8 Fast Food Chains That Serve The Worst-Quality Fish Sandwiches

Is it really that difficult to find a good fast food fish sandwich? Apparently so. Over the years, plenty of fast food restaurants have offered their own version of a fish sandwich, from the iconic Filet-O-Fish to the strange menu item Burger King created that didn't make it past the 1990s. We can understand why it's remained such a perennial staple at fast food joints. Fish sandwiches offer a lighter alternative to classic hamburgers, and give pescatarians a way to get their fast food fix without resorting to purely veggie options. 

However, fast food fish sandwiches can feel like an afterthought. Often, they're one of the least popular items on the menu, and it can seem as though fast food restaurants have a "this will do" attitude to their offerings, safe in the knowledge that not many people will order them.

This has led to a host of terrible fish sandwiches out there, and the options available to customers can be pretty bleak. Some places, like Burger King and Wendy's, serve up greasy affairs with poor flavor and a limp bite. Other restaurants, like Captain D's, specialize in serving fried fish, yet somehow struggle to get fish sandwiches right. To figure out which fish sandwiches were the worst of the bunch, we scoured customer reviews, looking for the items that people consistently agreed were awful — and we're presenting them all here.

Popeyes is better-known for its chicken than its fish, and so it might not be a big surprise that its Flounder Fish Sandwich isn't such a hit. However, what might be a surprise is how bad it truly is. This fish sandwich, which is a limited-time item that periodically pops back up in its stores, is considered by some fish aficionados to be the worst of all the seafood offerings from fast food restaurants. Customers have stated how unimpressive the sandwich is, and have questioned whether people who like it only think they do because it is associated with Popeyes. Some people have even spat it out, which isn't a ringing endorsement.

So, what's so bad about the quality of the Flounder Fish Sandwich? It's the flounder itself. Apparently, the flounder tastes as though it's gone bad. Gross. The construction of this sandwich is lacking, too. The flounder hangs out of the sides, and there's not a lot of sauce to provide any visual or flavor contrast. This sandwich is one to miss.

As the evergreen competitor to McDonald's, it's no surprise that Burger King has its own version of the Filet-O-Fish. However, its fish sandwich, The Big Fish, is not nearly as beloved as the McDonald's version. Customers generally agree that this sandwich is quite awful, and it's gathered some pretty vitriolic responses online. "Finally tried the Big Fish and that is now my least favorite fish sandwich and least favorite BK item," stated a very disappointed diner on Reddit. "Not even mid, just tasted like old oil and nastiness. Just all around terrible." How's that for a scathing review?

Burger King seems to get everything wrong with The Big Fish. Let's start with the sheer size of the sandwich. Customers have noted that The Big Fish used to be much larger, but now it's shrunk and, contrary to its name, it has no sense of presence whatsoever. Then, there's its flavor. The oiliness of the patty has no contrast with the tartar sauce, which is nondescript and has no punch whatsoever. Plus, all that oiliness makes the sandwich soft and soggy, and there's none of the crunch you can reasonably expect from a fish sandwich. 

Man, Wendy's really dropped the ball with its fish sandwich, huh? The fast food chain's Crispy Panko Fish Sandwich is a limited-time item that appears around Lent each year, but when you hear what customers have to say about it, you'll be wishing that they never put it on the menu in the first place. One person said that this is the worst sandwich they've ever eaten in their entire lives, while others have been visibly disgusted by eating it. Notably, a customer even claimed that it caused them to vomit after consuming the sandwich. Whether that's true or not, it really drives it home that this is something to be avoided.

When it comes to quality, pretty much everything goes wrong with Wendy's Crispy Panko Fish Sandwich. It somehow manages to be both dry and greasy at the same time, and the fish itself is tough and hard to bite through, turning eating it into a task. It's also got a noticeably unpleasant smell, erring on the wrong side of fishy. Oh, and it's also smaller than you might expect. The only real redeeming features are the pickles, and the restaurant can't really dine out on that. Turns out this is one of those Wendy's items you should avoid ordering entirely. 

Okay, so Arby's tried to get its Lenten fish sandwich right. We have to believe it did, at least. Sadly, all of that effort appears to have been for nothing, as it's produced a fish sandwich that people actively loathe. Arby's seasonal sandwich has been variously described as horrible and unpalatable, and some have said that it's the worst fish sandwich they've ever tried. Other reviews have been a bit kinder, merely dubbing it as average, but that sort of feels like it's being damned with faint praise, right?

The problem with Arby's fish sandwich is its balance. The sandwich is overpowered with way too much tartar sauce, ruining the interplay between patty, bun, and moisture. If you opt for its Fish 'N Cheddar option, you'll get a cheese sauce in addition to tartar, and the former completely overtakes the latter. The quality of the fish also leaves a lot to be desired: Folks have reported receiving dry, desiccated fillets, which are admittedly enclosed in a decently crunchy breading. If you ask us, we think that Arby's should stick to roast beef sandwiches.

Is it too much to ask that a seafood fast food chain serve a good fish sandwich? We don't think so, and you probably don't either. Well, someone should probably tell Captain D's that, as it serves up fish sandwiches that you'd be ashamed to tell people you ordered. The chain currently serves a Giant Fish Sandwich, which is stuffed with two ultra-large battered fillets. Although the size may be impressive, the quality of the fish certainly isn't. People who have ordered this sandwich have been shocked by what they actually bite into, which looks more like ground-up pieces of fish pushed back together than a whole fillet. Folks have even questioned whether it's fish at all.

Aside from the main event, there are also quality issues with the rest of the sandwich. Customers have said that their buns have been soggy, that there was a taste of old oil pervading the whole thing, and that the spicy version of the sandwich had no spice at all. None of this exactly makes you excited to eat it, right? We think you're better off making your own fish sandwich at home and giving Captain D's a wide berth. 

We're willing to bet that few people asked Dairy Queen to make a fish sandwich — and yet, it went ahead and did it anyway. Its Wild Alaskan Fish Sandwich is a returning item that appears on menus around Lent each year, and it seemed to place the restaurant in direct competition with McDonald's and its Filet-O-Fish. However, Dairy Queen doesn't quite stick the landing here. According to customers, this fish sandwich is distinctly average, and people have reported being supremely underwhelmed by it.

The problem is that Dairy Queen gets a few elements wrong here, which really pulls down the quality of its menu item. The Wild Alaskan Fish Sandwich is smothered in tartar sauce, but the sauce itself has next to no taste and is also weirdly thin. The breading on the fish is also pretty meager, and while it does have a good crunch to it, it doesn't feel particularly sturdy. Sadly, there are also quality control issues at play here, with some people reporting that their fish sandwiches have been over-fried and come out super dry. When it's only around for a month or two per year, you need to make every sandwich count — and Dairy Queen doesn't quite manage to do so.

Well, well, well. We bet you weren't expecting to see McDonald's on this list, were you? The famous Filet-O-Fish is arguably the king of fast food fish sandwiches, and to some people, it's sacrilege to criticize it. However, we have to name the elephant in the room here: The quality of the Filet-O-Fish has gone downhill in recent years. The first issue is its size. Customers have flagged that the Filet-O-Fish has gotten smaller, while the price has crept up. You should expect it to get better if you're paying more, but sadly, the quality hasn't quite followed that same trend.

The flavor is also an issue here. Despite the nostalgia factor of a Filet-O-Fish, people have noted that the actual taste of it can be lacking, and that the tartar sauce is runny and too similar to mayo. It's also difficult to get a consistent result with a Filet-O-Fish, with some people noting that they have barely any tartar sauce at all, and others reporting that their sandwiches are completely drenched. In summary, it just feels as though McDonald's isn't trying particularly hard to keep its Filet-O-Fish consistently excellent, and it really shows.

Sonic's got its fair share of decent menu items, but there are also a few that you should avoid ordering. Its Fish Sandwich is one of them. Sonic's Fish Sandwich is hardly the most elegant option out there, and folks who have tried it have reported how unbelievably messy it is to eat, with a poor construction that makes munching through it a chore. It doesn't help that there seems to be a lot of variation from location to location about how well it's made.

Texture-wise, Sonic's Fish Sandwich has a grainy, unpleasant texture to its fish patty that's just distracting. Then, there's the flavor to consider. This menu item has prompted some passionate responses to its taste, with one customer stating that it's the worst fish sandwich they've ever had. Others have been a bit more muted in their observations, but have still pointed out that it's got a slightly weird flavor, with a pickle-like taste to the fish that left them raising their eyebrows. Sadly, this fish sandwich is better avoided entirely.

When examining which fast food fish sandwiches didn't hit the mark, we knew we had to look pretty broadly at customer responses. Fast food restaurants serve millions of people each year, and have hundreds, if not thousands of locations, so there's often a broad range of opinion on the quality of their food. As such, we searched extensively for customer reviews, looking at social media platforms like Reddit, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok, and using broader taste-tests and comparisons of multiple fish sandwiches from different websites to reinforce our findings. We ensured that the quality of the fish sandwiches in our list was broadly agreed upon as being bad — if there was too much ambiguity, the sandwich didn't make the cut.

As for how we determined "quality," we looked first at the general construction of the sandwich itself, and then at individual components. Poorly made sandwiches with bad ingredient ratios were common here, as were sandwich patties that were overcooked, dry, or oily. The actual taste of the sandwich was also a key factor, as a poor flavor generally spoke to broader issues with quality within the sandwich itself.