Few staples play a central role in the quintessential American experience the way a hamburger does.
The burger is the culinary anchor for core memories, such as backyard barbecues and lunch counter meals. Burgers are the birth of fast food. They’re McDonald’s and Burger King, White Castle and Five Guys. They’re patty melts with shakes at diners and beefy mounds with beers at bars.
The essence of the burger is simple: ground beef, often topped with some variation of cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, pickles and onions, sandwiched between two slices of bread. But over the years, the art of the burger has evolved to contain multitudes. There are genres of burgers, including smash burgers and sliders, found in a range of haunts. Today, great burgers are served everywhere, from dive bars to white-tablecloth restaurants.
Here, we’re rounding up the most noteworthy burgers — of all varieties, new and tried and true — in metro Detroit.
Best new burgers
Little Ghost
From the owners of Detroit’s Grey Ghost, which has served one of the city’s best restaurant burgers for a decade, comes Little Ghost, a recently opened outpost that has carved one of the most beloved additions of the Grey Ghost menu into its own business: The Ghost Burger. On a Single Ghost Burger, a third of a pound of beef is smashed and outfitted in a cream sauce bejeweled in relish, crisp shredded iceberg lettuce and melted American cheese that cascades over the edge of the patty. Served best at medium temperature, the Ghost Burger is juicy, a little messy and packed with a lot of flavor. The Double Ghost adds a second patty — each at a quarter-pound of beef — there’s also a smaller cheeseburger for kids and a quinoa burger for those who prefer a vegetarian option.
22305 Woodward Ave., Ferndale. 248-677-3023; eatlittleghost.com
Roses
Many will say that the best burger is made at home. Roses in Detroit recreates the magic of a home-cooked burger, and serves it in a restaurant setting. The Roses Burger places a hearty beef patty on two thick slices of fresh sourdough from the cottage bakery Lillian’s Loaves, buttered and griddled to a golden complexion. The patty is draped in a salty layer of melted Gruyère the way you might slip a shawl around your shoulders. A slab of bacon is shredded and folded into a sweet and smoky jam that tops the burger, as well as Dijon mustard and, in place of traditional pickles, tangy, sweet slices of pickled red onion. Served not with a side of fries, but rather crisp cabbage slaw, the Roses Burger offers the most robust medley of flavors.
10551 E. Jefferson Ave., Detroit. 313-332-0404; rosesdetroit.com
Patty and Press Smashburgers
Having celebrated its grand opening in late March, burger newcomer Patty and Press has become an overnight success. The team behind the restaurant does know a thing or two about burgers. From the owners of Naked Burger in Clinton Township, Patty and Press smash burgers are made using local and house made ingredients. Its signature meat blend is sourced from Fairway Packing Co. in Fraser, mayonnaise is made in house and milk buns are custom made by Rising Stars Academy, a culinary school in Center Line for developmentally disabled students. Every element of the burger at Patty and Press is intentional. Even the cheese has a story. Slices of quality American are made by New School, the company co-founded by celebrity chef Eric Greenspan to bring American cheese made without artificial fillers and to the market. For just under $13, you can have a tasty smash burger with a side of hand-cut fries cooked in beef tallow with a soda, and know that your meal is made with top-quality ingredients.
52300 Van Dyke Ave., Shelby Township. 586-803-3724; pattyandpress.com
Best Restaurant Burgers
Bar Pigalle
When Bar Pigalle opened in 2022, its decadent burger quickly rose to the top of the ranks of the restaurant patty. When the French eatery in Detroit’s Brush Park neighborhood landed at No. 1 on the Free Press’ Top 10 New Restaurants list in 2023, our restaurant critic gushed over the burger as a menu highlight. “There may be no more defining restaurant burger in Detroit at the moment than the Pigalle Burger, two beautifully browned beef patties smashed thin and slathered with tangy Dijonnaise,” Free Press Critic Lyndsay C. Green wrote in. “The chef’s own homemade American cheese cascades over the edges of the burger and curls of heat rise off the incredibly flavorful handheld, hitting your nostrils with the scent of melted butter that bastes a golden toasted brioche bun flecked with sea salt.” Though chef Nyle Flynn, who created the recipe for the Pigalle Burger, is no longer at the restaurant’s helm, the burger has maintained its prominence in the restaurant scene. It is served only at the bar at the Brush Park restaurant, and now, at any table at The Beverly, a new restaurant from the same team in Berkley.
2915 John R St., Detroit. 313-497-9200; barpigalle.com
Ladder 4
Historically, upscale restaurants have bucked their calling to serve burgers on more elevated menus. While more establishments reluctantly give in, Ladder 4 assumes a unique approach. During summers only, the wine bar and restaurant opens its doors at noon — normal business hours the rest of the year are 5-10 p.m. Sundays — welcoming guests to enjoy smash burgers with a glass of wine inside or on the patio. The burger is thin, but juicy and flavorful with crackly, lacy edges. The toppings are simple, just shredded lettuce, dill pickles, a slice of American cheese and a creamy spiced mayo sauce. The bun is decadent, seeded, doused in clarified butter and seared on the grill. A guidance: Grab two. You may go back for seconds — and they just may be sold out in minutes.
3396 Vinewood St., Detroit. 313-638-160; ladder4winebar.com
Marrow
You know what they say: Imitation is the best form of flattery. The Marrow Smashburger is so popular, restaurants across metro Detroit have turned to Marrow’s butcher shop for its blend of dry-aged beef and bacon for their own burgers. The original, though, which is now available at Marrow’s West Village location, Marrow in the Market in Eastern Market and Marrow on the Go in Birmingham. It’s smashed and topped with American cheese, seasonal greens from local farms and a creamy, tangy, mildly sweet sauce knows as the Kerch sauce.
Visit marrowdetroit.com for hours and locations.
Best Classic Burgers
Cutter’s Bar & Grill
An Eastern Market favorite, Cutter’s is known for its big burgers — really big burgers — with lots of topping options.Ground chuck is the grind and foundation of Cutter’s hand-pattied, made-to-order burgers. You can order, according to its website, in three sizes: 8 ounces, 16 ounces and a whopping 32 ounces. Choose from a traditional burger, cheeseburger or made order with toppings like bacon, grilled mushrooms and a variety of cheeses. Cutter’s is also known for its variety of stuffed burgers with cheese, bacon, olives and other items in the center of the burger. Its “Hangover Stuffed Burger” is stuffed with Cheddar cheese and served with an egg on top.
2638 Orleans St., Detroit. 313-393-0960 or cuttersdetroit.com
Miller’s Bar
Miller’s Bar is a local legend, and except for new ownership in recent years, not much has changed. Miller’s has been serving its famous no-frills, no-fuss burgers, presented on a piece of wax paper, for more than eight decades. Even Jimmy Fallon of the Tonight Show likes them. Last September, while in town to film and tape a live show, Fallon visited the beloved bar. Fallon shouted out Miller’s and its burgers on social media, and again on the show, taped at the Detroit Opera House. “It’s the best burger I’ve ever had. Ever had in a long time. Never had a burger like this,” Fallon said. Miller’s uses 7 ounces of fresh (never frozen) ground round, custom ground every morning and shaped into patties, according to its website. You can order a burger or a cheeseburger, served with pickles, onion, mustard and ketchup on the side. Miller’s is long-known as a cash only, though there’s an ATM inside, and your tab is on the honor system: You tell the person at the bar what you had.
23700 Michigan Ave., Dearborn. 313-565-2577; millersbar.com
Redcoat Tavern
Redcoat Tavern is home of the Redcoat Burger, a local favorite that gets plenty of all-around kudos. The burger is a half pound proprietary blend of beef, served with tomato, shredded lettuce and special sauce on a toasted sesame seed bun. You can modify the burger in so many ways, including a selection of cheeses, avocado slices, bacon or caramelized onions. You can also substitute, for an upcharge, Redcoat’s beef blend for a Piedmontese beef patty. Piedmontese beef is touted as a healthy alternative that’s lower in fat and cholesterol. On its menu, Redcoat highlights its Brasserie burger, served on a brioche bun with smoky bacon, Gruyère cheese, caramelized onions, fresh watercress, sliced tomato and Dijon mustard. The popular eatery also has a West Bloomfield location.
For location and hours (they are closed on Sundays) visit redcoat-tavern.com
The Telway Hamburgers
There’s no website for The Telway. You won’t find it on Instagram. There’s no mind-numbing TikTok account showcasing the hundreds of sliders that are flipped on the flat-top daily. That’s because The Telway is committed to a standard set when the restaurant was founded in the 1940s, and it hasn’t strayed since — that goes from the burger joint’s original recipes to the retro air of the place. Now with two locations, one in Detroit and another that opened in Madison Heights in 1959, The Telway offers a menu of sliders between buns that get gooey in the heat of their own steam. Topped with pickles and onions, a single slider will only cost you $1.70 — add cheese and it’s 20 cents more. Sit at the row of red bar stools to devour your sliders and pair them with fries or onion rings, a slice of cheesecake or pie, and a chocolate shake. Trust us, just chocolate. Variety is not the highlight here.
6820 Michigan Ave., Detroit. 313-843-2146; 27000 John R Rd., Madison Heights. 248-545-7962
Best sliders
Sliders are little burgers, nestled on little buns, that have big fans. Old-school and nostalgic, sliders are typically served with onions fried on the grill next to or with the burgers, plus pickles, mustard and ketchup. Many places are also known for their milkshakes. Metro Detroit is dotted with longtime favorites, usually housed in classic white tile buildings.
Here are a few notables.
Bates Hamburgers
Bates Hamburgers in Livonia has been around for nearly 70 years, and its Farmington Hills location, more than 40. A hamburger here will run you $2.26, or $2.52 for a cheeseburger, according to prices posted online. You can also order a double. The menu includes a chiliburger, coneys, sides of fries, soups, chili and breakfast offerings. The Livonia location got its start Feb. 14, 1959, opened by Noble Bates and his wife, Laura, according to Bates’ website. In June 1962, John Bates and wife Barbara began running the businesses. John Bates has passed away but both restaurants are still family-owned.
Farmington Hills, 22291 Middlebelt Road, 248- 478-7350 and 33406 5 Mile Road, in Livonia, 734-427-3464; batesburgers.com
Hunter House
Over decades in business, Hunter House Hamburgers accolades include shout outs for the “Best Burger in Michigan” by Food Network Magazine, and the restaurant has been featured across publications like the The Wall Street Journal and the former Gourmet Magazine. Hunter House moved at the end of Oct. 2025, after more than 70 years of churning out its famous sliders (and a property dispute during the last two decades) from the tiny white building on Woodward Avenue and the corner of Hamilton Row in Birmingham. The burger joint didn’t move far, about a mile south on Woodward Ave., and is still in Birmingham. Its new digs are under construction, but the owners set up a temporary spot on the property to dish out burgers. Once finished, the new restaurant expects to feature Hunter House’ classic look including its white tile facade, counters ― and the same grill. Hunter House’s menu includes its sliders, with or without cheese, caramelized onions and pickles and a variety of sandwiches, hot dogs and sides of fries and onion rings.
33900 Woodward Ave., Birmingham. 248-646-7121; hunterhousehamburgers.com
Motz’s Burgers
A 90‑year-old Detroit slider brand, Motz’s just opened its third location. Serving classic burgers, fries and shakes, brothers Tony and Mike Milosavljevski took over business operations from their parents first with the Detroit location, then Redford and most recently in Southgate. The latter locations are now franchises. Motz’s burger sliders are shaped from a custom grind from the Miolosavljevskis source from a local butcher. Its burgers sizzle on a flat-top grill along with a mess of wispy strands of onions that lightly caramelize. The restaurant is also known for its milkshakes, made with local dairy products, and its hamburger buns come from Metropolitan Baking Co. The brothers are the sons of Bob and Mary Milosavljevski, who in 1996 purchased the original Mott’s Hamburgers on Fort Street, at the corner of Green in southwest Detroit, changing name to reflect new ownership from the original Mott’s Hamburgers, started by the Mott family.
For hours and locations visit motzs.com
Best smash burgers
Chaos Burger
Relatively new to downtown, Chaos Burger opened in 2024 in a small spot on Clifford street just off Woodward Avenue. Chaos Burger took second place in 2025 at the annual Burger Battle held at Eastern Market. Chaos Burger serves variations on the classic smash burger. Like the crispy cheese edges of Detroit-style pizza, Chaos Burger’s crispy edges ― a hallmark of smash burgers ― are the real deal. You can order burgers as a single, double and triple patty. A double is hearty and filling for most appetites. The deluxe is topped with American cheese, grilled onion, lettuce, tomato, pickle slices and burger sauce. For a few cents more, the Chaos Burger is topped with American cheese, grilled onion, honey pickled jalapeno, shredded lettuce, Chaos sauce and ketchup. Other choices include the bacon cheese smash, sides of fries and beef hot dogs. Ordering is self-serve at the counter, and there’s inside seating for about 20.
110 Clifford St., Detroit. 313-315-3042 or chaosburger.com
Olin Bar and Kitchen
Olin is just behind the Shinola Hotel, and is a cozy spot with a spacious bar and dining room with comfy booths and banquette seating. The Olin burger features two smashed patties from a short rib grind. The burgers are paired with caramelized onion, Boursin and American cheese and a dollop of Dijonnaise. On Olin’s dinner menu, according to its website, the burger is $23 and served with frites. Featured on the lunch menu its $17 and served with kettle chips. A new edition to the menu is a truffle burger. The burger features a truffle trifecta of truffle cheese, aioli and fries.
25 E. Grand River Ave., Detroit. 313-774-1191; olindetroit.com
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: These 15 restaurants have metro Detroit’s best burgers
Reporting by Lyndsay C. Green and Susan Selasky, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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