The best burgers in Austin, ranked.
JABS won Austin Monthly’s 2026 Burger Bash; Casino El Camino, Dirty Martin’s, Patty Palace, and LeRoy and Lewis cover the dive, classic, smash, and Michelin answers.
The best burgers in Austin split into three different things, and the argument only makes sense once you separate them. There are the dive-bar classics that have been charbroiling since before the tech money, the smash counters that arrived in the last five years, and a handful of destination burgers attached to kitchens that win awards for other food entirely. Ranked below with what to order, what it costs, and when each one is actually open, because the hardest part of a burger list is not the picks. It is turning up on a Tuesday to find the trailer dark.
- Rainey Street · around $10 · latest Thu-Sat, to 2am01
JABS
Illustration: The Austin Newsletter, gouache plate The cleanest answer to the singular question. JABS took Austin Monthly’s Burger Bash in 2026, voted the favorite from a field of 25, and it is the first venue to win the thing two years running. The OG is a double smash with grilled onion, American cheese, pickles, and secret sauce on a Martin’s potato roll, at around ten dollars, and the same build comes with one, two, or three patties. The catch is that it is a trailer, so check before you drive: the Rainey Street one runs latest Thursday through Saturday, and there are two more outposts, a trailer in Cedar Park and a stand inside Fareground downtown. A first brick-and-mortar is under construction at 1920 East Riverside Drive.
- Downtown (East 6th) · $15.50-$19 · daily 11:30am-2am02
Casino El Camino
Illustration: The Austin Newsletter, gouache plate The dive answer, the biggest-burger answer, and the 2am answer, all at one window on East Sixth. Every burger is built on three quarters of a pound of charbroiled Angus and arrives cooked medium unless you say otherwise, which is worth knowing before it lands. The Amarillo at $15.50 is the first-visit order, with roasted serrano, jalapeño jack, and cilantro mayo; the Madison at $19 adds beer-braised pork belly and a Shiner Bock gastrique. The kitchen cooks to order and says so on the menu, so the wait is real. Takeout adds a dollar an item.
- South Austin (Garrison Park) · $10 Mondays, $16 otherwise · closed Tue03
LeRoy and Lewis Barbecue
Illustration: The Austin Newsletter, gouache plate The closest thing Austin has to a Michelin-starred burger, and the star is a barbecue one: the pit carries one-star badges for both 2024 and 2025 on its own site. The patty is smoked brisket, thick and peppery, on a potato roll with chopped grilled onions. The reason it is not a two-hour proposition is the Anytime Eats menu, which you order from at the bar or the walk-up counter instead of joining the barbecue line, and which prices the burger at $10 all day Monday and $16 the rest of the week. Closed Tuesdays. Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday run 11am to 9pm, Friday and Saturday to 10pm. The pits are the other reason to drive out here, and they sit near the top of our Austin barbecue ranking.
- West Campus (Guadalupe) · $7.60-$12.25 · daily from 11am04
Dirty Martin’s Place
Illustration: The Austin Newsletter, gouache plate The most iconic burger in Austin is a question with a 1926 answer. John Martin opened Martin’s Kum-Bak at this address that year, the dirt floors gave the place its nickname, and the menu still files its originals under Kum-Bak: a hamburger at $7.60, a cheeseburger at $8, and the Sissy Burger for anyone who wants it without mustard and onions. The Carhop section is where the regulars go, for the O.T. Special at $9.60 and the D.H. Special at $8.70, a double-cheese burger served on Texas toast. Sunday through Wednesday it runs 11am to 9pm, Thursday through Saturday to 11pm. Monday through Wednesday a small burger and a side run $10, and happy hour drops the small cheeseburger to $5.
- Crestview (Burnet Rd) · charcoal-grilled · carhop service05
Top Notch Hamburgers
Illustration: The Austin Newsletter, gouache plate The other half of the iconic question, and the one people recognize from a film. Ray and Frances Stanish bought Burkhart’s Motor Dining in 1971, renamed it Top Notch, and it has been charcoal-grilling on Burnet Road ever since. The family ran it for 39 years before selling in 2010, and the new owners changed almost nothing, carhop service included. It is the burger joint from Dazed and Confused and from Varsity Blues, and every April 20 the movie plays on an outdoor screen in the lot. Park, order from the car, and let the charcoal do the thing no flat-top can. They publish no hours anywhere, so call ahead rather than trust a listing.
- St. Elmo Brewing + Zilker Brewing · $8.99 single, $11.49 double · Zilker counter closed Mon-Tue06
Patty Palace
Illustration: The Austin Newsletter, gouache plate The top of the city’s smash bracket. The Infatuation put the Double Palace Burger at number one in its Austin smashburger rankings in August 2026, on the strength of the thinnest patty and the darkest crust in town, and it is $11.49. The single is $8.99 and the vegan version $9.99, all on the same build of American cheese, pickles, sauce, mustard, and grilled onions. Two trailers, two schedules, and this is the part people get wrong: the St. Elmo Brewing counter on Industrial Boulevard runs every day, while the Zilker Brewing counter on East Sixth is closed Monday and Tuesday and does not open until 1pm on Thursday, Friday, and Sunday. It is a trailer, like a lot of the best food in this city, which the food truck guide covers in full.
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- Butler Pitch & Putt, 201 Lee Barton Dr · $12 · course open daily 8am-8pm07
Gimme Burger
Illustration: The Austin Newsletter, gouache plate Second in those same smashburger rankings, and the most specific setting on this page: the on-site food truck at a nine-hole par-3 golf course south of Lady Bird Lake. The Double Wagyu is $12, two patties smashed hard onto the griddle with American cheese, mustard, diced onion, and pickles on a sesame bun, and you can order fried okra alongside it. The address is the course’s own, 201 Lee Barton Drive, with a small free lot and a dog-friendly courtyard; the course runs 8am to 8pm daily and closes now and then for leagues and private events. It came out of the kitchen at Olamaie, which closed in July 2026.
- North Loop · sides included · daily 11am-midnight08
Workhorse Bar
Illustration: The Austin Newsletter, gouache plate The Austin Chronicle picked this one as the city’s best burger in July 2024, and the argument was mostly arithmetic. The Bastrop Burger was $11.25 when the paper ran the piece, grass-fed beef from Central Texas ranchers in the venue’s own words, dressed plainly with lettuce, tomato, pickle, and onion, and a substantial pile of parmesan fries comes with it rather than appearing on a separate line of the bill. Swap the fries for sweet potato fries, mac and cheese, jalapeño creamed corn, or a side salad at no extra charge. It is open 11am to midnight every day, holidays included, and the kitchen closes at 11:45pm, which makes it one of the few dependable late answers on the north side.
- North Loop (Airport Blvd) · $13 Yenta · closed Mon09
Jewboy Burgers
Illustration: The Austin Newsletter, gouache plate The most specific thing on any Austin burger is a potato latke, and it sits on top of the Yenta here at $13. The kitchen works a border-and-Reform-Jewish fusion on fresh, never-frozen 80/20 Angus, in a room that used to be a KFC and does not pretend otherwise. The JewBoy Burger is the other order, a third-pound smash with double cheese and grilled onions, and latkes come as a side on their own if you would rather keep them off the bun. Closed Mondays. Tuesday through Thursday and Sunday run to 9pm, Friday and Saturday to 10pm.
- East Riverside · $5 Little OG · daily noon-2am10
Frazier’s Long & Low
Illustration: The Austin Newsletter, gouache plate A five-dollar burger that placed third in the city’s smashburger rankings, which should not be a sentence that works. The Little OG is smashed patties on a steamed potato bun, and Austin Monthly’s account of the method puts the beef at 30 percent fat, cooked in its own tallow, finished with micro-diced onion, ketchup, and mustard. The other thing it has is hours nobody else keeps: noon to 2am, every single day, with brunch running noon to 5pm Saturday and Sunday. If the question is where to eat a real burger at 1am on a Tuesday, this is it.
- Clarksville · $8 single, $12 double · daily, Mon from 3pm11
Hold Out Brewing
Illustration: The Austin Newsletter, gouache plate The brewery answer, a short way west of downtown. The Hold Out Classic is $8 single and $12 double and stays plain on purpose, with shredded lettuce and French’s mustard doing the work, and there is a chicken bacon ranch burger on the board for anyone in the group with opinions. Better Half next door says it plainly on its own site: same culinary team, shared parking lot, so a wrong turn still lands you somewhere good. Monday it opens at 3pm. Tuesday through Friday it runs 11am to 11pm, and weekends start at 10am. The 3pm to 6pm weekday happy hour pairs a single with a small fry for $10.
- Cherrywood (Manor Rd) · closed Mon · brunch Fri-Sun 10am-3pm12
Dai Due
Illustration: The Austin Newsletter, gouache plate A Michelin Bib Gourmand butcher shop and restaurant that happens to make one of the best burgers in the city, which The Infatuation scored 9.2 and called mountainous. It is a double: two grilled patties of dry-aged wagyu ground together with the house bacon, dill pickles, and local cheddar on a sesame bun baked in the building. The kitchen is seed-oil free and deep-fries in beef tallow as a stated policy, so the fries are part of the point. It is closed Mondays. Dinner runs Tuesday through Saturday, 5pm to 10pm, and Sunday to 9pm, while brunch is Friday through Sunday, 10am to 3pm.
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- Tarrytown (Lake Austin Blvd) · happy hour 3-5pm Mon-Fri · daily from noon13
Pool Burger
Illustration: The Austin Newsletter, gouache plate A tiki bar with a burger stand attached, sitting beside Deep Eddy Pool, which makes it the right answer for most of the Austin year. It comes from Larry McGuire and Tom Moorman with Will Bridges of Deep Eddy Cabaret. The Loyal Forever is a double with pickled jalapeños, the Deep End is a triple with Swiss, bacon, and jalapeños, and the Hippy Burger is the veggie one. Take the pool chips with guacamole and jalapeño pimento over the crinkle-cut fries, and finish with the house soft serve. Noon to 10pm most days, to 1am Friday and Saturday. Happy hour runs 3pm to 5pm Monday through Friday, the same narrow window most Austin drink deals keep.
- Mueller · $14.95 double · daily 11am-11pm14
Mission Burger Co.
Illustration: The Austin Newsletter, gouache plate The plant-based pick, and it is not a concession. The Double Mission Burger is $14.95, entirely plant-based, and it placed ninth in the city’s smashburger rankings on the strength of a genuinely thick crust and vegan cheese that melts. It comes from the group behind Mission Street Burrito, Fair Game, and Pinsa Palace, and it runs one other restaurant, in Atlanta, with a second Austin address on South Lamar announced on its own site. Finding the Mueller one is the only hard part: it sits in the Home Depot parking lot in Mueller near the Domino’s, so people drive straight past it, and parking is easy once you know. Open 11am to 11pm daily.
- South Lamar · $39 · dinner only from 4:30pm, no takeout15
Odd Duck
Illustration: The Austin Newsletter, gouache plate Worth saying plainly: this is a $39 burger in a dinner-only restaurant, and it is a different product from everything else on this page. The Infatuation scored it 9.7, the highest number in its entire Austin burger guide. The current menu lists it as the aged wagyu burger, served with spicy tomato pork jam, fried beer cheese, and pickled squash, in a room that holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand. Service starts at 4:30pm daily, last seating is 9pm Sunday through Wednesday and 9:30pm Thursday through Saturday, bookings run through Resy, and there is no takeout.
What we considered and didn’t include
The things we passed on are part of the value. Documented for editorial discipline.
- Hopdoddy Burger BarIt started here in 2010, and it is now 47 restaurants across eight states, ten of them in the Austin metro, under new ownership since June 2026. The burgers are fine. Eating one tells you nothing about Austin, which is the only job this list has.
- In-N-Out and Shake ShackNeither one is from here. In-N-Out is a California institution and Shake Shack started as a kiosk in Madison Square Park. A visitor can get the identical burger at home, and a resident does not need a ranking to find one.
- P. Terry’s Burger StandGenuinely Austin, genuinely good, and genuinely a 38-store Texas chain since it opened here in 2005. It belongs in a conversation about cheap and fast rather than about the best burger in the city. The building most people meant when they said the P. Terry’s is gone anyway: the Capital Plaza store on North I-35 closed on June 28, 2026 for the highway expansion.
- Hat Creek Burger CompanyTwenty-six restaurants across Texas, nine of them in the Austin area, built around playgrounds and family logistics. That is a real reason to go with small children, and it is not a reason to call it the best burger in the city.
- Dan’s HamburgersAn old-school Austin counter and an obvious omission to anyone who grew up here. We could not confirm that the North Lamar location is currently trading, and we do not put a place on a ranking we cannot stand behind. If you find it open, go.
Common questions
- What is the best burger in Austin?
- JABS, if you go by the public vote: it won Austin Monthly’s Burger Bash in 2026 from a field of 25, and it is the first venue to win the event two years in a row. The honest version of the answer depends on which burger you mean. The dive answer is Casino El Camino on East Sixth, the institution answer is Dirty Martin’s on Guadalupe, and the smash answer is Patty Palace.
- What is the best burger in Austin according to Michelin?
- Michelin awards restaurants and never individual dishes, so no Austin burger holds a star of its own. The closest thing is LeRoy and Lewis Barbecue, one of Austin’s six one-star restaurants, which serves its smoked-brisket-patty burger at the Anytime Eats counter for $10 on Mondays and $16 otherwise. Dai Due and Odd Duck both hold Bib Gourmands and both put a burger on the menu.
- What is the most iconic burger in Austin?
- Dirty Martin’s Place, open on Guadalupe since 1926 and calling itself an Austin tradition in its own words. It opened as Martin’s Kum-Bak, and the menu still groups its plainest burgers under that name, starting at $7.60. Top Notch on Burnet Road is the other answer: charcoal-grilled since 1971, still running carhop service, and the burger joint from Dazed and Confused.
- Where is the best smash burger in Austin?
- Patty Palace tops The Infatuation’s Austin smashburger rankings with the Double Palace at $11.49, and Gimme Burger at Butler Pitch and Putt is second at $12 for the Double Wagyu. Frazier’s Long & Low runs a $5 Little OG and placed third. One scheduling warning: Patty Palace runs two trailers, and the Zilker Brewing counter is closed Monday and Tuesday while the St. Elmo Brewing one is open every day.
- What is Pool Burger in Austin?
- A tiki bar with a burger stand at 2315 Lake Austin Boulevard, beside Deep Eddy Pool, from Larry McGuire and Tom Moorman with Will Bridges of Deep Eddy Cabaret. Order the Loyal Forever or the Deep End, add the pool chips with guacamole and jalapeño pimento, and finish with the house soft serve. It opens at noon daily and runs to 10pm Monday through Thursday, 1am Friday and Saturday, and 9pm Sunday.
- Where can I get a burger late at night in Austin?
- Casino El Camino serves until 2am daily on East Sixth. Burger Bar Congress, the burger arm of the JW Marriott, runs 11am to 2:30am daily and has a walk-up window on Congress Avenue, so you never have to enter the hotel. Frazier’s Long & Low on East Riverside goes noon to 2am seven days a week. NADC Burger at 1007 East Sixth runs to 3am on Friday and Saturday and to midnight the rest of the week.
- What about P. Terry’s and Hat Creek?
- Both are real Austin-grown answers to a different question. P. Terry’s opened here in 2005 and now runs 38 locations across Texas, and the Michael Hsu-designed Capital Plaza store it called its flagship closed on June 28, 2026 for the I-35 expansion. Hat Creek runs 26 Texas locations and is built around playgrounds and family logistics, which makes it a genuinely good call with small children and a strange one to rank against a dive bar.
- Is there a good vegan burger in Austin?
- Mission Burger Co. in Mueller is entirely plant-based and placed ninth in The Infatuation’s Austin smashburger rankings with the $14.95 Double Mission. Patty Palace lists a vegan smashburger at $9.99 on the same build as its beef one, so you can get the city’s top-ranked smash setup without the beef. Pool Burger’s Hippy Burger is the tiki-bar version, and Hold Out Brewing does a Beyond patty in its Classic at $9.
- Where is the biggest burger in Austin?
- Casino El Camino builds every burger on three quarters of a pound of charbroiled Angus in a handmade patty, cooked medium unless you ask otherwise. The Madison, at $19, is the most loaded build on the board, adding beer-braised pork belly, a Shiner Bock gastrique, jalapeño jack, and sautéed onions. Plan for a wait, because the kitchen cooks to order and says so on the menu.
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