Standout burgers on Long Island 2025

Taco burger, Reuben sandwich burger ... no thanks. But this is one gimmick we can get behind. The Flying Dutchman is a legendary ghost ship that’s forever doomed to roam the open seas—and also a “secret” menu item at In-N-Out Burger. The closest In-N-Out is in Texas, but this retro arcade restaurant from Brooklyn makes a nice copycat. With two rounds of grilled onions instead of bread, it’s a little dinky in its paper wrapper, but the Dutchman ($8.50) knows how to party. The onion slices, lightly cooked to keep their shape, still manage to be searing hot, and, honestly, it was nice to be able to eat this all the way through without feeling the need to throw out some of the bun.

French fry situation: Get the tots instead.

This tiny old-school joint has an ambitious menu with burgers from all 50 states. That said, a food historian might have some quibbles: No avocado on the California burger, and the New Mexico is topped with homemade chili, but not the green kind. So, which one do you order? The server’s favorite was the Arkansas ($14.75), with American cheese, sautéed onions and bacon, and authentic or not, it’s flavorful. The half-pound patty is griddled and steamed to a perfect medium-rare on the flattop, with rings of slightly cooked onions on top. Goes best with a Diet Coke.

French fry situation: Each platter comes with fat, awesome steak fries. Cash only.

Some of the most interesting burgers are coming out of late-night halal joints. Take the Pakistani smash burger, a spellbinding mix of punchy sauces and melted cheese. Dreamed up by chef Suqlain Abbas, this Bahadur ($9.99) consists of two three-ounce beef patties smashed thin and loaded with pepper Jack cheese and a cayenne sauce, then finished with whisper-thin slices of jalapeño. The patties are laced with a spice blend and minced with chopped onions, recalling the famous Pakistani chapli kebab, which is also flat but often eaten with naan. The Bahadur (“brave person” in Urdu) was so loosely packed and oily it required a fork.

French fry situation: The seasoned fries ($5) are excellent.

This is the era of the smash burger, but often that just means a very thin patty without much smash at all. Not so at BRGRS, a succinctly named spot in Huntington owned by the Singh family. It only has a few tables but still manages to put out the tastiest burger in this restaurant-obsessed town. (Vauxhall gets an honorable mention.) The key to greatness is the assertive smash, which creates those crispy edges we all crave. The burgers here are also small and simple, and the menu isn’t much larger than that at the California-based cult chain In-N-Out Burger. The main event is the classic smashed ($8) with sweet caramelized onions, American cheese and a thick pickle slice. For a better meat-to-bread ratio, get the double ($11).

French fry situation: Long and thin, like McDonald’s in the best way. Worth a full order ($5).

This unassuming one-room pub makes some of the best smash burgers around, but don’t ignore the half of the menu devoted to Chinese dishes. The pan-fried pot stickers, for instance, are still connected by a diaphanous crispy shell on the bottom. Crack off each dumpling—the shrimp and egg with baby chives is a favorite—and marvel at its soft suppleness. Then turn to the burgers, thin patties of freshly ground beef that are seared on the grill. The Kai Burger ($19.99) is a double cheeseburger on brioche with the addition of Canadian bacon. It goes beautifully with soy sauce and a crisp Sierra Nevada beer.

French fry situation: Load up on dumplings instead.

At this all-around great family spot, the atmosphere is half the charm: Servers are super friendly and tables are comfortably far apart. The burgers are pretty great, too, with smash burger patties stacked loosely with lots of toppings and a bun branded with the area code. And if you are someone who feels as if a meal is incomplete without hot sauce, you will love the thick-cut jalapeños nestled into the Atomic Bacon Cheeseburger ($9.50), which also has raw onion and sriracha mayo for additional kick.

French fry situation: Local Burger gets the award for best fries ($4.25), cut thick with the skin on.

With its bohemian-chic atmosphere and elegant list of small plates, Lost & Found doesn’t seem like the most natural spot for a burger on a bun, even if the beef is freshly ground. But although the handwritten paper menu changes every couple of months, you’ll rarely find it without the burger ($21), because loyal customers would revolt. And the experience of sitting at the chef’s counter sipping a glass of Austrian red wine and feeling the blasts of heat coming off the grill as you watch your patty sizzle is fabulous. Better cheese doesn’t always make for a better burger, by the way, but here melted Gruyère adds a richness that pushes this deeply flavored patty into overdrive. And boy, is it rare.

French fry situation: The potato-y frites that come with the plate are golden brown and “oh, so French.”

There can be no great burger list without the patty melt, a compact burger that some may even say is more of a sandwich. The beloved diner staple has recently become a hipster affair, but the best is still at Mitchell’s Diner, which traces its roots to 1938 in Valley Stream. The beef is minced by hand every day and charbroiled until it gets a crisp black outer layer. It’s then stacked with sautéed mushrooms, onions and American cheese that gushes around the sides. The bread, crisp from the grill, holds everything together. One of nearly 20 “beefburgers” on offer, this patty melt ($18.99) is a meaty, cheesy masterpiece.

French fry situation: Diner fries come with the plate and are hot from the fryer.

This burger has you pulling a knife out of the top like it’s the Sword in the Stone. Never mind the fact that it’s on cinnamon raisin toast: The patty itself is a miracle, half a pound of assertively charred steak, which has been chopped up and ground twice, right there in the back. No Good Burger Joint separates itself from the hoard of urban Instagram-savvy burger joints by being extremely detail-focused. And even when you go off the deep end with a funky selection like the burger ($22.95) with homemade PB & J on top, the high-quality meat from Double R Ranch holds up.

French fry situation: Hand-cut fries come with the plate.

Sag Harbor Tavern is closed until spring, but the burger here—a breathtaking tribute to the carnal power of red meat—is worth putting on your seasonal bucket list. Based on the legendary burger at Peter Luger, it features a whopping patty of dry-aged beef graced with nothing more than American cheese and a thick bed of raw onion ($30). Chef Billy Durney brought it over from his other noteworthy establishment, the Red Hook Tavern in Brooklyn, where it’s the star of the show. The scene at the American Legion building in Sag Harbor has its own charms, mainly the water view and the people-watching.

French fry situation: The round cottage fries get points for creativity.

Well, it may be cold out there, but this Suffolk County food truck is so great it’s worth bundling up and eating in your car. Often found in front of the General Welding Supply building in Holbrook, Señor Burger is where childhood friends David Campoverde and Nelson Escobar sell burgers and hot dogs from Colombia, Escobar’s birthplace. This is common fare on the South Shore, but Señor Burger is extremely dialed-in with the textures and flavor combos. The Master Hunter ($17) is a bacon cheeseburger that’s piled high with crispy onions, a typical ingredient in Colombian hamburgers. The patty is wide and perfectly round, almost like a flame-grilled Whopper, and there’s just a touch
of sweet sauce. This burger tastes nostalgic and yet like nothing you’ve ever tasted before.

French fry situation: The Hood Fries ($13) are submerged in a thick cheesy sauce and topped with a delicate raw onion pico de gallo.

Sit at the vintage mirror-lined bar, underneath the bison head. That way you’ll get the full Tweed’s experience, which is equal parts cowboy and Tammany Hall. The ornate barroom has been in the John J. Sullivan Hotel in Riverhead since 1896. It’s now owned by Ed Tuccio, who sources meat from his very own bison farm just a few miles away. The bison burger ($24) features an entire pound of meat, juicy and tender. When the server suggested ordering it with American cheese, it felt scandalous but turned out to be a good choice, as the cheese melted well onto that massive patty.

French fry situation: The steak fries on this plate were so thick, they were practically quartered potatoes.