Review: Carl's Jr. - Red Hook Beer Battered Cod Fish Sandwich

Carl's Jr.'s Red Hook Beer Battered Cod Fish Sandwich features a cod filet fried with batter made with Redhook Extra Special Bitter (ESB) ale, lettuce, tomato, tartar sauce, and a sesame bun.

It goes for $3.99 in my area but I received this courtesy of Carl's Jr.

I actually had to get this twice because the first time around they gave me a breaded chicken filet and it looked like this:

Does chicken go well with tartar sauce? No, no it does not.

The second time around, I got the correct fish filet. There's a good width to it but it's quite thin. The batter looked nice but there's not much crunch from it, at least not smothered inside the sandwich. It was moist but only a bit of the fish flavor comes through. Also, because of the thinness, you don't get that flaky texture.

The bun was spongy, hearty, and a little dry. It felt a little too big for the sandwich.

The lettuce was a bit wilted and the tomato overripe, but the main problem with sandwich was way too much tartar sauce.

It's a little too tangy and comes spread on both halves of the bun. The moisture from it quickly seeped into the bun, fried batter, and lettuce, lending a soggy feeling to the sandwich. It could have also used some more seasoning.

Overall, Carl's Jr.'s Red Hook Beer Battered Cod Fish Sandwich was disappointing. The tartar sauce brought down the entire sandwich. It covered up the flavors and blunted the textures of the other components. They should really consider using much less of it.

Nutritional Info - Carl's Jr. Redhook Beer-Battered Cod Fish Sandwich (284g)
Calories - 550 (from Fat - 170)
Fat - 19g (Saturated Fat - 3.5g)
Sodium - 1140mg
Carbs - 74g (Sugar - 12g)
Protein - 21g