A Flood of Fish Sandwiches: Day 2 – Checkers’ Deep Sea Double

By Cat Taylor on April 3, 2014

Rally ’round the flag boys: the little-celebrated, highly sought after Checkers Deep Sea Double.

One of the dark horse candidates in my fish sandwich expedition is the drive-thru only restaurant sometimes known as Rally’s but in this case, they’ve called it Checkers. After all, nothing says quality food like race car imagery. I can almost taste car exhaust and burning rubber just thinking about it. Truthfully though, Checkers is one of my favorite fast food restaurants for their food and their prices. In fact, the best deal you’ll find anywhere comes from taking their customer satisfaction survey. When you complete the survey they give you a code that you can use to get any sandwich free with the purchase of a large drink. As you might imagine, I have so many free sandwich codes saved up that if you come to visit me, I’ll treat you to a Checkers’ sandwich. You’re welcome.

Although Checkers is one of my favorite fast food restaurants for their food and prices, they’re my least favorite for the long waits. I can always count on my closest location to have a long line of cars and when finally getting to the window, I typically have to wait another 10-15 minutes. Furthermore, whenever I order something special like “no freakin’ tartar sauce”, there’s only a fifty-fifty shot that they’ll get the order right. Today, however, the stars (or should I say checkers?) were in alignment because there were no other cars in line, I only had to wait roughly 10 minutes for my food, and they actually got the order right. Maybe the drive-thru worker recognized me as the official Brophisticate fast-food critic and stepped it up. [God help us, Ed.]

Despite the rest of the experience, the real test came when it was time to eat. Since I had the free sandwich coupon, I went all out and ordered the gourmet Checkers’ fish sandwich known as the Deep Sea Double. I’m pretty sure that’s also the name of a forbidden sex act but here it’s just a big fish sandwich containing two patties and a piece of cheese in the middle. Admittedly, that description still sounds like a forbidden sex act so just trust me on this one. Focusing back on the actual food item, first I’ll say that the picture on the menu looked a lot better than the actual sandwich. In the picture, the fish patties looked hand-battered and are bigger than the bun. In reality, while the patties are pretty big, they weren’t bigger than the bun, and they definitely weren’t hand-battered. Like the McDonald’s Filet O’Fish, the Checkers fish slabs looked like they came out of the frozen food section in the grocery store and were probably made by Rand Paul’s mother…. Think about it.

Regardless, the Deep Sea Double is pretty darn tasty. It’s still fast food, but the double fish patty ensures that you’ll get plenty of fish with each bite. Also, the cheese, lettuce, and bun complement, rather than compete, with the flavor. I don’t know what tartar sauce would do to the flavor but I don’t plan to find out. I don’t like tartar sauce and will not take that bullet for the sake of these reviews. I’ve also got to hand it to the giant Diet Coke. You would think a Diet Coke is a Diet Coke but sometimes the mix in fountain drinks is unpredictable. Checkers got it just right. However, I did make sure to tell them to go light on the ice. You have to be careful there or these dedicated fast-food professionals will give you more ice than soda. That’s how they get you.
Overall, this was a pleasant and satisfying experience.

Final ratings:
Value for the money: 5 out of 5 sea monsters
Appearance: 3 out of 5 G.I. Joe Shipwreck action figures
Taste: 4 out of 5 Sealab 2021s