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| www.mcdonalds.com |
Here at Fast Food Geek, we’ve been making our way through the major fish offerings. This week we take on the McDonald’s Filet-O-Fish sandwich, which has become a cult legend. This sandwich knows no borders; a quick search on McDonald’s websites from around the world and you will find that the Filet-O-Fish has practically washed up on every menu. Italy, UK, Australia, even France (who have not one but three varieties) all have the Filet-O-Fish. There must be something about this sandwich; some mythical properties… read more to find out.
The Filet-O-Fish is the oddball in the fast food world—swapping out the lettuce and adding a slice of good ol’ American cheese. No vegetables, just greasy meat cheese; I’m beginning to see why this may be an international craze. The Filet-O-Fish made a bit of a surge in recent years thanks to the super catchy, very annoying commercial with the singing fish—which is refuse to embed here… we’ve all seen it enough.
I drove to my local McDonald’s to pick one up and give it a go. McDonald’s advertises the two for $4 deal, but what if you want one? Too bad. It basically costs $4 for one; I was forced to give in. What is worse is that the combo costs 6.89 at my McDonalds, almost $7, these sandwiches had better be good.
The sandwiches are very small; the filets could only be smaller if they had been cut from Angelina Jolie’s bicep. My first thought was that I couldn’t even really tell I was eating fish, the texture was similar to fish, but it didn’t really resemble a fish taste at all. For people that hate fish, I guess this could be a good thing, but if I get a fish sandwich I want to know about it. The breading was also not crispy at all.
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| Tartar Disaster |
The bun’s are also very overwhelming, fully encapsulating the filet and masking it further. Then you take the standard fast food dousing of condiments and you’re basically just eating a bun filled with tartar sauce. It makes sense that McDonald’s opted to add a slice of cheese because it actually kind of gave the fish a little bit of a boost. Once you get past the tartar you kind of get a good creamy taste from the cheese.
The pricing scheme makes you think you’re getting a good deal, but I feel like even with both sandwiches you’re still getting less actual fish than a single fish sandwich from Arby’s or Wendy’s. You’re basically getting an extra order of bun on the side.
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| Notice how thin the filet is compared to bun |
Another thing that throws the bargin concept entirely out of the window is the fact that Arby’s has matched this offer with an identical one. I did a little calculation to determine which is the better deal based on the nutritional info on their websites. From a weight standpoint, the McDonald’s Filet-O-Fish weighs 142 g (284g for two) while the Arby’s weighs 222 g (444 for two). You are essentially getting three Filet-O-Fish sandwiches when you order two Arby’s Fish Sandwiches.
For those who are curious, McDonald’s Filet-O-Fish is mostly hoki fish, but the fish used rotates to prevent over fishing of a single species. I’m left truly baffled as to why these sandwiches have made such a splash on McDonald’s menu’s around the world.
2/5
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McDonald's Filet-O-Fish [Review]
4Overall Score