Steel Town? More like BURGER TOWN!!!
 

Hamilton has become a food destination even attracting international attention and international chefs! Food tourism has become a thing in this city and we should be proud of that, we are on the global food map!

One of my favourite things to eat however is a delicious juicy hamburger and I like to consider myself a professional burger connoisseur lol! Luckily we have some of the best burger joints in the country (if not the world), the burger competition in this city is FIERCE!!! The following is my top 10 errr top 13 (almost impossible to narrow it down to 10 haha) in no particular order with the exception of my number one fav which I will happily point out last followed by some honourable mentions to give us a list of 20 places in total...

Southern Smoke BBQ House - 201 Ottawa St N, Hamilton

The Coop - 272 King St W, Hamilton

Delerious Burger - 1008 King St W or 197 Locke St. S

Bronx Burger - 162 Highway 8, Stoney Creek

Patties Burger Bar - 12-1970 Rymal Rd E, Hannon

The Burnt Tongue - 10 Cannon St. East Hamilton or 182 Locke St S, Hamilton

Memphis Fire BBQ Company - 1091 King's Highway 8, Stoney Creek

Jack & Lois - 301 James St N, Hamilton (Note they will sadly be closing this location after Supercrawl BUT they will be moving to Westdale Village soon)

Pinks Burgers - 1335 Main St W, Hamilton

The Ship - 23 Augusta St, Hamilton

Twist Burger Bar - 298 King St W, Hamilton

Real Burger - 94 Dundas St E, Waterdown

and the current King of Burgers (also king of Poutine & Shakes) who hasn't been dethroned yet since they opened....

Hambrgr - 49 King William St, Hamilton or 207 Ottawa St N



Also of note some honourable mentions where you can still get a very tasty burger in this city but just missed my best burger list maybe because the consistency is just not quite there or because they are not unique to just Hamilton but still worthy....

O'Neiell's - 1374 Barton St E, Hamilton
The Burgers Priest - 1591 Upper James St, Hamilton
Radius - 151 James St S, Hamilton
Electric Burger - 96 George St, Hamilton
The Works Gourmet Burger Bistro - 2 King St W, Hamilton or 1405 Upper James St, Hamilton
Five Guys - 518 Centennial Pkwy N, Hamilton or 1807 Stone Church Rd E, Hamilton
Big Top Family Restaurant - 754 Main St E, Hamilton

And finally REST IN PEACE Chucks Burger Bar from Locke street I still shed some tears for the loss if this place!

So what did I miss? What are your favourite burger joints or absolute fav? :)

Apparently there are a few people in the city who are fed up with and/or disappointed by Jack and Lois and its level of service, quality of food, and so on. Some are cheering that the place is closing, and believe that a move to Westdale is a fiction.

Some opinions here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Hamilton/comments/9dlcu1/jack_and_lois_to_close_after_supercrawl/

I have no strong opinion...I was there a couple of times and thought the food and service was meh.

Good to know you love burgers, and you've mentioned some fine places. But I have to say that making a burger isn't exactly difficult for a restaurant to do well at.

Hamilton is so far from a food destination. Some hype has been manufactured in the last 8 years, but during the same time Toronto's food scene just kept expanding, so we're as far behind them as we've always been. And not explained by population, Burlington and Oakville have much better restaurants than Hamilton.

Lived in Burlington my whole life, not true. My friends and I all go to Hamilton for good food. Unless you like franchise places like The Keg, Jack Astor's, Shoeless Joe's, Kelsey's, Montana's, The Works, et cetera, Burlington is garbage. There's a few local places, but they're way overpriced. I've been eating in Hamilton for at least a year, and still haven't tried all the restaurants in downtown, nevermind Ottawa St, and Westdale and other small pcokets.

Haven't tried them all, but HMBRGR is my fave. Expensive but soo good.
People rave about Delirious, but their generic buns are a turn-off.

I find Hmbrgr to be decently priced for what you get. It's cheaper than The Works, and much better Hamburgers.

I did not know we have a Burgers Priest in Hamilton

I've been hearing similarly bad things about Southern Smoke on Ottawa Street.

Oh nooo... I hope not!? I haven't been back there since the original owners sold it back in early Spring. If this is true then that falls solely on the new management. I'll have to check them out again one day soon to see for myself!

As for Jack & Lois I read through that reddit discussion. It's a real shame to hear what they been dealing with (mainly the Mission crowd?) and also if true how they been running their establishment of late. I was there a month but the day I went the food and service was fantastic no complaints at all.

As fast as we lose a cherished gem in this city though it seems we gain two more new gems in our ever growing and changing food scene!

I went to Jack & Lois for lunch, had to wait nearly an hour for my meal. Lucky I was in no rush to get back to work (it was during the holidays so no boss) and the free coffee refill was worth it. I'd go back, but I'm more cautious about the timing.

Couldn't disagree with you more and you can't compare Hamilton to Toronto that's just absurd! The population and sheer size of Toronto makes any comparison unfair & unrealistic.

Maybe compare us to a city closer to our size say Mississauga and we crush them hand's down it's not even a competition. They have chain after chain after chain, with just a handful of notable independent restaurants and they are located in just one small area in Port Credit. Whereas we have clusters all over Hamilton from Westdale to Locke, James South, James North, Corktown, International Village, Ottawa North, Barton West, Ancaster and downtown Dundas just overflowing with award winning and highly notable & highly publicized independent restaurants!

And those amazing restaurants you talk about in Toronto yeah they are amazing but they are also much more pricey and both the likes of BlogTO & Narcity have written articles on Hamilton's food scene on a few occasions raving about us saying it's worth the drive with the positive comments from their readers to back it up!

Here's a great article from the Globe & Mail - Why Restaurant Veterans are Ditching Toronto for Hamilton!

I have some friends from Buffalo that make regular trips to Hamilton just to dine and they say word is spreading in Buffalo that Hamilton NOT Toronto is the city to go to for food tourism!

EDIT: And Burlington & Oakville could only dream of having our food scene lol

One advantage Hamilton has is that it has multiple food scenes compared to others, which is mostly in the downtown area. Hamilton has Locke St, King William, James St N and S, Westdale, Ottawa St, etc.

Toronto's population doesn't explain it. You said Hamilton was a food destination on the international scale. If you were talking about people driving from Buffalo to Hamilton, fine, maybe Hamilton's an international destination. But in any other sense, not even close. Hamilton's best restaurant is not in the top 100 in Ontario, maybe not top 200. And yes, Toronto's restaurants are a lot more expensive, but that's kind of the point. It's the Maple Leafs vs the Bulldogs, we're not in the same league. You can have a great time at the Bulldogs but we're talking about the product, not your subjective experience of it.

As for Oakville and Burlington, the scenes are smaller but I stand by the point, there are high quality places in both that are ahead of our best.

Cherished gems? I love your enthusiasm, but dial it down a little :)

Hamilton's food scene is doing ok. Seems sustainable, even as places open and close (like everywhere else).

Burnt Tongue makes a really great burger. Bread Bar makes a great one too! I liked Hamburger on King William when it first opened, but I feel like the quality has slipped.

Burger's Priest makes consistently great burgers, but I think they only have one location currently in the city.