Best Burgers in Manhattan
The 10 best burgers in Manhattan, pub patties, smash burgers, dry-aged steakhouse builds, and the new fast-casual entrants driving the 2026 burger surge.
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- 1Upper East Side · $$ · 77 St (6) · 1291 3rd Ave
A 1972 Upper East Side pub on Third Avenue with watermelon-themed walls, cash-only for most of its existence, and serving the same lightly-seasoned griddle burger to lawyers and Met Gala leftovers for fifty years.
Because the J.G. Melon burger is the platonic Manhattan pub patty, eight ounces, griddled, no nonsense, with cottage fries that actually taste like potato, and the price has barely moved since the early 2000s.
Order Cheeseburger with cottage fries, dressed with raw onion and pickle.
Eat at the bar rather than waiting for a table, the bartender will pour a Bloody Mary while the kitchen turns the burger in roughly seven minutes flat.
Photo: Jim.henderson, CC BY-SA 4.0 Photo: Jim.henderson, CC BY-SA 4.0 - 2Greenwich Village · $$$$ · W 4 St-Wash Sq (A B C D E F M) · 113 MacDougal StMap ↗verified 10w ago
The Keith McNally-revived 1937 tavern on MacDougal Street whose Black Label Burger uses a Pat LaFrieda dry-aged blend (skirt, brisket, short rib) with caramelized onions, a mid-2000s benchmark that other steakhouse burgers measure against.
Because the Black Label is the burger that defined the modern dry-aged steakhouse-patty category, and Minetta's ratio of dry-aged depth to caramelized-onion sweetness has been imitated but not surpassed.
Order The Black Label Burger with pommes frites.
Reserve four to six weeks ahead for a Saturday, the Black Label is exclusively a dinner item and walk-ins are essentially impossible at the corner table.
Photo: MainlyTwelve, CC BY-SA 4.0 Photo: MainlyTwelve, CC BY-SA 4.0 - 3
Au Cheval▲ buzzing
Tribeca · $$$$ · Canal St (6 J N Q R W Z) · 33 Cortlandt AlleyMap ↗verified 10w agoThe NYC outpost of the Chicago double-cheeseburger institution, opened in Tribeca on Cortlandt Alley with the same blistered double patty, dijonnaise, and optional thick-cut bacon that made the West Loop original famous.
Because Au Cheval treats the burger like a chef build, the patties are smashed but seasoned aggressively, the cheese is American but folded with the sear, and the bacon (when added) is custom-cured at half-an-inch thick.
Order Double cheeseburger with thick-cut bacon and a fried egg.
Add the bacon to the double cheeseburger, the unbaconed version misses the smoke note that separates Au Cheval from the rest of the smash-burger pack.
@auchevaldiner ↗Au Cheval
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- 4East Village · $ · Astor Pl (6) · 91 E 7th St
A small East 7th Street smash-burger counter that opened in 2021 and almost single-handedly restarted the Manhattan smash-burger conversation, fast, cheap, takeout-first, with a brioche-style martin's potato roll.
Because 7th Street perfected the late-night smash format that the rest of the borough copied, short order time, crispy lacy edges from a true smash, and a price point that lets you order two without thinking about it.
Order Two single smash cheeseburgers, no toppings.
Order two singles instead of a double, the lacy edge from each smash is the texture you are paying for, and stacking two singles doubles the crust per ounce of beef.
Photo: BanjoZebra, CC BY 4.0 Photo: BanjoZebra, CC BY 4.0 - 5West Village · $ · Spring St (C E) · 51 Macdougal StMap ↗verified 10w ago
George Motz's West Village storefront opened in 2023 as a homage to the Oklahoma fried-onion smash style, paper-thin patty smashed onto a pile of shaved onions, finished on a butter-toasted bun.
Because Hamburger America is the only spot here doing the fried-onion Oklahoma smash with proper technique, the onions caramelize into the meat in a way that no Manhattan kitchen had attempted before, and Motz's cookbook proves it.
Order Oklahoma fried-onion smash burger with a strawberry shake.
Get the Oklahoma fried-onion build rather than the standard smash, the technique difference is the entire point of the restaurant existing.
Photo: Transpoman, CC BY-SA 4.0 Photo: Transpoman, CC BY-SA 4.0 - 6
Corner Bistro▲ buzzing
West Village · $ · 8 Av (A C E L) · 331 W 4th StMap ↗verified 10w agoA 1961 West Village dive on West 4th Street that has outlived nearly every other neighborhood pub of its generation, serving an inexpensive flame-broiled patty in a 25-square-foot kitchen.
Because Corner Bistro is the rare Manhattan burger that has not raised its price into the modern $20-pub-burger range, the Bistro Burger remains under $15 and the room itself feels suspended in a 1980s Greenwich Village.
Order The Bistro Burger with a side of fries and a McSorley's Ale.
Bring cash and patience, the bar still operates as a cash-first room, and the wait at 9 p.m. on a Friday will run forty-five minutes.
Photo: Eden, Janine and Jim, CC BY 2.0 Photo: Eden, Janine and Jim, CC BY 2.0 - 7Midtown · $$ · 57 St (M) · 119 W 56th StMap ↗verified 10w ago
A hidden, neon-only counter behind a velvet curtain in the lobby of Le Parker Meridien on West 56th Street, graffiti walls, paper menus, and a four-item ordering system that has not changed in twenty years.
Because the Burger Joint is the most discordant location-versus-product on this list, luxury Midtown hotel lobby on one side of the curtain, fluorescent-lit dive on the other, and the burger holds up to either.
Order Cheeseburger, medium, the works, with fries and a Sam Adams.
Order at the counter exactly: meat, doneness, cheese, toppings, any deviation gets you sent to the back of the line, which is an enforced part of the room's character.
Photo: endymion120, CC BY 2.0 Photo: endymion120, CC BY 2.0 - 8Midtown East · $$$ · Lexington Av/53 St (6 E F) · 915 3rd AveMap ↗verified 10w ago
A Third Avenue saloon that has been serving since 1884, sawdust-on-the-floor old, Frank Sinatra-era regulars, and the Cadillac Burger that is still cited in steakhouse-burger conversations.
Because P.J. Clarke's is the oldest continuously-operating burger room in the borough, and the Cadillac (with bacon, cheese, and a thicker patty) is the version Sinatra reportedly called the Cadillac of burgers.
Order The Cadillac Burger (bacon and cheese) with onion rings.
Sit in the front bar room rather than the dining room, the kitchen is closer, the burger comes out hotter, and the room is the historic part of the building.
Photo: Kenneth C. Zirkel, CC BY-SA 4.0 Photo: Kenneth C. Zirkel, CC BY-SA 4.0 - 9SoHo · $$ · Spring St (C E) · 529 Broome StMap ↗verified 10w ago
A Broome Street SoHo counter that put the over-the-top milkshake-and-burger format into the global Instagram bloodstream after 2015, with chef Joe Isidori building burgers underneath dessert-engineered shakes.
Because Black Tap's All-American Burger is genuinely well-built when you order it without the Instagram shake on top, Pat LaFrieda blend, brioche bun, perfectly-rendered American cheese.
Order The All-American Burger with a single side of seasoned fries.
Order the burger separately from the famous CrazyShake, the shake is engineered to be photographed, the burger is engineered to be eaten, and combining them on the same table is logistically chaotic.
@blacktap ↗Black Tap Craft Burgers
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- 10Hell's Kitchen · $$ · 42 St-Port Authority Bus Terminal (1 2 3 7 A C E N Q R S W) · 630 9th AveMap ↗verified 10w ago
5 Napkin Burger on Ninth Avenue at 45th, a 2008 opening that named itself after the number of napkins required for the rosemary-aioli-and-comté ten-ouncer that defined the early-2010s pre-theater burger era.
Because 5 Napkin built the rosemary-aioli, gruyère-and-caramelized-onion combination that the rest of the bistro-burger category copied through the 2010s, and the 10-oz patty is one of the larger builds on this list.
Order The 5 Napkin Burger (10 oz with rosemary aioli and gruyère).
Order it medium-rare, the kitchen still cooks to a true center temperature rather than the cautious medium-well that most pre-theater rooms default to in Hell's Kitchen.
@5napkinburger ↗5 Napkin Burger
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Good to know
- What is the best burger in Manhattan?
- Our current #1 reflects a blend of editorial sourcing from Eater, The Infatuation, Time Out, and Grub Street, plus live community votes. The order shifts as votes come in — what is first today may not be first tomorrow.
- Where is the most famous burger in Manhattan?
- Three contenders: J.G. Melon on the Upper East Side has been serving the same pub burger since 1972; Corner Bistro in the West Village is a 1961 cash-only institution; the Burger Joint hidden behind the curtain at Le Parker Meridien is the most photographed dive-bar-inside-a-luxury-hotel build in NYC.
- What is the best smash burger in Manhattan?
- 7th Street Burger started the modern Manhattan smash boom from a tiny East Village storefront in 2021. Hamburger America brought the fried-onion Oklahoma smash to West Village in 2023. Both rank consistently in this list. The order on this page reflects votes.
- What is the best dry-aged burger in Manhattan?
- Minetta Tavern's Black Label Burger uses a custom Pat LaFrieda dry-aged blend (skirt, brisket, short rib) with caramelized onions; it is regularly cited as the gold standard for the dry-aged-burger category in NYC. Au Cheval (Tribeca) is the closest rival on technique.
- How much does a burger cost in Manhattan?
- A pub-style burger at J.G. Melon or Corner Bistro runs $18 to $24. Smash burgers at 7th Street or Hamburger America are $11 to $15. Steakhouse-tier burgers (Minetta Black Label, Au Cheval, P.J. Clarke's Cadillac) climb to $32 to $40 before sides.