Burger King's Fiery Big Fish Sandwich Isn't Much Of A Catch

Lent is officially here, which means it's also fast food fish sandwich season. It's time to celebrate the return of Popeyes' fried flounder and Culver's walleye, but along with those reigning champions, someone's got to introduce something new. In this case, it's Burger King, which has recently released a spicy offering: the Fiery Big Fish Sandwich.

The new menu item features a panko-breaded square of Alaskan pollock doused in Burger King's triple-pepper spicy glaze, served on a brioche bun with tartar sauce, pickles, and lettuce. While I'm not a Lent practitioner myself, I do love me some fried fish, so I visited my nearby Burger King location to see if this new sandwich was worthy of any springtime praise.

First off, I have to hand it to whoever made my sandwich, because its build looked pretty nice. It was neatly assembled, nothing was falling off, and it didn't look like an elephant sat on it. Gotta give credit where it's due!

I do have one starting gripe with the Fiery Big Fish sandwich, which is Burger King's claim that the pollock is panko-breaded. If it is, it certainly doesn't look like it. Anything fried with panko usually has a varied, mottled exterior texture that looks almost furry (think about what Japanese tonkatsu), while this square of fish looked batter-dipped. I think the word "panko" is mostly marketing here to make Burger King appear more interesting than it is.

Second of all, the fish filet itself is woefully thin. We've had this complaint about its sister sandwich, the Big Fish, in our previous fish sandwich rankings, where it sank almost to the bottom of the list. If it's called the Big Fish, it sets a high bar for itself. My first bite confirmed that there's hardly any fish in this thing, and this made feel as if Burger King is pandering to a Lenten audience it doesn't actually care too much about.

Lastly, while the pepper glaze on the fish filet adds a nice flavor, it's mainly oil-based (sort of like chili crisp), which makes the sandwich heavy and especially greasy for something that size. The sweet tartar sauce does manage to cut through all that salt, and the pickles perk up some bites, but needing a lot of napkins to clean up afterwards isn't super appealing—even less so if you're a car eater, because getting your steering wheel greasy is gross.

There is one upside to this thing, and that's its price. I'm happy to say the Fiery Big Fish is an affordable $3.99 at my location. To put this in perspective, a standalone Whopper is $5.69, and Burger King's limited-time sandwich, the Candied Bacon Whopper, is an eye-watering $6.99. (The Filet-O-Fish at the McDonald's down the street is $4.79.)

So the price is good, though that skimpy fish portion is quite disappointing. If you're a price shopper seeking a fish sandwich, this'll do in a pinch. But in terms of its execution, I found myself thinking I'd have been happier with almost anything else from Burger King's menu—which is why I can't recommend you go out your way to get the Fiery Big Fish.

Fish sandwich lovers, you're better off going to Popeyes or Culver's and shelling out some extra money (if you're willing to spend it) for their far superior Lenten menu offerings. There are, as they say, plenty of other fish in the sea.