Best Burgers in Sacramento: Cheese Skirts

The best burgers in Sacramento are concentrated in Midtown and downtown, along the R Street Corridor and around the Golden 1 Center, with more neighborhood spots in Land Park, East Sacramento and Oak Park. The local signature is the cheese skirt: a heap of shredded cheese melted on the flat-top until it spreads and crisps into a lacy ring around the patty.

The Squeeze Inn, a Sacramento institution featured on national food television, made the cheese skirt famous with its Squeeze with Cheese. The city also brands itself America’s Farm-to-Fork Capital, a reminder that it sits in the middle of the Central Valley’s farms and ranches. In practice, the kitchens worth seeking out name where their beef and produce come from.

Burgers in Sacramento: key facts

• Neighborhoods to explore: Midtown, downtown and the R Street Corridor, Old Sacramento, Land Park, East Sacramento and Oak Park.
• Local style: the cheese skirt burger, with a crisp ring of griddled cheese.
• Regional context: Sacramento promotes itself as America’s Farm-to-Fork Capital.
• Getting around: SacRT light rail serves downtown; Midtown’s grid is easy to walk or cycle.
• Currency: US dollar (USD), California sales tax added to the bill.
• What our guides check: the beef supplier when a menu claims local, a dated price and confirmation that each venue is open.

Every guide we publish on Sacramento is dated and lists only venues, addresses, prices and ratings we could verify. For other cities, browse all our burger restaurant guides.