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Hamburgers are truly America’s food. Born from the nation’s obsession with beef coupled with the modern highway system, the humble burger can be high-end or low — grabbed quickly via drive-thru or sought out as a destination . It’s hard to say what makes a perfect burger simply because there are so many different iterations of the seemingly simple beef and bun device.
Los Angeles is at the center of America’s burger obsession . The few-frills food is done up in countless ways, from the beachy towns of the South Bay to the heart of LA’s culinary movement. It’s no wonder that burgers appear on so many menus across the city.
Here are some of LA’s best burgers, including old-school burger counters, walk-up windows, street stands, and sit-down spots. New this update: Melrose restaurant the Benjamin, smash burger spot For the Win, and Bay Area transplant Smack Burgers have been added. Rebecca Roland is a lifelong Angeleno who grew up eating at the Habit and Fatburger, so a classic LA chargrilled patty will always have a place in her heart.
Heavy Handed Open for: Lunch, Dinner Price range: $ The short rib patty differentiates Santa Monica’s Heavy Handed from the rest of the pack. The burger is fatty and rich and only benefits from the addition of American cheese, caramelized onions, bread and butter pickles, and a healthy dosing of “heavy” sauce. Just be warned, the potato bun does its best to hold this burger together, but it is bound to get messy.
Heavy Handed also now has a second location in Studio City and a third in Silver Lake. The burger is quite hearty by itself, but don’t skip out on the crispy, salty beef tallow fries. End meals here with a creamy soft serve cone, encapsulated in a sweet chocolate shell.
Know before you go: Heavy Handed has locations in Santa Monica, Studio City, and Silver Lake, making it an easy stop on any side of town. Hinano Cafe Open for: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner Price range: $ Burgers are griddled right behind the bar at the legendary Venice dive Hinano Cafe. Open since 1962, this beachside watering hole still has the same sawdust-covered floor charm after all these years.
Order a cheeseburger with a choice of cheddar or Swiss, and chips on the side. The cheeseburger still costs less than $10, and there is a veggie burger option for those not eating meat. In the morning, Hinano’s burger is served with eggs and hash browns, in a dish resembling dive bar steak and eggs.
The bar only serves beer and wine, but the selections on top are solid, and mostly come in under $10 a pint. What to order: A cheeseburger and a pint of beer on draft Also featured in: The Best Restaurants in LA’s Beachy Venice Neighborhood, According to Eater Editors The Best Dive Bars in Los Angeles Bill's Burgers Open for: Breakfast, Lunch Price range: $ This Valley staple has drawn diners to Van Nuys since its opening in 1965. The move here is to keep things simple with standard well-griddled singles served with cheese on extra-squishy buns.
Just make sure to have cash on hand and some patience; this cash-only establishment often comes with a bit of a wait. Find Bill, who is now in his late 90s, often in the stand himself, either overseeing the grill or digging into a burger in the back. Know before you go: Bill’s Burgers is cash-only, and there often is a bit of a wait Also featured in: The Best Restaurants in the San Fernando Valley 16 Great Places to Order Takeout and Delivery in the San Fernando Valley The Apple Pan Open for: Lunch, Dinner Price range: $ Timeless burger stand the Apple Pan from late founders Ellen and Alan Baker has served in West Los Angeles since 1947, when the city lacked freeways and a lot of the area still boasted farmland.
But the Apple Pan’s Midwestern-style burgers have become synonymous with Los Angeles burger culture (it even inspired the Johnny Rockets chain of burger restaurants). Wait for a seat at the U-shaped counter and pick either a steak or hickory burger, with or without a thick slice of Tillamook cheddar cheese. The steak burger offers a sort of relish ketchup sauce above a griddle-seared patty, pickles, mayonnaise, and a perfectly-shaped mound of iceberg lettuce.
The hickory burger boasts a slightly smoky ketchup with the same accompaniments. First-timers might not be blown away, but millions of fans over the decades have come to love its ineffable greatness, a true sum-is-greater-than-its-parts charm that includes the unchanged diner decor, sometimes gruff service, and of course, a sweet slice of apple, boysenberry, or seasonal pie to finish. — Matthew Kang, lead editor What to order: Head to the Apple Pan with a friend to order both the steak burger and the smoky hickory burger, and always end with a slice of pie Also featured in: The Best Kid-Friendly Restaurants in Los Angeles, According to Eater Editors The Best Pies in Los Angeles, According to Eater Editors HiHo Cheeseburger Open for: Lunch, Dinner Price range: $ The quality at HiHo is hard to match.
Here, grass-fed New Zealand wagyu beef is served as a default double with onion jam, pickles, and plenty of lettuce. The patties are mustard-grilled a la In-N-Out, and adding pastrami is always an option. Fries here are thicker than the average shoestring, without going into steak fry territory, and can be topped with pastrami, cheese, and spicy slow-cooked onions.
If the Studio City location isn’t convenient, HiHo also slings its burgers in Santa Monica, Marina Del Rey, and Mid-Wilshire. What to order: The classic HiHo Double, topped with ketchup, mustard, slow-cooked onions, pickles, and cheese Sign up for our newsletter. Check your inbox for a welcome email.
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Father's Office Open for: Lunch, Dinner Price range: $$ Who knew a burger could be so polarizing? Yet here is the Father’s Office burger, a no-ketchup-allowed option served on a split roll and topped with caramelized onions, bacon, and lots of arugula. This massive sandwich uses dry-aged beef, Gruyere, and Maytag blue cheese for a remarkably different kind of burger. Father’s Office is a true bar, which means that it's 21-plus only.
And there are no substitutions or tweaks available to any of the dishes on the menu. Know before you go: Father’s Office is 21-plus, so don’t try to head over with kids Also featured in: The Best Restaurants in Culver City, According to Eater Editors 10 French Fries That Are Actually Good in Los Angeles Irv's Burgers Open for: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner Price range: $ Legendary Route 66 stand Irv’s Burgers has been reborn (and reconstructed almost identically) by longtime chef-owner Sonia Hong and new partner Lawrence Longo. The signature Irv’s Roadside Single Burger is pressed to order and comes topped with American cheese, Irv’s sauce, lettuce, tomato, pickles, and onions on a toasted bun.
The towering Big Irv comes with pastrami, a hot dog, chili, and more on top. Expect weekend lines as diners pile in for this classic LA burger. What to order: Irv’s Roadside Single Burger, or make it a double Also featured in: The 18 Best West Hollywood Restaurants 13 Excellent Minimalist Burgers to Try in Los Angeles Trophies Burger Club Open for: Lunch, Dinner Price range: $ While the number of crispy, lacy-edged smash burgers seems to be growing by the day in LA, Trophies falls somewhere in the middle with a not-too-thick patty that still has that pleasant char, but with some meatiness in the middle.
The burger here is still technically a smash, but it feels like more of a tribute to LA’s chargrilled patties, complete with American cheese, pickles, onion, ketchup, and mustard. Alongside the classic cheeseburger, Trophies serves a bacon-topped spicy barbecue burger, a vegan burger, and more. Best for: Reliving the nostalgia of an after-school burger, fries, and lemonade For the Win Open for: Lunch, Dinner Price range: $ In a city where people spout bold claims about their favorite burger, For The Win maintains a fanatical following.
Regulars head to one of 10 Southern California locations for freshly ground smashed patties with caramelized lacy edges, cheese, grilled onions, sauce, and placed between a potato bun. It’s a formula that excels because of its quality ingredients and simplicity. The menu even varies at certain locations, with a patty melt at the Glendale outlet that tastes perfect with a milkshake.
Avoid the rookie mistake by having the burger delivered. Consume it as quickly as possible. — Mona Holmes, editor, Eater Southern California/Southwest Know before you go: The single burger is pretty snack-sized, so if hungry, opt for the double Smack Burger Open for: Lunch, Dinner Price range: $ Bay Area smash burger specialist Smack Burger runs a tight ship from a bright yellow A-frame building one block away from the 10 on Western Avenue.
The crew quickly assembles smashed patties on a potato roll with grilled onions on the bottom, a layer of cheese on the top, lettuce, tomato, pickles, and a tangy proprietary Smack sauce. They’ve got plenty of add-ons with onion rings or Mike’s Hot Honey. The beef tallow waffle fries are as delicious as they sound, especially when covered in cheese, onions, and more of that Smack sauce.
— Mona Holmes, editor, Eater Southern California/Southwest What to order: Try the Baydestrian Box with a double cheeseburger, waffle fries, a drink, and Smack sauce Original Tommy's World Famous Hamburgers Open for: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner Price range: $ It’s hard to overstate the importance of Tommy’s to the greater LA burger scene. The restaurant’s branding alone has spawned dozens (if not more) replicators with tonally similar names, while the heavy use of spiced chili — served atop burgers, fries, dogs, and more — is as ever-present as tap water on hundreds of restaurant menus around Southern California. Although Tommy’s has now expanded with multiple locations, there is nothing quite like the original at the intersection of Beverly and Rampart, which is open 24 hours a day.
What to order: The classic cheeseburger is the reason to eat at Tommy’s, but if looking for a side, add in an order of the chili-topped fries Also featured in: All the LA Bars and Restaurants Featured in Modern Noir Cop Show Bosch LA's Essential 24-Hour Restaurants: Where to Eat All Day and All Night Amboy Quality Meats Open for: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner Price range: $$ In the land of smash burger ubiquity, it’s nice to see native son Alvin Cailan return to LA with a thick pub-style burger at Amboy Quality Meats and Delicious Burgers, tucked inside the former Chinatown home of Chego. The Amboy Classic offers thin smashed patties, while the Slim Thicc comes with a hefty third-pounder patty tucked between American cheese, pickles, and caramelized onions. For something that goes outside of the usual burger spot options, try the Truffle Slim Thicc with a patty encrusted in 24-month aged Parmigiano and black truffle aioli.
There are a handful of seats inside, but the majority of seating is in the outdoor plaza. What to order: The Slim Thicc is one of the better thick burgers in all of Los Angeles Also featured in: 10 French Fries That Are Actually Good in Los Angeles The 22 Best Dishes Eater LA Editors Ate in 2020, Mapped Goldburger Open for: Lunch, dinner Price range: $ Goldburger is the smash burger gift that keeps on giving in Los Angeles. Owner Allen Yelent opened his first Highland Park location with a charming covered patio in 2019, Los Feliz in 2021, and in Chinatown in 2024.
(A fourth stand in Granada Hills is also in the works.) If the proliferation points to anything, it’s the sheer quality diners can find in any Goldburger. Yelent uses grass-fed meats from regenerative farms in California; his preferred cook offers a medium smash in the center, leaving a very juicy middle and lacier rim.
The simplicity is what keeps regulars returning for single or double-layered cheeseburgers — most dressed with crisp shredded lettuce, crinkly pickles, and white onion — paired with traditional or curly fries and a bottle of Swell soda. It’s all you need in America’s burger capital. — Mona Holmes, editor, Eater Southern California/Southwest Must-try dish: Goldburger Also featured in: The 17 Best Restaurants in Highland Park 15 Restaurants for Kid-Friendly Carryout in Los Angeles.
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