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.
- 01
J.G. Melon
Upper East Side · 1291 3rd AveA 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.
- 02
Minetta Tavern▲ buzzing
Greenwich Village · 113 MacDougal StThe 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.
- 03