Denver Living · The Burger Tour
Ranking the Best Burgers
in Denver
Nine burger spots across the Denver metro — from a Sedalia roadhouse established in 1948 to a Sunnyside sandwich shop — all rated and ranked.
The best burger in Denver question is deceptively hard to answer. The city has everything from no-frills family-owned drive-throughs to smashburger specialists to Colorado fast food institutions people have strong opinions about. To get a real answer, the only move was to go eat at all of them.
Nine stops in total. Suggestions came in from Instagram, from YouTube, from friends who grew up in the area and knew spots that don't make the usual lists. The range goes from a $4.95 hamburger at a cash-only joint in Sedalia that hasn't changed in 75 years, to a Sunnyside sandwich shop that nobody saw coming. The best burger on the list scored a 9.0 — the first nine ever given on the YouTube channel.
These scores are subjective. That is the entire point. Here they are, ranked from best to last.
Judged on
Jump to a burger
Sunnyside · 38th St · Sandwich & Burger Shop
Odie B's
Nobody saw this one coming, including Sam. A tip from a friend named Lucas sent him to a low-key spot on 38th Street, right on the border of Sunnyside and the Highlands. The inside reads as half coffee shop, half sandwich shop, with no fanfare and no hype. The burger arrives modest in presentation and then immediately earns its place at the top of this list.
Two patties, cheese, a little special sauce, and a bun that's soft inside and crispy outside. Smash-style but not overly smashed, very onion-forward, and loaded with flavor from the first bite. Sam finished it and sat in his car almost speechless. He gave it a 9.0, the first nine ever awarded in a Denver Living tour, and noted afterward that he almost didn't know how to describe it. Sometimes simpler really does end up being better.
Denver Metro · Colorado Chain · Drive-Thru
Good Times Burgers & Frozen Custard
Yes, it's a chain, and it scored an 8.5, and Sam will defend that score to the death. Good Times is a Colorado-only fast food institution with a drive-thru or walk-up window at most locations, the kind of place you drive past a hundred times before someone finally makes you stop. When you go, order the Good Times Double, the number two meal. Skip the West Coast and the Bambino and get the double every time.
The bun starts crispy and folds into itself with the burger's juices. The meat-to-cheese-to-bun-to-veggie ratio is well-calibrated, and the sloppiness is very much intentional. People had been asking throughout the filming of this video whether Sam would hand Good Times the top score out of loyalty. He said he'd give it whatever score was in his heart when eating it, and his heart said 8.5.
LoHi · Downtown Adjacent · Oldest Bar in Denver
My Brother's Bar
Considered by many to be the oldest bar in Denver, My Brother's Bar sits near the original REI in a stretch of the city that sits between downtown and LoHi without firmly belonging to either. Sit at the bar, order an old fashioned, and ask the bartender what burger to get. The answer is the Johnny: jalapeño, cream cheese, American cheese, Swiss cheese, and grilled onions, arriving in a charming old-timey burger box.
The burger is juicy, very cheesy, and beautifully sloppy in the way that signals a kitchen not overthinking things. It came out in five minutes and landed a well-earned 8.1, making it the strongest pure sit-down-restaurant burger on the list and a great first stop on the tour.
Cherry Creek · Colorado Classic · Original Location
Cherry Cricket
Cherry Cricket is a Denver institution, a big sprawling sports bar tucked into the middle of Cherry Creek that has been a reliable haunt for decades and serves as a reminder that not everything in that neighborhood needs to be posh. The original location has the kind of unpretentious character that makes it feel like it belongs somewhere else, which is exactly why locals have kept going back.
The order here was the Vera Cruz, the 2016 People's Choice winner, with jalapeño bacon jam on a pretzel bun. The grill flavor comes through right away, the cook was a solid medium to medium-rare, and the bun holds up through most of the burger. It came in at 7.7, a bit better than expected going in, which says something for a place with this much built-up reputation to live up to.
Denver · Sister to Snarf's Sandwiches · Tied 5th
Snarfburger
Snarfburger has the same feel as its sister restaurant Snarf's Sandwiches inside; same vibe, same aesthetic, similar flyers on the wall. The double runs about $10–11 and takes a while because everything is made to order. What arrives is genuinely impressive looking: tall, steaming, already starting to come apart at the wrapper before you even unwrap it.
The construction is excellent across the board. Sloppy and loaded with toppings and sauces, and the bun is probably the best on the entire list, toasty on the outside and soft within. The one area where it fell short was flavor in the patties themselves, which needed a bit more to match everything else happening around them. It landed at 7.6, worth a stop, but with just a little left on the table.
Highlands · Smashburger Specialist · Tied 5th
Tap & Burger
Tap & Burger in the Highlands is a welcoming sports-bar-type spot with a dedicated smashburger section on the menu. Smashburgers are everywhere right now, and this is one of the better executions in Denver. The double classic smash has a solid bun, real crispiness on the press, a special sauce that works well, and enough heft that it takes a while to get through.
Nothing jumped out as a wow moment, but it was consistently tasty all the way through, which counts for a lot in a burger. Sam's guest rated it a 7.8; Sam landed at 7.6, and both agreed they were right in the same neighborhood. A reliable Highlands option when a smashburger is what you're after.
Northglenn · 50s Diner · Possibly First Smashburger in Denver
Jim's Burger Haven
Jim's Burger Haven requires a drive up to Northglenn, which is not where most people's mental maps go when they're looking for a great burger, but it's worth making the trip. The place looks exactly like you'd want: 50s diner aesthetic, pictures of cars on the wall, counter service and a drive-thru, malts on the menu. A double comes in at $7.55. Sam's guide Jeff Morton has been coming since 1992 and claims Jim's was the first smashburger in Denver, or at least the first one he ever encountered.
The double runs about 6 inches across with a bun-to-burger ratio that skews a bit toward the bun, but there's a lot of burger underneath it. No aioli, no elaborate toppings, just a classic American burger done well. Sam gave it a 7.5 and Jeff Morton came in at a 7, both agreeing this is the real thing for anyone who wants a straightforward, honest burger without any performance around it.
Sedalia, CO · Est. 1948 · No Fryer
Bud's Cafe & Bar
Bud's Cafe sits in Sedalia, southwest of Castle Rock on John Deere Road, and the drive out there is part of what makes the visit feel like something. Established in 1948 and almost completely unchanged since: wood panels, fish on the wall, a griddle that has probably been in place for 75 years, and no fryer because that's simply not what they do. A hamburger is $4.95, a double is $7.30, it comes with Lays, and the entire meal for two people came to $17.65.
The burger is a double patty with American cheese on a bun, pickles and white onions you build yourself at the table. Definitely fresh, not frozen, and you can taste the griddle character in every bite. Sam and his friend Jeremy were easily the youngest people in the building by about two decades. It scored a 7.0 on the burger, but Sam called it a pound-for-pound 10 for the overall experience, which is probably the right way to think about it.
Colorado & Evans · Family-Owned · Drive-Thru
Crown Burgers
Crown Burgers has been family-owned in Denver for about 30 years and is one of the few family-run burger drive-throughs still operating in the city. Nothing frilly or fancy about the outside, and the menu keeps things analog and straightforward. The aroma when you open the bag is excellent, the double cheeseburger has a good meat-to-cheese ratio, the bun holds up, and there's enough mayo to keep it moist without overwhelming anything.
The 6.8 score reflects an honest read on flavor: there's something slightly missing in that department, not a major gap but noticeable enough. Sam compared it to Mickey's Top Sirloin from the steak video, which also landed at 6.8, a good and solid version of what it is, worth visiting, just not quite breaking through to the next level. As Sam put it at the end of the video, in a competition like this everyone's a winner, most of all the person who ate nine burgers.
The Final Rankings
| Rank | Burger Spot | Score | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | Odie B's | 9.0 | |
| #2 | Good Times | 8.5 | |
| #3 | My Brother's Bar | 8.1 | |
| #4 | Cherry Cricket | 7.7 | |
| #5 | Snarfburger | 7.6 | |
| #5 | Tap & Burger | 7.6 | |
| #7 | Jim's Burger Haven | 7.5 | |
| #8 | Bud's Cafe & Bar | 7.0 | |
| #9 | Crown Burgers | 6.8 |
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