It’s officially fish sandwich season in the fast food universe. While the fish sandwich rollout is largely due to Lent (starting on February 14th this year), you don’t have to be catholic to enjoy a good fried fish sando from your favorite fast-food chain. They’re for everyone to enjoy!
As someone who loves a good fish sandwich (growing up in the Pacific Northwest almost demands as much), I thought it was the perfect time to make the rounds at my local fast-food joints to find the best one you should enjoy this season. That led me to six fast-food restaurants:
- Culver’s
- Arby’s
- McDonald’s
- Burger King
- Dairy Queen
- Long John Silvers
I tasted all of the sandwiches hot and fresh from the shop as these are all a short drive from each other in my small Kentucky town — most of them are within minutes of each other. I did keep them in a food warmer — just to make sure they were all as fresh as possible when I got home. Once there, I lined them up, cut them in half (for a cross-section pic), and then sampled one bite from each while noting my thoughts.
After tasting them, I ranked each sandwich on a list of variables. These were:
- Bun
- Fish (coating and flake)
- Tartar sauce
- Add-ons (pickles, lettuce, American cheese, etc.)
- Cohesiveness
The overall idea here is to find a real-deal fish sandwich to enjoy right now. It should be noted though that fast-food chain restaurants can vary wildly in quality from store to store. My hometown DQ is really good but my Wendy’s is subpar, for instance. The McDonald’s is pretty solid but the Burger King might be the worst Burger King I’ve ever been to worldwide.
Because of all of that variation, looking at each element became pretty important. I was looking for the best overall experience. And … wow, it was a mixed bag (not sorry). Let’s dive in!
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6. Arby’s King’s Hawaiian Fish Deluxe Sandwich
Price: $5.49
Calories: 695
The Sandwich:
This is the big fish sandwich at Arby’s, which is a seasonal offering. The build is a crispy fish filet with a panko breadcrumb coating. That’s topped with cheddar cheese, shredded lettuce, and tomato with tartar sauce all on a King’s Hawaiian Roll.
Tasting Notes:
This was a bit of a mess. The cheese was plasticky. The lettuce was wilted. The tomato had seen better days. It all felt very “under the heat lamp.”
The bun was sweet but super mashed (you’ll see this isn’t a problem with other sandwiches also wrapped in paper on this list). It ended up tasting more gummy than anything else.
Then there was the fish. It was straight-up mushy. It felt like such a trick too as this was the thickest filet. It also tasted “fishy” in that end-of-the-day at the grocery store fish counter off-putting sort of way.
The tartar sauce was fine, tangy, and but barely there.
Bottom Line:
I spit this bite out. It was terrible.
Find your nearest Arby’s here.
5. McDonald’s Filet-O-Fish
Price: $6.29
Calories: 390
The Sandwich:
The Filet-O-Fish is a classic example of a fast-food fish sandwich. The sandwich combines a steamed bun, tangy tartar, fried fish filet (Alaskan pollock), and a slice of American cheese.
Tasting Notes:
This was the most cohesive sandwich of the list, mostly due to being bare bones.
First and foremost, the tartar sauce is excellent. It’s creamy, tangy, full of relish, and adds to the sandwich.
Then there’s the rest of the sandwich. The fish filet has a nice texture but nothing else. It tastes of nothing. It’s almost like a magic trick. How can it taste of nothing? Even worse, the bun tastes of cardboard. It’s a beautiful fluffy full-formed bun that holds its shape. But then tastes of freakin’ cardboard.
The slice of American cheese gives you a touch of savory creaminess but only barely. It’s pretty much washed out by that cardboard bun.
Bottom Line:
I used to be ride-or-die for a Filet-O-Fish. But I’ve tried them in about four or five states over the last two or so years and that blandness and cardboard vibe is universal across the board. It’s a shame. This was once the gold standard. Now… it’s a blank vehicle for tartar sauce.
I think I might have to give up defending these.
Find your nearest McDonald’s here.
4. Long John Silver’s Wild Alaskan Pollack Sandwich
Price: $4.69
Calories: 400
The Sandwich:
This big sandwich comes with a large piece of beer-battered Alaskan pollack. It’s served on a small sub roll (or hoagie) lightly coated with tartar sauce and stacked with pickles.
Tasting Notes:
The bun is nice and soft with a nice moment of sweetness. It could be toasted but that’s nitpicking. The pickle was actually nice a crunchy with a good bite/tang to it.
The fish is flaky, tastes clean and fresh, and has a wonderful beer-battered crunch (even when bringing it home). It’s well-seasoned and feels like a real piece of fish.
Then there’s the tartar sauce. How a fried fish restaurant like Long John Silvers can survive with the worst tartar sauce in all of fast food is mind-boggling. I mean, they’re barely surviving but… still. The sauce is like watered-down Miracle Whip that’s been left out all day. Yet, there’s no tang, no seasoning, no relish, no … anything. It’s infuriating.
Bottom Line:
If you put McDonald’s tartar sauce on this, it might have won. With the LJS tartar sauce, it’s just a sad skeleton of a fish sandwich. If you do order this, tell them to hold the tartar, and then add your own at home.
Find your nearest Long John Silvers here.
3. Culver’s Northwoods Walleye Sandwich
Price: $8.19
Calories: 620
The Sandwich:
This is Culver’s seasonal fish sando — they also have a few year-round offerings. The sandwich is a beer-battered freshwater walleye filet. Each filet is fried to order. The fish then goes on a butter-toasted hoagie with Culver’s tartar sauce, and shredded lettuce.
Tasting Notes:
The bun is the star of the show. It’s toasted perfectly, soft, and sweet with a nice hint of savoriness from the brown butter edges. The lettuce could be fresher but wasn’t wilted to death.
The fish was damn good. It was a “clean” tasting big flake white fish. The coating was crispy on the edges but got a little mushy toward the middle of the sandwich (likely due to steaming in the bun while wrapped up). It wasn’t seasoned very well though. It needs a pinch of salt or MSG to help it pop.
The tartar sauce left a lot to be desired. It wasn’t creamy or tangy. It was more like a mayo with a spoonful of relish added and that’s it.
Bottom Line:
This was okay. Overall, this is probably the one sandwich that you’ll want to eat in the restaurant. Even with a very short drive home, the coating lost some of its luster.
The main reason this gets ahead of LJS is the bun. It’s an excellent delivery vehicle for the fish sando. Mediocre tartar sauce aside, this is a pretty good middle-of-the-road option.
Find your nearest Culver’s here.
2. Burger King Big Fish
Price: $4.79
Calories: 572
The Sandwich:
Burger King’s Big Fish is a panko-breaded pollack filet. It’s served in a warm toasted bun with iceberg lettuce, pickle, and mayo.
Tasting Notes:
Look. At. That. Bun! That was wrapped in paper and it still traveled home looking that good. Moreover, the bun was perfectly toasted, buttery, and had just the right hint of sweetness.
The lettuce was crunchy and fresh (!) without a wilted morsel in sight. The pickle was nice, tangy, and crunchy too.
The fish was clean and flaky with a nice sense of white fish. The coating was nicely crunchy the whole way through. The biggest drawback was that the fish filet didn’t taste seasoned at all. This needed a pinch of salt, which almost sounds crazy.
The tangy mayo was excellent and abundant (some of it was even leaking out of the wrapping). It really sang with the tangy pickles. No, mayo + pickles does not a tartar sauce make, but still — it works here.
Bottom Line:
I was shocked my Burger King pulled this off. This was almost a jackpot. Had the fish been better seasoned and the tartar sauce been more than good mayo, it would have won. Everything else was just right.
Find your nearest Burger King here.
1. DQ Wild Alaskan Fish Sandwich
Price: $5.19
Calories: 420
The Sandwich:
This sandwich is made with wild Alaskan pollock as well. It’s panko-crusted and fried to order. The bun is toasted and served with lettuce and a tangy tartar sauce.
Tasting Notes:
The bun on this one is really good — buttery toasted, sweet edge, springy. The lettuce was not shredded and held its own and felt fresh.
The fish filet was perfect. It was well-seasoned, flaky, clean, had a great crunch, and the perfect thickness.
The tartar sauce was very close to McDonald’s. It was tangy, creamy, and full of relish with that little extra pop.
Bottom Line:
This is the one. Every element was spot on and tasted delicious. Moreover, it all added up to something more than the individual elements.
This is also a year-round offering, which means that you don’t have to race to get one before Easter gets here.
Find your nearest Dairy Queen here.
