You know, I need to give Arby's more credit.
I've been eating Arby's food for decades at this point, and pretty much the sole reason I go back is because of the curly fries and the mozzarella sticks. I usually also order a classic roast beef sandwich so I get some protein, but honestly I've never been a big fan. They're fine, but that's it. Just fine. But then I tried their rib sandwich, which was actually quite good, and I'm coming away from my tasting of their fish sandwich with the idea that I need to try more stuff on their menu.
Because folks, no point in burying the lede this time; that fish sandwich was unabashedly good. You can see it below haunted by the specter of a Dave's Single from Wendy's, the backup dinner I bought just in case this was a repeat-MacDoogling, but as good as Wendy's burgers are, the simple truth is I preferred the Arby's fare tonight.
Now, if you're the type of person who just doesn't like the taste of fish, I'm not going to recommend this sandwich to you. But that's actually the first and most fundamental area where Arby's got this right and McDdddddd's failed. This sandwich, with fried fish on it? It tastes like fish.
Shocking, I know. But it's a good fish flavor, accented by a nice crispy breading, and accompanied by a vastly improved ingredients stack over some... other fish sandwiches I've had. Tomato and lettuce were a welcome addition, the tartar sauce actually has some acidic kick to it, nothing crazy but just enough to be interesting, and even the cheese was just higher quality. And all of this inside a King Hawaiian bun, which wasn't a thing I'd realized I wanted until now, but here we are. All together a very satisfying package.
Now the key with judging restaurant food for me will always be "could I have had this for less money and similar effort in my own kitchen?" In the case of the filet-o-fish, the answer is easily yes. Frozen fish sticks, basic bun and cheese, mayo with some relish stirred in. And if I want to enjoy the McRib experience, I can just grab two pieces of bread, a three-week-old diced onion, the saddest pickles I can find, and douse a mouse-pad in crappy BBQ sauce. But this fish sandwich from Arby's?
Well, I've never had frozen fish that tasted this good, so that's already an issue; I'm going to have to fry my own fish. It wouldn't have to be expensive fish, but I'm land-locked, so it wouldn't be cheap regardless. The tartar sauce should be pretty simple, again just stir in some pickle relish and possibly add some lemon juice, and then chop up some lettuce, slice a tomato, melt some cheese. Everything else comes together pretty easily, but because I'm frying a fish fillet, still less effort to go to Arby's.
And that doesn't take into account the price. Simply put, I'd be hard pressed to match the ~$4.30 price point of this thing at home. Oh, right, did I mention it was cheaper than the crap from MeDoo's as well?
It's an absolute blood-bath out here.
So yeah, it's better than the flavorless drivel from The-Restaurant-That-Shall-Not-Be-Named. But that bar was low. The more surprising take-away for me was that it was better than the Wendy's burger I ate not long after. In terms of fast food joints, Arby's is rapidly climbing in my personal estimation of their quality.
Maybe I oughta try one of their salads next...
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