Burgers are serious business in the U.S. and part of the national identity. They’re eaten at cookouts, drive-thrus, airport terminals, and even celebrated with their own holiday.
To find out which burgers are worth your time, Yelp looked at which burger chains Americans actually love, based on reviews.
Here’s the full ranking, from the highest-rated chain to the restaurant at the 25th spot. See if your favorite burger chain made the cut.
Knowing and understanding the hype around In-N-Out makes its first-place ranking on Yelp make total sense. The chain has been around since 1948, mostly sticking to the West and Southwest, with just over 400 locations — but it has a massive cultural impact and pulled in more than 119,000 Yelp reviews.
Its bare-bones menu — burgers, fries, and shakes—maintains the quality and consistency that people love. The beef is never frozen, the fries are cut in-house, and everything is made to order. Yelpers, of course, love the Double-Double, Animal Style anything, and the off-menu tricks that regulars treat like a rite of passage.
The Habit isn’t as loud as other chains, but it’s built a steady following thanks to its top-tier chargrilled burgers. It started in California in 1969 and now has over 350 locations, mostly on the West Coast.
Yelpers love the Charburger — grilled over an open flame and stacked with caramelized onions, pickles, lettuce, tomato, and mayo. The sides, especially the tempura green beans, also win points with fans.
Shake Shack is the most expensive fast-food burger chain in the country — and for a lot of people, totally worth it. It started in New York City and still feels like a quintessential New York experience, even though you can now find it in 370 locations across 21 states. Its original NYC spot has racked up over 5,800 reviews, and its Theatre District location even made Yelp’s 2023 Top 100 Burgers in America.
The beef is hormone- and antibiotic-free, the fries are hand-cut and cooked to order, and the buns are soft potato rolls that actually hold up. Shake Shack prepares most of its ingredients in-house and leans into a tech-forward system with kiosks and mobile ordering to keep things moving. According to Yelp, the ShackBurger is still the favorite.
If there’s a criminally underrated burger chain in America right now, it’s Culver’s. The Midwestern chain is finally getting some long-overdue recognition, landing in the top 5 according to Yelp. It does everything right — high-quality, locally sourced beef, fresh-cut crinkle fries, and frozen custard that people don’t skip, even in winter.
Founded in Wisconsin in the ’80s, Culver’s now has over 1000 locations across 26 states, mostly in the Midwest and South.
What Yelpers love most are the ButterBurgers and the custard — but also the Midwestern hospitality.
Islands is more of a sit-down restaurant than a burger chain, but that didn’t stop it from cracking the top 5 on Yelp. The chain started in Southern California and mostly sticks to the West Coast with a beachy, surf-themed vibe, tropical drinks, casual booths, and burgers with names like “Maui” and “Kilauea.”
According to Yelp, the Maui Burger with grilled pineapple and teriyaki sauce is a standout, and the onion rings and fries both get plenty of praise.
Freddy’s often flies under the radar, but it’s clearly doing something right — landing in 6th place according to Yelpers. The chain started in Kansas in 2002 and has over 500 locations, mostly in the Midwest and South. The chain is known for steakburgers smashed thin on a flat-top, shoestring fries, and frozen custard.
The most popular pick is the Freddy’s Original Double. But what people really talk about are the extras — the seasoned fries, the fry sauce, and the fact that everything comes out hot and fast.
Five Guys doesn’t do drive-thrus or combos. But it uses fresh, high-quality beef for its patties, cooks everything to order, and hands out a ridiculous amount of fries — which are also hand-cut in-house. That combo helped it land in Yelp’s top 10. The chain started in Virginia in the ’80s and now has over 1,700 locations.
You can pick your toppings — there’s a long list and they’re all free — and wait while your burger is made from scratch. It’s pricier than most fast food, but apparently most people don’t mind.
You rarely see Wayback Burgers show up on any national rankings, which doesn’t say much about its relevancy — and that makes its top 8 spot on Yelp more interesting. This Delaware-born chain has been around since the ’90s and now has about 170 locations, mostly in small towns, suburbs, and off-the-highway stops.
Yelp reviewers like the "Cheeeesy” burger — with four E’s, four slices of American cheese, and a grilled bun.
The chain also runs a rotating Burger of the Month, which means you’ll usually find one limited-time option with different toppings or flavors that aren’t on the regular menu.
MOOYAH is a younger player in the burger game, but it’s managed to elbow its way into Yelp’s top 10. Founded in Texas in 2007, the chain grew by focusing on what a lot of people want: full control. You pick the bun (including lettuce wrap), the patty (beef, turkey, or veggie), and go wild with toppings — avocado, fried onion strings, queso, you name it.
Yelpers like the thick milkshakes, the sweet potato fries, and the freedom to build the burger their way.
Red Robin, while not groundbreaking, is the usual answer when nobody can agree on dinner, which makes it good enough to land in the top 10 and outrank some much bigger burger players. The Seattle-born burger chain has been around since the 1960s and now has over 500 locations nationwide. The menu is massive, with burgers in every flavor combo you can think of.
Yelp reviewers bring up the Banzai Burger a lot — that’s the one with teriyaki sauce and grilled pineapple — and the tower of onion rings gets its fair share of love, too. And yes, the bottomless steak fries are still a thing.
25. Steak ‘n Shake
24. Checkers / Rally’s
23. Carl’s Jr.
22. Wendy’s
21. Fatburger
20. White Castle
19. Burger King
18. Sonic Drive-In
17. McDonald’s
16. Smashburger
15. Wahlburgers
14. Whataburger
13. BurgerFi
12. Cook Out
11. Jack in the Box
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