Who Has the Best Burger in Vail? Five Restaurants Compared

No one restaurant has an objectively best burger in Vail, and the useful question is which burger suits the hour and the mood. Five restaurants have burgers on their menus, and they split cleanly: Bully Ranch is the hotel burger in Vail Village, Sweet Basil is the chef-driven one, The George is the dinnertime pub burger, Vendetta's is a lunch-menu burger at a pizza bar that stays open late, and Westside Cafe has the widest choice of patties.

The five side by side

Bully Ranch, the burger in a hotel setting

Bully Ranch is inside the Sonnenalp Hotel in Vail Village and bills itself as home of the best burger in Vail, a boast rather than a ranking. The menu is hearty American and Southwestern: two named burgers, the Peak Burger and the Bully Bourbon Burger, alongside sandwiches, salads, nachos and truffle tots, with patio seating. It serves from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily, so it works for an après-ski burger as easily as for lunch. Reservations are recommended at 970-479-5460, and walk-ins are welcome.

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Sweet Basil, a burger on a fine-dining menu

Sweet Basil has cooked in Vail since 1977 and is better known for its New American plates than for anything between buns. The Lombardi Bros. Loin Burger sits among the entrées at $28, dressed with bone marrow and black pepper aioli, caramelized onion jam and white cheddar, and at that price it costs well above Westside Cafe's $20 to $22 burgers. Lunch runs Wednesday to Sunday; if you are hoping for the burger at dinner, ask when you reserve.

The George, a pub burger after dark

The George is a bar and lounge that has been open since 1996, and its kitchen only starts at 5 p.m. The half-pound King George is grilled with cheese, with sautéed onions or mushrooms available as an add-on, and there is a vegan burger for anyone at the table who wants one. Seating is first come, first served, so a burger here is a walk-in dinner rather than a planned one; the kitchen runs until 9:30 p.m.

Vendetta's, a lunch burger at a pizza bar

Vendetta's is an Italian restaurant and pizza bar established in 1983 on Bridge Street. The Vendetta Burger, a beef patty with American cheese, caramelized onion and dijonnaise, is on the lunch menu, so treat it as a daytime order. The venue's opening hours run late, to midnight most nights and 1 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, though those are hours for the bar and room rather than the kitchen; ask before counting on a burger at 11 p.m.

Westside Cafe, the widest choice of patties

Westside Cafe, on the North Frontage Road away from the village, is the one to choose if you want something other than beef: a bison burger with roasted red pepper and pepper jack, alongside an American cheeseburger with bacon and house aioli on a brioche bun, a BBQ burger with onion rings, and an open-faced burger topped with red elk chili. Two mini cheeseburgers are on the lunch menu as sliders. The same burgers run through lunch and dinner. The location suits anyone staying in West Vail or arriving by car. The rest of the menu is in the Westside Cafe guide.

Choosing between them

For a burger in a hotel restaurant with a patio, go to Bully Ranch. For the most refined and most expensive, book Sweet Basil. For a late dinner and a no-reservations pub, The George. For a casual lunch on Bridge Street, Vendetta's. For bison or elk chili, Westside Cafe. These picks rest on menus, hours and settings, not on a taste test, and menus and prices change, so check the restaurant's own site before you go. For more places to eat, see where to eat lunch in Vail, the wider Vail restaurant list and the restaurant directory.