The best burgers in New York are the ShackBurger at Shake Shack’s original Madison Square Park kiosk, J.G. Melon’s cash-only cheeseburger and Minetta Tavern’s $38 Black Label Burger. Prices run from $7.75 for Hamburger America’s fried onion smash to $38 for the Black Label, with most icons between $15 and $34.
New York didn’t just adopt the burger — it argued about it for a century and turned it into a civic sport. This is the city of the cash-only tavern classic, the burger hidden behind a hotel curtain, the dry-aged steakhouse burger that people cross boroughs for at lunchtime.
Whether you’re a first-time visitor with a list to conquer or a local settling a debate, these are the best burgers in New York right now — institutions, legends and one or two insider secrets, from the Upper East Side to Red Hook to Woodside, Queens. If you’re comparing burger cities, our best burgers in Dubai and best burgers in Islamabad lists are the other stops on the tour.
An editorial list: our picks, based on our own research and on public reviews and ratings — not a sponsored ranking. Details change, and images are illustrative (see the note at the end).
1. Shake Shack — Madison Square Park, Flatiron
Every empire starts somewhere, and Shake Shack started as a hot dog cart in Madison Square Park. The permanent kiosk that opened in 2004 — still serving in the park where it all began — is now a place of pilgrimage, the original location of a global phenomenon.
The ShackBurger is the one: an Angus beef cheeseburger with lettuce, tomato and ShackSauce on a soft potato bun, with crinkle-cut fries and frozen custard to complete the ritual. Prices stay gentle for the legend you’re eating — a single runs around $7–8 on recent menu listings, a double around $10.29. Order, find a table under the trees, and eat it where the queue was invented.
2. J.G. Melon — Upper East Side
Since 1972, J.G. Melon on Third Avenue at 74th Street has done one thing exactly the same way: a flat-top griddle cheeseburger on a soft unseeded bun with pickles, served with a pile of round cottage fries in a green-checked tavern room. Cash only. No reservations. No reinvention required.
It’s the burger New Yorkers name when they want to sound like they know — and the one they actually crave. A recent roundup put the cheeseburger at $14.50, remarkable value for a Manhattan institution. Arrive early or prepare to wait at the bar; the Melon does not hurry for anyone, and that is precisely the charm.
3. Minetta Tavern — Greenwich Village
A 1937 Village tavern reborn as a Parisian-meets-New-York steakhouse, Minetta Tavern on MacDougal Street is home to the most famous splurge burger in America: the Black Label Burger, currently listed at $38.
The patty is a prime dry-aged blend, cooked in clarified butter, topped with caramelized onions and served with pommes frites — no cheese, no distractions. The $33 Minetta Burger (with cheddar) is excellent, but the Black Label is the event: rich, funky, steakhouse-deep. Book ahead, dress a little, and treat it like the occasion it is.
4. Burger Joint — Midtown (hidden in the Thompson Central Park hotel)
Walk into the polished lobby of the Thompson Central Park hotel on West 56th Street, find the red curtain, and step through into another world: a graffiti-covered, cash-register-and-counter burger den that feels smuggled in from another decade. Burger Joint is New York’s worst-kept secret — and still one of its best.
The order is the cheeseburger “with the works” (recent reviews put it at $16, fries around $9) — a properly grilled, no-frills burger wrapped in paper, eaten under vintage posters. Part of the flavour is the contrast: five-star lobby outside, dive-bar perfection inside.
5. Peter Luger Steak House — Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Yes, the 1887 steakhouse legend makes a burger — and for those in the know, it might be the best-value dry-aged burger in the city. The Luger Burger packs over half a pound of USDA Prime beef, dry-aged in-house, onto a bun; cheese and fries are extras, and it costs $22.95 on the current menu.
The catch: it’s traditionally a lunch-only affair, so arrive before 4pm. Eating a Luger burger under those famous ceilings, in the Williamsburg original, is one of New York’s great food bargains hiding in plain sight.
6. Red Hook Tavern — Red Hook, Brooklyn
From Billy Durney of Hometown Bar-B-Que fame, Red Hook Tavern’s burger is a deliberate homage to the Luger classic — and many now argue the student has matched the master. The Dry-Aged Red Hook Tavern Burger ($34 on the current menu) blends dry-aged strip and chuck with American cheese and a thick slice of raw white onion, frites alongside.
The trip to 329 Van Brunt Street — ferry, bus or a determined walk — is part of the experience: Red Hook’s cobblestones and harbour views, then one of the most deeply beefy burgers in the five boroughs.
7. Emily — Clinton Hill, Brooklyn
Emily in Clinton Hill (919 Fulton Street; there’s a West Village sibling too) is loved for wood-fired pizza — but its burger built a cult of its own. The Emmy Burger (around $32 on current ordering menus) stacks Pat LaFrieda dry-aged beef with EMMY sauce, caramelized onions and cheddar in a pretzel bun, with waffle fries on the side.
It’s a saucy, drippy, two-hands-and-extra-napkins situation — the kind of burger that converts pizza loyalists mid-meal. Go for the pizza reputation if you must; leave talking about the burger.
8. Raoul’s — SoHo
The most exclusive burger on this list isn’t the most expensive — it’s the scarcest. Raoul’s, the French bistro at 180 Prince Street, serves its Burger Au Poivre in strictly limited numbers: only about 12 a night at dinner, at the bar only (it’s on the menu at brunch, which is the insider’s move).
The burger itself justifies the strategy: a Pat LaFrieda blend crusted in peppercorns, Saint-André triple-cream cheese, watercress and red onion, with duck-fat fries and a cognac au poivre sauce for dipping. It runs $32 — if you can get one. Arrive early, sit at the bar, order fast.
9. Hamburger America — SoHo / Greenwich Village border
Burger historian George Motz literally wrote the book (and made the film) on America’s regional burgers — then opened this counter luncheonette at 51 MacDougal Street in late 2023 so you can eat the research. Critics responded by calling its smash burger probably the best in the city.
The signature is the Fried Onion Burger — Oklahoma-style, smashed into a pile of shaved onions, with American cheese and pickles on a Martin’s potato roll — at just $7.75 for a single, $12.50 for a double on the current menu. Rotating monthly specials tour a different state’s burger tradition. This is the best burger education in New York, and it’s priced like a lunch counter, because it is one.
10. Donovan’s Pub — Woodside, Queens
Since 1966, Donovan’s Pub on Roosevelt Avenue in Woodside has been serving the big, no-fuss pub burgers that Queens swears by — the kind of place where the burger needs no PR because the neighbourhood does it.
The Classic Cheeseburger ($17.95 on the current menu; bacon cheeseburger $19.95) and The Woodsider with sharp cheddar and bacon come with your choice of fries, onion rings or sweet potato fries, in a warm, wood-panelled Irish pub a short ride from Manhattan. Some lists chase novelty; this one ends with the burger that’s been quietly perfect for nearly sixty years.
More travel guides from Sizzling Magazine: our best places to visit in USA and best places to visit in UAE.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best burger in New York?
It depends on your style. For an icon, the ShackBurger at the original Madison Square Park Shake Shack is a pilgrimage. For old-school perfection, J.G. Melon’s cheeseburger is the connoisseur’s pick, and for a splurge, Minetta Tavern’s Black Label is the city’s most famous burger event.
How much does a good burger cost in New York?
Anywhere from $7.75 for Hamburger America’s Fried Onion Burger to $38 for the Black Label at Minetta Tavern. Most of this list sits between $15 and $34 — classic tavern burgers like J.G. Melon (around $14.50) and Donovan’s ($17.95) are the value legends.
Where can I find the best smash burger in New York?
Hamburger America is the critics’ favourite, with its Oklahoma-style fried onion smash at luncheonette prices. The ShackBurger that started at Madison Square Park remains the global benchmark.
Which New York burger is hardest to get?
Raoul’s Burger Au Poivre — only about a dozen are served each night at dinner, bar only. The insider move is brunch, where it’s on the menu. Peter Luger’s burger is lunch-only too, so plan for before 4pm.
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Editorial note & disclaimer: This list is an editorial feature prepared by the Sizzling Magazine team. The selections and ranking reflect our own editorial judgment, based on our research and on publicly available reviews and ratings at the time of writing — inclusion is not an endorsement, and no business paid or provided goods or services to be listed. Restaurant details, including menus, prices, ratings and opening hours, change over time; please check with the venue before visiting. All restaurant names and trademarks belong to their respective owners and are used for editorial identification only. Photographs and images accompanying this article are illustrative and may not depict the actual dishes or premises of the venues named.
Akif is the founder and editor of Sizzling Magazine, a women’s lifestyle magazine covering beauty, fashion, travel, food, and wellness. Publishing since 2012, he curates practical skincare routines, honest beauty advice, and wearable fashion trends for real women — with a soft spot for old-school home remedies that actually work. Sizzling Magazine is where grandma’s beauty wisdom meets modern trends.
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