The Day O’ Fish No. 9 – Arby’s Reel Big Fish Sandwich

By Cat Taylor on September 4, 2014

Hmmm….I don’t know. I remember the Arby’s fish sandwich as being a decent size and pretty good last year, but this year they think they’re being cute by calling it “Reel Big.” See what they did there? That falls under the cool kid internet speak category of “twee.” To compound my reluctance, they have that annoying spokesperson in their ads named Bo Dietl. Apparently, he’s an actual detective, and that makes him a trusted source as a fast food spokesperson because….? Yeah, I don’t know why either but expert or not, It doesn’t make him any less annoying. On the scale of annoying fast food spokespeople, he’s somewhere between the Sonic guys and the new Wendy’s girl. I typically don’t believe in boycotts but as a rare exception, I have refused to patronize places during periods when they run particularly annoying ad campaigns because I don’t want them to think their dumb commercials are working. I decided to let it go this time for the sake of reporting, and in hope of decent meal.

[pullquote]I’m glad I ignored my principles because the manager at my local Arby’s is a very nice lady.[/pullquote]

I’m glad I ignored my principles because the manager at my local Arby’s is a very nice lady. The downside of that is that there was no chance of repeating my Burger King adventure, but sometimes when you eat you just get a meal. Also, Arby’s really does have a pretty good deal going right now. Two fish sandwiches for $5.00 or a combo for $5.00. Furthermore, as with last year, the fish is pretty big. In fact, for a fast food restaurant it’s one of the biggest I’ve seen. However, for some reason the fillets are triangular but served on a round bun. What’s that all about? It’s a fish sandwich intentionally made in a shape so that three corners stick out beyond the bun. I’d love to be in some of these marketing meetings just to understand what goes through their heads when they plan this stuff. I know this seems like a superficial concern, but please allow me to walk you through the reality of this shape. When it came time to take a bite, I had to decide whether to start with the uncovered corners or go for the middle in order to get bun and all. I went for the corners reasoning that if I ate the middle first the corners would fall off and be lost forever. Now here’s where the weakness of the triangular shape came into play. The exposed corners were dry as a bone, causing the loss of at least half a rating point in the taste category. However, the overall taste was saved when getting a little bun with a bite. The fish taste still stood out in a positive way and the softness of the bun made it just moist enough to complement the overall flavor. In addition, when I got to the very middle, the horsey sauce added a nice punch.