Customers Love The Filet-O-Fish, But Say One Key Topping Could Be Handled Better

When McDonald's added the Filet-O-Fish sandwich to its menu board in the 1960s, it was a big step for the chain. The first non-hamburger addition to the menu was a risk, but clearly it was a calculated one, as more than 60 years later, the sandwich is nearly unchanged and still quite popular. That popularity, though, depends on a delicate balance of ingredients. When done properly, diners love it. When one or two items go wrong, though, not so much.

One of the most common Filet-O-Fish customer complaints is the tartar sauce, which fans say is often inconsistently applied. Across the internet, there are countless posts not only of sloppily constructed Filet-O-Fish sandwiches — often with its signature half slice of American cheese hanging out the side — but also sandwiches with either far too little or far too much sauce. On Reddit, one can find photos of the Golden Arches seafood sandwich with what the poster ruefully describes as "only a whisper of tartar sauce," as well as photos of sandwiches served up just about swimming in the stuff.

The problems don't end there, either. Many customers also complain that even when the quantity is alright, the placement of the sauce is often an issue. According to McDonald's employees, this is down to the way the sandwich is constructed. The sauce is applied with an apparently poorly designed gun that doesn't allow for employee discretion in portioning and is also inconsistent in the area of application, favoring a corner rather than coming out the center. Add to that how the Filet-O-Fish is constructed — split between both sides of the box and then flipped together as the box is closed — and the mystery of these sloppy sandwiches becomes a bit clearer.

The inconsistency of tartar sauce application may be why this particular ingredient so often comes up among popular Filet-O-Fish customizations. There are plenty of ways in which both customers and Mickey D's employees tweak the sauce to make this sandwich their own. For example, McDonald's CEO Chris Kempczinski orders his Filet-O-Fish with no sauce at all as part of a strategy to keep the calorie count down. Others take a less extreme approach while still toning things down, ordering their fish sandwiches in the French style, with just a smear of mayonnaise on the bun.

Looking at the international variations of the Filet-O-Fish, the sauce is also often tinkered with to suit local palates. In Belgium, McDonald's has a fish sandwich without mayo or tartar, a pared-down version called the McFish, which is simply a fried fish patty on a bun with ketchup. Elsewhere in the world, though, the sauce gets more exciting. Certain Asian markets have been known to use a wasabi-infused sauce, and in Scandinavian Golden Arches outposts, a special "McFeast" sauce tops some of the fish sandwiches.

The sauce on the Filet-O-Fish is a consistent problem, but there are plenty of ways to deal with it. If the flavor of the sauce is a problem, all of the above ideas work, and some customers even suggest trying the Filet-O-Fish with barbecue sauce or topping that favorite fish sandwich with Big Mac sauce. For those who enjoy the tartar but worry about portioning and sloppy application, on the other hand, the best bet is probably just to ask for the sauce on the side.