As indicated in the lede, this is one of the relatively rare burgers with no cheese. But it doesn't slow it down one bit - it's excellent and highly recommendable.

The lower score comes down to my personal preference in two areas: the onions and the sauce.

Before I expand upon those critiques, a note about the onions. The onions I received in this burger are listed as "sautéed onions" on the joint's menu but they're clearly much, much closer to caramelized. As a pedant I am very perturbed by this but I will let it slide. However, I have taken the liberty of making the correction on this site. I will not apologize.

Onto the substantive critique.

First, I wish the onions packed a bit more of a punch. I realize it's a delicate balance. Caramelized onions can draw too much attention to themselves if done improperly. But I still want more flavor out of them, at least on this burger.

Second, the sauce is... good. I like it. I understand why it's there: all their other burgers and sandwiches feature their house sauce (dubbed royal sauce by Flying Smoker) and/or BBQ sauce. So they wanted something different. Makes perfect sense.

Yet there's just something about it that doesn't hit right. It annoys me even more because I'm not sure how I would fix it. The obvious answer would be to add ketchup to it. But that would come dangerously close in taste to a thousand islands sauce - which is what I suspect the royal sauce is basically a version of. Which would defeat the whole purpose of this sauce's existence.

Anyway, don't be like me. Don't overthink it. Just enjoy the burger, it's great.