completelyinthedark.com/main.php?g2_itemId=14164

As you can tell, I have been in the markets this week. Would kill for a fish butty.

Firat time our parents ever took us to Macdonald's, my toddler sister had a Fof. She then projectile vomited for what seemed like an age. So I have never had one, in my mind, they make you instantly sick.
The nearest I come is my local fish and chip shop where they stuff a battered fillet in a long buttered roll. That is pretty good.

Are there any Arthur Treacher's fish and chip places still around? Worked in the kitchen there as one of my first jobs, and am still thankful that I avoided any serious injuries. So many small burns though - hand battering/dipping and dealing with massive oil fryers was a very dangerous job.

god i love breaded ipecac sticks

Argh, now I want a greasy breaded fish-in-a-bun. How much is a McD's FoF (no meal, just sandwich) in the UK?

(so I can let my craving to buy one on the way home fight it out with financial guilt as well as the calorie guilt and being too lazy to make a small detour)

I'm going to go with the BK Big Fish. At some BKs they are on sale on Fridays, like 2 for $5 or something like that. These saved me on hungover Friday mornings at my last job which was across the street from a BK... Just drink coffee and hide in the stockroom for an hour until they change to the lunch menu. I also got two packets of hot sauce, one for each sandwich.

Better than FoF, probably about the same as the Wendy's one.

is it too much to expect McDonald's to deliver me a nicely grilled tilapia dammit

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Fish is the only meat I eat, so I should know this one, but I don't...

Yeah, I don't think I've ordered food from any of these restaurants in years.

jaymc just walks in and says to the dude at the counter "no thanks" and walks back out

haha

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

bullllllllllllllllllllshit

woulda voted for BK if I got off the couch

http://www.businessinsider.com/fast-food-fish-sandwich-face-off-2017-3/

Nowadays when I'm reduced to eating at McDonalds out of necessity, urgent hunger, or morbid unwillingness to just be an adult and not eat there anymore, I often get the Filet of Fish. McDonalds beef and chicken seem to have gotten progressively worse compared to every other available fast food option (with the possible exception of Subway, which manages to turn a set of more edible-looking raw materials into an arguably less edible end product than a McDonalds burger) but the Filet-o-Fish seems to have stayed exactly the same, or even improved in relation to other fast foods...

I'm not sure whether the process by which fast food chains become anecdotally worse is entirely just due to the formation of new memories, the expanding of the senses and palate, the increasingly grown-up realization that fast food was probably always terrible and we just didn't know it as younger versions of ourselves. It does in some way seem that in progressively and cynically tweaking the content of the food for maximum addictiveness, lowest cost, and maximum longevity, in a progressively more sterile, anxious, and mechanized fast food climate, McDonalds and Subway etc. have ended up with burgers and sandwiches that are actually worse even with the same basic building blocks and recipes...

Fish sandwiches, it seems, may have avoided the glance of the MBAs and food scientists. They're a legacy offering, a "cost centre," or somesuch. As such we don't fuck with them too much, we don't sell enough of them to care.

McDonalds beef and chicken seem to have gotten progressively worse compared to every other available fast food option

I'd disagree, but only because the precipitous drop off of Burger King in both quality and concept has turned the entire chain into a joke serving inedible garbage. McDonald's at least makes an effort to take steps toward improvement, though I'd agree that their beef tastes weirder now than ever. afact the Filet-o-Fish remains completely unchanged from how it tasted when I was a kid.

Wendy's now vs. ten years ago is like night and day. They make such fucking good food now, fish things included.

I took a detour, in the rain, this afternoon to eat at Wendy's—it is very rare in my city—and there was NO FISH SANDWICH ON THE MENU.

I had Chili Cheese Fries and something called a Dave Single instead. I asked the girl if there was any hot sauce and she gave me two packets of something called "chili seasoning" which suggests a degree of foresight on the part of the Wendy's people. To my initial alarm, it was clear and viscous like oil but added a spicy, vinegary taste that seemed expressly designed for the chili. The whole thing was great. The burger was fantastic, everything you'd want in a fast food burger.

I disagree with the assumption that Wendy's is the one that has changed. This meal was an exact replica of what I'd have eaten at Wendy's 20 years ago.

Burger King, as far as I can tell, has always been terrible and has only slid further into the toilet, catering to the group of people who—rather like a teenaged smoker—think lettuce, tomato, and onion are "disgusting vegetables" and that everything should come slathered in BBQ sauce.