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Start a Top 5 for BurgersEditor’s picks
Press picks, until locals rank their own Top 5s. Sourced from the local food press. As seen in Isthmus and Madison Magazine. Updated August 2026.
The Plaza Tavern · Downtown
Isthmus pick. The Plazaburger with proprietary Plaza sauce is Madison's most well-known bar burger to locals and visitors.
Blue Moon Bar & Grill · Near West
Isthmus pick. Custom-blended Knoche's ground beef on a flat-top topped with garlic blue cheese.
Nitty Gritty-Madison · Downtown
The campus burger-and-birthday institution, silver medalist in the 2025 Best of Madison readers' poll's Burger category. The poll's gold went to Culver's, a national chain excluded from this list, and its bronze went to Tipsy Cow, already covered under cheese curds.