Among smashburgers, fancy burgers and basic burgers, Raleigh’s top burger is a tower
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Belly busters: Your bracket results for the Triangle’s best food
It’s that time of year when you’re probably busy filling out your tournament bracket. Luckily, you got ahead of the game by voting in our recent brackets for the Triangle’s best pizzeria. And coffee shop. And burger joint. And the best wings. What should we feast on next?
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Our Raleigh Burger Bracket in October focused on readers picking the best burgers in the Oak City — a burger-loving town that features a wide variety of great spots, from roadside griddles to white tablecloth restaurants.
In the end, the Triangle’s top burger was found at a brewery.
The Champion
The fanciest burger in the bunch won the whole thing.
Neuse River Brewing & Brasserie‘s winner is a towering burger with ribbons of fried onions, melted Belgian beer cheese, tangy aioli and pickles. It stands alone in reader voting as Raleigh’s top burger.
The Runner-Up
The new restaurant Fine Folk created a burger phenomenon with its version of the smashburger, a gooey ode to fast-food burgers.
The Final Four
Joining our final two were The Station on Person Street, which boasts one of Raleigh’s top patios and one of Raleigh’s best burger deals.
Also in the Final Four was its cross-town cousin CowBar, also owned by the Hibernian Group. It started in the Morgan Street Food Hall and is expanding to North Hills.
The Elite Eight
Because of a tie for the eighth spot, our traditional Elite Eight actually included nine burgers. This round featured our eventual Final Four, along with two of the city’s iconic burgers — Players’ Retreat and Char-Grill — and MoJoe’s Burger Joint, Mandolin and Same Jones’ BBQ.
The Sweet Sixteen
We started our bracket with these 16 spots, and you can’t go wrong with the burger at any of them.
237 S. Wilmington St., Raleigh. 919-322-0127 or ac-restaurants.com/beasleys
16 W. Martin St., Raleigh. 919-747-9345 or capitalclub16.com
Original location 618 Hillsborough St., Raleigh. 919-821-7636 or chargrillusa.com
2233 Avent Ferry Rd., Suite 102, Raleigh. facebook.com/cloosconeyisland
411 W. Morgan St., Raleigh. 984-200-4431 or cowbarburger.com
2409 Crabtree Blvd., Suite 100, Raleigh. finefolkraleigh.com
2330 Bale St., Suite 112, Raleigh. 984-200-6521 or hightopburger.com
2519 Fairview Rd., Raleigh. 919-322-0365 or mandolinraleigh.com
Mama Crow’s Burger & Salad Shop
500 E. Davie St., Suite 116, Raleigh. 919-717-2897 or mamacrows.com
620 Glenwood Ave., Raleigh. 919-832-8799 or mojoesburgerjoint.com
Neuse River Brewing & Brasserie
518 Pershing Rd., Raleigh. 984-232-8479 or neuseriverbrewing.com
105 Oberlin Rd., Raleigh. 919-755-9589 or playersretreat.com
225 E. Martin St., Raleigh. 919-896-6600 or squareburger-raleigh.com
701 N. Person St., Raleigh. 919-971-1567 or stationraleigh.com
502 W. Lenoir St., Raleigh. 984-206-2555 or samjonesbbq.com
13100 Falls of Neuse Rd., Raleigh. 919-322-2282 or townhallburgersandbeer.com
This story was originally published March 16, 2022 at 6:00 AM with the headline "Among smashburgers, fancy burgers and basic burgers, Raleigh’s top burger is a tower."
