The 15 Best Burger Joints in Phoenix

Glowing red neon and a tight menu of smash burgers and waffle fries in a downtown Phoenix storefront that used to pour rum cocktails. Bad Jimmy's is a casual burger shop that moonlights as a cocktail bar, which explains why half the room looks like they just escaped a nearby venue. The rotating specials reward repeat visits, and vanilla soft serve finished with olive oil is the kind of thing that sounds wrong until it doesn't. Phoenix New Times named it the city's top smashburger spot.

1. Foodist Awards 2025 · Winner: Double Burger · Most Crave-Worthy Burger
2. The Infatuation The 20 Best Restaurants In Phoenix
3. AZ Central The 100 Best Metro Phoenix Restaurants

1. Foodist Awards 2025 · Winner: Double Burger · Most Crave-Worthy Burger
2. AZ Central The 100 Best Metro Phoenix Restaurants
3. Phoenix New Times The top 10 burger joints in Phoenix

Somewhere between a diner and a log cabin, this cash-only Tempe burger shop has been grilling patties over a live mesquite fire since forever. You order at the counter while the smoke does its thing, then dress your own burger at the condiment table. Sizes run from a modest fifth-pounder up to a full pound of beef, which should cover most life situations. An old-school Valley institution, and the zucchini fries are not optional.

1. Foodist Awards 2025 · Finalist: The Great One · Most Crave-Worthy Burger
2. AZ Central The 100 Best Metro Phoenix Restaurants
3. Phoenix New Times The top 10 burger joints in Phoenix

1. Foodist Awards 2025 · Winner: Double Burger · Most Crave-Worthy Burger
2. Phoenix New Times The top 10 burger joints in Phoenix

A smash burger counter inside The Churchill, Phoenix's shipping-container food hall, Stoop Kid pulls double duty: bagel sandwiches in the morning, crispy patties the rest of the day. The kitchen keeps things small and precise, with homemade dill pickles and a fried-egg option for those who treat lunch like a commitment. Grab a beer from next door, find a table in the shaded courtyard, and wait for your name.

1. The Infatuation The 20 Best Restaurants In Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Hamburgers · Best of Phoenix
3. The Infatuation The Best Restaurants In Phoenix

1. Foodist Awards 2025 · Winner: Double Burger · Most Crave-Worthy Burger
2. Phoenix New Times The top 10 burger joints in Phoenix

The Brulee Burger, with its torched sugar crust on the bun, explains the whole ethos of this Scottsdale burger shop in one order. The chef here treats fast-casual comfort food as an excuse to get weird in the best way, battering and frying patties, folding blueberry-habanero compote into guacamole, stacking corn-muffin fritters between the buns. Guy Fieri has been by, and the memorabilia is on the wall to prove it. Napkins: take several.

1. AZ Central The 100 Best Metro Phoenix Restaurants
2. Phoenix New Times The top 10 burger joints in Phoenix

The burgers get a splash of red wine on the flat top, which is either the gimmick or the whole point depending on how you order. Harvey's is a neighborhood dive bar on 16th Street, bright green walls, pool table, jukebox, and cheap burgers that come with fries. Weekend happy hour runs weekend mornings, and last call stretches to midnight. The regulars who never needed a menu figured all this out a long time ago.

1. AZ Central The 100 Best Metro Phoenix Restaurants
2. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Hamburgers · Best of Phoenix
3. Phoenix New Times The top 10 burger joints in Phoenix

The Arcadia Burger, topped with grilled onions, guacamole, and the house sauce, is the one to order at this drive-thru-only burger shoppe with no indoor seating whatsoever. The double-stacked patties are properly juicy, the fries are the obvious companion, and the milkshakes invite mixing flavors in combinations you'll immediately claim were your idea. Phoenix New Times put it in the top ten burger joints in town, and the neighborhood regulars roll through like they know something.

1. AZ Central The 100 Best Metro Phoenix Restaurants
2. Phoenix New Times The top 10 burger joints in Phoenix

1. AAA Three Diamonds

White tiles, pastel trim, and a cartoon burger grinning at you from the wall set the tone at this retro counter-service burger joint on downtown Mesa's main drag. The team behind Tacos Chiwas and Espiritu kept things deliberately simple: a short menu of semi-smashed burgers, hot dogs, loaded fries, and aguas frescas. The Sonora burger, stacked with griddled cheese, chiltepin, and bacon, is the one people talk about.

1. Phoenix New Times The top 50 restaurants in Phoenix right now
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3. Phoenix New Times Sonora Burger · The 10 best bites we tasted at Phoenix restaurants

1. Phoenix New Times The top 10 burger joints in Phoenix

1. Phoenix New Times The top 10 burger joints in Phoenix

A fully plant-based burger shop where the patties, cheese, and buns are all vegan, yet every meat-eating friend you drag here tends to go quiet mid-bite. Counter service, casual prices, shopping plaza setting. The menu runs from a straightforward classic to pineapple or jalapeño-topped builds, with loaded fries worth the mess. Phoenix New Times has named it among the top burger joints in the metro two years running, vegan or otherwise.

1. Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Vegan Restaurant · Best of Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Vegan Burger · Best of Phoenix
3. Phoenix New Times The top 10 burger joints in Phoenix

Life-sized Spider-Man watches you eat your burger, which feels about right for a counter-service spot where the menu hangs on the wall and you can hear the flat-top sizzling from the register. The patties come on sweet King's Hawaiian rolls, loaded with things like mac and cheese or pastrami, while Marvel films loop on the TVs and kids work free arcade games. Gyros and other diner bites round out the menu for anyone not in a superhero mood.

1. Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Restaurant to Take a Geek · Best of Phoenix
2. Phoenix New Times The top 10 burger joints in Phoenix