You’ve heard the phrase, “Where’s the beef?” At McDonald’s, a popular menu item had one TikTok creator asking: Where’s the cheese?
Michigan-based Royal Bentley (@royalbentley1) recently posted a viral video documenting his Filet-O-Fish order at the fast food chain. The video has almost 487,000 views 29,000 likes. The text overlay on the video reads, “McDonald’s On My S___ List FrFr.”
In the video, Royal pulled into a McDonald’s drive-thru and pointed the camera at the menu board, which featured pictures of both the single and double versions of the Filet-O-Fish sandwich. “Is that a full piece of cheese on this sandwich?” he said, adding, “It better be a full piece of cheese or we’re gonna have a [expletive] problem.” The standard version of the sandwich comes with a half slice of cheese, as longtime internet dwellers might know.
Royal ordered the sandwich at the microphone and asked the McDonald’s worker, “And does that come with a half piece of cheese or is the full piece of cheese extra?” Before he could get the second part of the sentence out, the worker cut in to say: “Half slice.”
“That’s crazy,” Royal said.
Later in the video, the creator claimed that in the past, he got full slices of cheese on the Filet-O-Fish at different locations in the suburbs without asking for it. “But every time I go to a McDonald’s in Detroit? Half slice,” he said, adding that he thought the amount of cheese shown on the menu photo was misleading.
One commenter wrote, “she answered so quick too.” Another viewer replied, “cuz she knows the only ones asking if it’s a full slice is trolling.”
McDonald’s official recipe for Filet-O-Fish has always called for a half slice of cheese.
“We go by the same Filet-O-Fish recipe one of our franchisees came up with way back when in 1961,” according to a page on the company’s website titled, “Why does Filet-o-Fish only have a half-slice of cheese?” It continued, “Who knew, right? Of course, you can always ask for ‘extra’ cheese the next time you order a tasty Filet-O-Fish at your local McDonald’s. It’s the 21st Century, after all.”
Last month, Chicago’s WGN 9 news station reported that the original iteration of the sandwich didn’t contain cheese at all. Filet-O-Fish hit the menu nationwide in 1965.
McDonald’s has reinforced the half-slice guideline to its customers on social media over the years, so anyone getting a full slice by default is the exception and not the rule. In 2022, the brand told one customer on Twitter (now X), “our Filet-O-Fish always comes with a half slice of cheese. this is to save on the flavor of the sandwich.”
The company seems to be serious about the flavor thing. A McDonald’s spokeswoman told the Peoria Journal Star in 2010, “When you think of a cheeseburger, it’s really cheesy. With the filet, a half slice complements the taste, rather than overwhelming it.”
Still, some Tik Tok users were perplexed.
“Wym half of slice? Never heard of this,” a viewer commented on Royal’s video.
“My local McDonalds used to give a full piece of cheese. I might go tomorrow just to see if they still do,” one person commented.
Plenty of other viewers knew the half-slice rule, including several people who have worked for the golden arches.
“When I worked at McDonald’s in my teens it was a half slice on filets … never understood!” a viewer wrote.
“I used to be a manager. It’s true they’re only supposed to do half slice,” another comment read.
“I live in the country. I always get half slice,” someone else wrote.
“I don’t understand, but im a manager [and] its definitely a half slice … i work out in dearborn. but if they get extra cheese we give a full slice with the half slice of cheese too … its crazy,” one person commented.
“I worked at a Mcds many years ago in Missouri and we had to do half a piece. It made no sense,” someone added.
“I’ve never been to any McDonald’s where its a whole slice,” a comment read. Royal replied, “If you go to [an] airport McDonald’s they give you a full slice of cheese … I know that for a fact.”
“My husband will bring a slice of cheese with him,” a viewer offered.
@royalbentley1 Give me my damn cheese McDonald’s😡😡😡 False Advertisement orrrrrrrr The D word🫢 #clutchmypearls #detroit #food #foodreview #mcdonalds #pissedoff #halfslice ♬ original sound – Royal Bentley
Plenty of comments pointed out that the double Filet-O-Fish does come with a full slice of cheese (to go with the two filets of fish). As to Royal’s claim that the photo on the menu did not accurately represent the half slice of cheese, one viewer pointed out, “Well technically they don’t show the back [of the sandwich] … I’m guessing they push the cheese forward to look like a full slice.” Another user added, “The double gets a whole slice. The picture shows that it isn’t a whole slice like the double.”
In an interview with the Daily Dot over TikTok direct message, Royal said that he’s worked in high-end retail for 20 years, and in his opinion, companies should stand by what they advertise. The creator said he had not seen the comments suggesting that the menu photo showed a half slice of cheese on the single Filet-O-Fish. He maintained that it looked like a full slice of cheese to him.
“What inspired me to share the video is on several occasions in different locations in the city in the wealthier locations they offer you a full piece of cheese but in urban areas it’s always half and the reason that they give you” is because it’s a franchise, Royal said. “That’s BS.”
Royal also told the Dot, “Something else that I would want consumers to pay attention to is, it’s not about being rude and nasty. It’s about standing up for what is right and what is fair especially when prices are going up and quality is going down. If you offer it, it should look like the picture on the advertisement, just because a cook, a chef, or restaurant is having a bad day [it] should not change the quality of the food, especially for [a] $1 billion business.”
The Daily Dot reached out to McDonald’s via email.