Best Burgers in Montevideo: Chivito and More

The best burgers in Montevideo are spread between the waterfront districts of Pocitos and Punta Carretas, the student streets of Cordón and Parque Rodó, and the old town, Ciudad Vieja. Any burger search here runs into the chivito, Uruguay’s national sandwich, which sits on the same menus and in the same buns.

The chivito was born in the 1940s at El Mejillón, a restaurant in Punta del Este, when the owner improvised with steak, ham and buttered bread for a customer who had asked for goat. Today it is a thin beef steak stacked with ham, mozzarella, lettuce, tomato and often bacon and a fried egg. Grilled beef is the other constant: the wood-fired parrillas of the Mercado del Puerto show how seriously the city takes its meat.

Burgers in Montevideo: key facts

• Neighbourhoods to explore: Pocitos, Punta Carretas, Cordón, Parque Rodó, Ciudad Vieja and, further east, Carrasco.
• Local specialty: the chivito, ordered al pan (in a bun) or al plato (on a plate, with fries or Russian salad).
• Meat culture: parrillas cooking over wood embers, with the Mercado del Puerto as the best-known address.
• Getting around: the Rambla follows the Río de la Plata shoreline from Ciudad Vieja to Carrasco and links most of these districts.
• Currency: Uruguayan peso (UYU).
• What our guides check: whether a burger holds its own next to the chivito on the same menu.

Every guide we publish on Montevideo is dated and lists only venues, addresses, prices and ratings we could verify. Browse all our burger restaurant guides around the world.