Ann Arbor takes its burgers personally. This is a town that has argued about griddle char and patty size since before most of its brewpubs existed, and the debate is still live. The best burgers in Ann Arbor split across a few camps – the old-school tavern patty, the brewpub burger built to soak up a pint, the drive-in slider, and a couple of chef-driven plays that put a burger on a real dinner menu. Here are the ones worth your money, with current hours so you don’t drive over to a locked door.
One note up front: Krazy Jim’s Blimpy Burger at 304 S Ashley, the campus institution people always ask about, has been closed for renovations through 2026 and has not reopened as of this writing. Call before you make the trip. Everything below is open and verified.
Casey’s Tavern
Casey’s Tavern at 304 Depot Street is the answer most locals give first. It sits on the corner of Depot and Fifth, across from the train station, in a low brick building that looks like exactly the kind of place that would make a great burger – and does. It has been a repeat “best burger” pick in the local press for years, and the room stays busy on that reputation.
The move is the bacon cheeseburger, fresh-ground and cooked to the temperature you actually ask for, not preformed off a freezer stack. Get the fries. It is a tavern, so it is dim and a little loud and completely unbothered by trends, which is the point.
Casey’s is open Monday through Saturday 11:30am to 10pm, closed Sunday. Parking around Depot is easier than downtown, a small bonus.
Old Town Tavern
Old Town Tavern at 122 West Liberty is the downtown burger with the most miles on it. It has held its corner near Liberty and Ashley for decades, and generations of Ann Arbor people have a specific memory attached to its booths.
Order the burger the way the regulars do – simple, with cheese, on the griddled bun – and a beer. The kitchen does not overthink it, and that restraint is why it still works. This is the pick when you are already downtown, want something honest, and do not want to spend forty dollars to get it.
Old Town is open Monday 11:30am to 10pm, Tuesday through Thursday 11:30am to 11pm, Friday and Saturday 11:30am to midnight, and Sunday 11:30am to 10pm. It is on foot from most of downtown, so park once and walk.
The Ravens Club
The Ravens Club at 207 South Main is the dressed-up burger on this list, and it earns the spot. The room runs craft cocktails and a whiskey list well over a hundred deep, so the burger arrives in a very different setting than a tavern – but the burger itself holds up next to any of them.
It is a seven-ounce Eastern Market patty with bacon, white cheddar queso, remoulade, and hand-cut fries. This is the call for a date night on Main Street when someone at the table wants a burger and someone else wants a real cocktail, and neither has to settle.
The Ravens Club is open Monday through Wednesday 4pm to 11pm, Thursday through Saturday 4pm to midnight, and Sunday 4pm to 10pm. It is dinner and evening only, so do not go looking for a lunch burger here.
Grizzly Peak Brewing Company
Grizzly Peak at 120 West Washington is the brewpub burger, and it is one of the more reliable plates in the building. The kitchen has been feeding downtown for a long time, and the burger is built the way a brewpub burger should be – substantial, a little messy, made to pair with whatever is fresh on the tap wall.
Come for the house beer and stay for the burger, or the other way around. It is a big, welcoming room that handles groups well, which makes it a smart pick when you are herding a crew that cannot agree on food but can agree on beer and a burger.
Grizzly Peak is open Sunday through Thursday 11:30am to 10pm, and Friday and Saturday 11:30am to 11pm, with the bar running later on weekends. It sits mid-block on Washington with the usual downtown parking math.
Sava’s
Sava’s at 216 South State is the burger you get when you want a nice room and a menu that does everything. It anchors the State Street district near campus, pulls a 4.4 on Google across more than 2,600 reviews, and stays open a genuinely useful long day.
The burger is the sleeper order on a broad American menu. It is a step more polished than a tavern patty, cooked well, and priced fair for what the room is. This is the campus-side pick when your group is half burger people and half salad people and you need one place that keeps everyone happy.
Sava’s is open Monday through Thursday 9am to 10pm, Friday and Saturday 9am to 11pm, and Sunday 9am to 10pm. State Street parking is tight, so the Maynard structure a block over is the play.
Frita Batidos
Frita Batidos at 117 West Washington is the burger that is technically not a burger, and it may be the best one in town anyway. A frita is the Cuban street-food take – a spiced patty topped with a tangle of shoestring fries on a soft egg bun – and Frita has been packing its communal tables on the strength of it for years. It carries a 4.7 on Google across more than 5,000 reviews, a huge number for a room this specific.
Get the chorizo frita and a batido, the thick tropical milkshake the place is named for. Add the fries. It is loud, bright, and communal, and it is the most distinctive burger-shaped thing you will eat in Ann Arbor.
Frita is open Sunday through Thursday 11am to 11pm, and Friday and Saturday 11am to midnight. It is right downtown off Washington, so treat parking as a downtown problem.
Shake Shack
Shake Shack at 3030 Washtenaw Avenue is the chain on this list, and it earns the mention because it is genuinely good at the one thing and it is open late. When you want a clean, consistent smash burger and a shake without any surprises, this is the reliable east-side call in the Arbor Hills strip.
Order the ShackBurger and the crinkle fries and do not overthink it. It is not trying to be a local institution, and that is fine – sometimes you just want a very good burger at 10pm on a Tuesday, and this is where you go.
Shake Shack is open Monday through Thursday 10am to 11pm, Friday and Saturday 10am to midnight, and Sunday 10am to 11pm. There is a real parking lot, which out on Washtenaw is a genuine advantage.
Knight’s Steakhouse
Knight’s Steakhouse at 2324 Dexter Avenue is a steakhouse first, but ask around and its burger has a quiet following. The Dexter Avenue original has been a west-side standby for decades, with a 4.5 on Google across more than 2,300 reviews, and the kitchen that turns out its steaks knows exactly what to do with ground beef.
This is the burger for when you want a proper sit-down room and a table, not a bar stool. It runs a little more than the tavern spots, but you are paying for the room and the service, and the burger holds its own on a menu built around beef.
Knight’s is open Monday through Saturday 11am to 11pm, closed Sunday. It sits on Dexter Ave west of downtown with its own lot, an easy in and out.
Roy’s Squeeze Inn
Roy’s Squeeze Inn at 1315 East Michigan Avenue in Ypsilanti is the one worth the short drive, and it is a genuine only-in-this-area experience. It is one of the smallest restaurants around, a tiny drive-in-style spot slinging thin, griddled squeeze burgers to a devoted crowd, with a 4.6 on Google across more than 1,200 reviews.
Get a double and a bag of fries. Bring cash, because that is all they take. It is not fancy and it does not pretend to be – it is a great cheap burger from a place that has been doing exactly this for a long time, and Ypsi people will fight you on its behalf.
Roy’s is open Monday through Saturday 10am to 10pm, and Sunday 11am to 9pm. It is a straight shot out Michigan Avenue into Ypsilanti.
Where to start
If you want the classic Ann Arbor tavern burger, Casey’s Tavern is the first call, with Old Town Tavern right behind it downtown. For a date, The Ravens Club puts a real burger next to a real cocktail. Want something you cannot get anywhere else? Go to Frita Batidos or drive out to Roy’s Squeeze Inn in Ypsi. Still deciding what to eat? See our guide to the best pizza in Ann Arbor, or if you have only one night to eat in Ann Arbor, start there.
