The Failed McDonald's Seafood Sandwich That Just Couldn't Beat The Filet-O-Fish

McDonald's Filet-O-Fish has been a fan-favorite menu staple since its introduction in 1965. Its continued popularity may have even overshadowed the fast food chain's attempts to break into new seafood endeavors. In February of 2017, four select McDonald's locations in the San Francisco Bay Area began selling a crab sandwich. Served on a toasted sourdough bun, the sandwich featured snow crab meat mixed with diced celery and mayo atop a bed of romaine lettuce. Yet it was a short-lived experiment that never expanded beyond its initial four-restaurant run.

McDonald's had long been encouraging restaurants in certain areas to play with local flavors and regional cuisines. Past international McDonald's menu items have included Germany's McToast, India's McCurry, Russia's McShrimp, and Austria's McNoodles. McDonald's restaurants in Japan even introduced a different version of a crab sandwich in 2014, marketing it as a crab burger. 

Restaurants in the Bay Area had already achieved amazing success with the release of Gilroy garlic fries, seasoned with fresh garlic from Gilroy, California. Upon their debut, the fries sold out within minutes and were later sold at over 200 stores throughout the Bay Area. In an attempt to recreate that magic, the company partnered with California chef Ryan Scott to develop its McDonald's crab sandwich. If sales had been promising, the sandwich would have expanded to 250 restaurants in the area. Instead, it became a discontinued McDonald's seafood offering you probably never knew about.

Between 1990 and 1992, Maryland McDonald's sold crab cake sandwiches at certain restaurants along the shore. They were inspired by classic Maryland crab cakes and were originally made with Maryland blue crab. McDonald's later announced it would be sourcing crab meat from India, which may have sped up the demise of this menu item. In 1993, the restaurant introduced the McLobster Sandwich, which featured chunks of Atlantic lobster, shredded lettuce, and lobster sauce on a hot dog bun. Its sales were disappointing, and it was quietly removed from the menu. Lobster rolls are still sold seasonally at some McDonald's restaurants in the Northeastern U.S. and Canada, however.

Crab cake sandwiches were offered again as a limited-time summer menu item at McDonald's restaurants along the Eastern Shore in 2001 and 2002. In 2003, 37 McDonald's restaurants in Virginia, Delaware, and on the Delmarva peninsula in Maryland brought the crab cake sandwich back. The Signature Series McDonald's crab cakes were served on a sandwich roll with lettuce, tomato, and tartar or cocktail sauce. Though they were expected to expand sales into Florida restaurants, the venture fizzled out.

In 2012, select McDonald's restaurants introduced a poppable McDonald's fish item that disappeared almost instantly. Fish McBites were bite-sized nuggets of breaded and fried fish served with tartar sauce. A year later, shortly after the nationwide release of McBites, the company announced that they would be the first new Happy Meal offering in 10 years, served alongside French fries, apple slices, and a drink. That wasn't enough to give them any stamina, and in March of 2013, they were pulled from the menu permanently.