Lots of Steak N’ Shake talk in New York since one opened up a couple of blocks from my office. I waited until I got to Florida to give it a try.

The sandwich: Western BBQ Double Steakburger from Steak N’ Shake, many locations. This particular burger came from the Steak N’ Shake on Route 1 in Stuart, Fla.

The construction: Two burger patties, with cheese (American? Cheddar?) between them and on top, bacon, fried onions, regular onions and barbecue sauce on a toasted bun.

What it looks like:

How it tastes: What am I supposed to be comparing this to again?

Because when Steak N’ Shake arrived in New York, people acted like it belonged in the Shake Shack/Five Guys/In-N-Out pantheon of fast-ish food burgers, and that’s just not true. Not even close.

Straight up, no disrespect: The meat’s just not as good. On those burgers, you taste the delicious hamburgery goodness of the ground beef. On this, the meat’s a little chewy and kind of gray, not particularly plentiful or flavorful, and mostly serves the base upon which the toppings can do their bidding.

As for the toppings: The fried onions are great. They don’t taste like onions at all, which is fine by me. They’re basically just little bits of salty fry-stuff sprinkled on top of the burger, and they maintain their crunchiness throughout. Easily the best part of the sandwich.

The barbecue sauce, on the other hand, is a bit sweet for my tastes and without much tang to it. I might have preferred ketchup, and that’s a pretty damning thing to say about barbecue sauce. The bacon is good: It tastes like bacon, which is better than most non-Wendy’s fast-food burger places can say, and its lack of crunchiness is more than made up for by the fried onions.

The cheese is creamy but its flavor gets overpowered by that of the barbecue sauce. The bun is notably good: A touch toasted, but still soft on the inside and clearly fresh.

The Steak N’ Shake burger holds up reasonably well against the best that the national chains have to offer and — in Florida at least — is comparably priced. If I were choosing between this and a Double Baconator from Wendy’s though, it’s hard to say I’d continue picking this after the novelty wore off.

What it’s worth: $4.99 with fries and a soda, which is a good deal. But if you’re going to want to eat in the dining room because you need to photograph this thing and the interior lighting sucks in your rental car, know that Steak N’ Shake has waiter service so you’ll have to drop a few extra bucks for a tip.

How it rates: 65 out of 100.