Best Burgers in Detroit: Sliders to Bar Burgers

The best burgers in Detroit come in two sizes. The small one is the slider, a thin patty griddled with onions on a soft steamed bun and sold by old counters that never close. The big one is the bar burger served in Corktown, Midtown and downtown taverns. Next door, Dearborn adds a halal burger scene shaped by one of the largest Arab American communities in the country.

Telway Hamburgers, on Michigan Avenue since the 1940s, is the classic slider counter: open 24 hours, onions pressed into each patty, coffee and donuts on the side. Detroit’s other diner tradition is the Coney Island, a hot dog with beef chili, mustard and chopped onions, and Coney diners still sit on corners across the city and its suburbs.

Burgers in Detroit: key facts

• Neighborhoods to explore: Corktown, Midtown, Downtown, Eastern Market, Southwest Detroit, Hamtramck and Dearborn.
• Local style: the onion slider, cooked on a flat-top and usually ordered several at a time.
• Slider landmark: Telway Hamburgers on Michigan Avenue, open around the clock.
• Local cousin: the Coney dog, with beef chili, mustard and onions.
• Halal burgers: Warren Avenue in east Dearborn, the heart of its Arab American business district.
• Getting around: the QLine streetcar runs along Woodward Avenue between downtown and New Center; elsewhere, plan on a car.
• Currency: US dollar (USD).

Every guide we publish on Detroit is dated and lists only venues, addresses, prices and ratings we could verify. More cities are waiting in our burger restaurant guides.