Why McDonald's Filet-O-Fish Always Has Wonky Cheese

The Filet-O-Fish remains one of the most polarizing fast food items in existence, as the fish sandwich has enduring popularity, especially during Lent each year, but not without naysayers in the background. While the Filet-O-Fish is likely to remain on the permanent McDonald's menu despite frequent criticisms of the product, one of the most common and valid critiques is that the cheese is often misplaced on the sandwich. However, according to former McDonald's corporate chef Mike Haracz, there's a perfectly logical explanation for this odd occurrence, and it all comes down to how each Filet-O-Fish is crafted.

Haracz explained the entire process of how the Filet-O-Fish is made in a TikTok video, making it clear why the sandwich's unique construction results in its oftentimes lopsided cheese. Because the sandwich is put together in the box, with the crown of the bun on one half of the box and the heel on the other side at first, and the cheese isn't placed directly on top of the fish patty during its assembly, you can sometimes be left with a piece of cheese that is half-hanging off the sandwich.

"The crown gets the tartar sauce, and the heel gets the half-slice of cheese," Haracz said in the video, noting that the crown also gets the fish fillet applied directly to it in the steps to follow. "The process is you just close the box really [quickly], so that the heel and the cheese land on the top. But if you do it wrong, if you do it too quick ... that heel might not land where it's supposed to."

Now, the assembly of each Filet-O-Fish is a major reason why the cheese appears so wonky once you receive it in its box, but you can also partially blame the sandwich's use of just a half-slice of cheese. McDonald's has only put a half-slice of cheese on its Filet-O-Fish since the sandwich's inception, claiming that a full slice distracts from and overwhelms the taste of both the fish and tartar sauce. However, one has to assume that having a rectangular piece of cheese rather than the full square size most burgers and sandwiches have makes it more noticeable when the cheese is misplaced on the sandwich.

Luckily, this perceived weakness of the legendary McDonald's sandwich is much easier to fix than changing how the chain traditionally assembles the sandwich. While Donald Trump believes the Filet-O-Fish needs more tartar sauce, the answer to correcting the sandwich in this case is to customize your order and request extra cheese when prompted. This results in one full slice of cheese being used instead, making it much more likely that the cheese is evenly distributed on the sandwich. However, it is important to note that this upgrade will cost extra, and the price will depend on your location.