McDonald's new Old Bay Filet-O-Fish made its debut Monday.
The new sandwich, available at more than 700 participating restaurants in Maryland, Virginia, Delaware and Washington, has actually been available for a week or so, but the official start date was Monday. The sandwich is being offered at the limited-time special price of two for $4.
We had to have one. We bought four of them, and asked some colleagues to help us taste them.
Know this. The Old Bay Filet-O-Fish is simply the traditional McDonald's Filet-O-Fish with the addition of an Old Bay-seasoned tartar sauce.
One colleague gave it an unreserved thumbs-up before he ran into a meeting. Another said he was overwhelmed by the Old Bay flavor at first but once he adjusted to it, he enjoyed the little kick provided by the seasoning blend, a mix of celery salt, red and black peppers and other spices.
I have McDonald's about once a year these days, and I've never been a big Filet-O-Fish fan. But I enjoyed my sandwich, which had that distinct McDonald's "mouth feel" -- that oddly comforting sensation of solid food dissolving in your mouth.
The seasoned tartar sauce really isn't half bad. I got pickle at the first taste and pepper right after. And it's more visually appealing than the traditional Filet-O-Fish tartar sauce, which was inadvertently applied to one of the four sandwiches we ordered.
And I think the box it comes in is cool.