When I decided to critique the fish sandwiches from the myriad of area fast food chains, I deliberately omitted McDonald’s and Burger King. They’ve had fish sandwiches ever since I can remember, and they’re largely known by anyone who’s ever gone to those joints. But I realized that over the course of a couple months, I pretty much covered every chain you can find in the San Diego area. *please don’t make me go to McDonald’s please don’t make me go to Burger King*
Luckily, my recent trip through the Eastern Time Zone brought me to a never-before-visited chain: Roy Rogers.
This particular Roy Rogers — a Western-themed chain that specializes in chicken — was located on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Half-joking, I checked to see if they had a fish sandwich… and they did. One fish sandwich, please.
It took a while to make; they fry up your fish after you place your order. While waiting, I took a look around. One thing that makes Roy Rogers stand out was their “Fixin’s Bar,” where you could dress up a burger or a chicken sandwich with as much lettuce, tomato, pickle and condiments as you like. So when my order came up, I added some lettuce and tomato.
Having never eaten at a Roy Rogers before, I don’t know how the rest of their fried food tastes (I’m looking at you, Wendy’s, with your similarly seasoned fish and chicken patties). But this slab of Icelandic cod was plenty fish for my appetite. And at $4.39, it wasn’t the worst bang-for-the-buck, either (the extra lettuce and tomato helped me get my money’s worth). As far as the eating experience is concerned, the fish was hot but was tender and flaky inside the breading. The bun was soft and the tartar sauce was standard. I’m ambivalent whether my fish sandwich comes with a cheese single or not (this one does). I’d like to give some stats about its fat and calorie numbers, but the Roy Rogers website keeps its fish information a secret.
(An aside: Some fast food chain needs to make a fish sandwich out of perch! >sigh< Luckily, there’s no shortage of places to get perch back east, and I had my fill over the course of several days.)
P.Ho
Editors note: This was Paul’s second fish sandwich of the day. The first was consumed at the Reading Terminal Market in Philadelphia. Paul loves his fish! -D
My Burning Kitchen 
very cool! my husband is more of a fish sandwich person than i am. i like how they have a fixings bar at this roy rogers place.
Yeah, I’m not much of a fish sandwich person either unless the fish unbreaded and not formed into unfamiliar chunks.