Gold Coast’s best burgers: the top 10 burger joints as voted by you
Burgers, burgers everywhere, but who has the best buns of all? After counting the votes, Amber Macpherson reveals the Gold Coast’s top 10 flippers and grillers.
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Burgers, burgers everywhere, but who has the best buns of all? After counting the votes, Amber Macpherson reveals the Gold Coast’s top 10 flippers and grillers.
10. Iron & Resin
6 Stewart Rd, Currumbin Waters
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There’s no false advertising going on at Iron & Resin. Co-owner Bruce Robson says the burgers really are as good as they look on Instagram, no filter required.
“Social media has a big impact on what people want to eat — our burgers look exactly like the photos,” Bruce says. “What you see is what you get.”
While Bruce says no-one is exactly forthcoming with feedback, wide eyes and an exclamation of “oh my God, it’s huge” is all the reassurance the kitchen team needs.
“They’re big and there’s lots on it but they’re simple. They’re pretty straight forward and juicy, with quality ingredients and there’s no paying extra for your chips,” Bruce says.
An all-day menu available from 6am means you can grab a Beechmont barbecue chicken, Advancetown Aussie or Burringbar cheeseburger with your morning coffee.
9. Grill’d
Robina Town Centre, Robina
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Consistency, freshness and friendly faces give Grill’d its reputation as a top Australian burger franchise. Robina Grill’d manager Tyler Wipani says her restaurant’s drawcard is that diners can always count on excellent service.
“Because we’re a franchise we’re all about customers, we provide everything that the customers want,” she says.
“We’re very welcoming.” Tyler says the top picks on the burger menu are the big Queenslander with a fried egg and beetroot, the chicken avocado Simon says and beef burger Summer Sunset with pineapple.
“Everything we make is fresh,” Tyler says.
“With our burgers, they’re always juicy, they’re never over cooked, we take pride in our burgers.”
8. Burgster
4/10 Philippine Parade, Palm Beach
Burgster in Palm Beach pushes the limits as to what a burger restaurant can be.
Buns are given an upgrade with ingredients like slow cooked pork hock, house smoked brisket and tempura fish.
For a fancy feast try the popular marinated bug tail burger with parsley, garlic, lemon mayo and lettuce, or opt for the people-pleasing angus beef with cheese, pickles, lettuce, tomato, onion and Burgster sauce.
Well-known for its weekday specials, Burgster slings $5 cheeseburgers every Monday with the option to double or triple stack your patty for $10 or $15. There’s also oyster Friday, where you can order the usually costly mollusc for $1 each between 3pm and 5pm.
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7. The Loose Moose
75 Surf Pde, Broadbeach
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Quality is key at Loose Moose, a Broadbeach restaurant that puts a gourmet twist on each delicious double decker. Marketing manager Karley Beadman says the eatery’s catch phrase says it all. “One of our tag lines is dirty food made clean,” Karley says.
“The beef patty is grass fed, free range beef from Byron Bay. The veggo burger is a quinoa, chia, carrot and sweet potato patty with lime scented yoghurt and with chilli and lime jam. Our burgers are served pink unless you require it cooked through on organic milk buns, and gluten-free buns are available upon request.”
Karley says you can also build your own burger with whatever ingredients of your choosing.
“You can double up the beef, brie, cajun onion rings, American cheddar, it goes on and on,” she says. “Get into it.”
6. Betty’s Burgers
Robina Town Centre, Robina
They might look simple but the burgers at Betty’s pack plenty of flavour between brioche buns. Robina Betty’s Burger marketing manager Lyndal Guterres says the diner’s dishes aren’t to be underestimated.
“I think we’re understated,” she says. “We all know what a good burger tastes like, but when you get something that’s that little bit better than what you’ve had before, I think that’s the clincher.”
The Robina store has its own signature sandwich called the kitchen’s burger, as well as the regular range customers know and love.
“The Betty’s classic, which you’ll find is in any of our restaurants, is what we’re known for,” Lyndal says.
“We added a vegan burger in November last year which is an arancini ball patty filled with rice and vegetables and Betty’s special sauce. I’m a carnivore and I think it’s amazing.”
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5. Betty’s Burgers
Westfield Coomera, Foxwell Rd, Coomera
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Customers aren’t the only ones happy to be at Betty’s Burgers — Coomera store manager Bella McAdam said the staff can’t wait until their next shift.
“We have the best team at Coomera,” Bella says. “Everyone really loves their work, they ask ‘can we come to work more?’.
For 15-year-old kids that’s a great thing. It’s a little bit of a family there.”
Betty’s Burgers serves “homemade fast food” made with six ingredients or less. Bella says the most popular burger is the classic with a beef patty, cheese, tomato, lettuce and the special secret sauce. “It’s just simple things done right,” Bella says.
“We cook everything to order. As soon as the order comes through to the kitchen everything’s made fresh. We do cater to a lot of allergies, too — vegan, gluten free, everything.”
4. Easy Street Diner
12/2563 Gold Coast Hwy, Mermaid Beach
It’s all breezy at Easy Street Diner, the relaxed American-style eatery that makes no apologies for its fulfilling fried fare.
The Mermaid Beach restaurant is under new management but don’t worry, the hearty burger menu isn’t going anywhere.
“We’ve raised the quality of the ingredients but the menu has been the same for five years,” front of house manager Taylor Lee says.
“We have fried chicken burgers, the royale takes the pick for beef burgers which can be upgraded to single, double or triple, and we do a few southern style burgers like beef brisket and soft shell crab.”
Taylor says the customers know exactly what they’re getting at Easy Street — and it’s certainly not health food.
“I think the Gold Coast is really centred around health and fitness but sometimes people just want a little hole in the wall where they can duck out and indulge and then go back to their acai bowls the next day,” he says.
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3. Milky Lane
1/38 Cavill Ave, Surfers Paradise
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Every month is a reason to celebrate at Milky Lane, with a new off-menu burger, dessert, side and cocktail to try.
Next month the decadent dishes include a rib burger with the 280g pork rib patty glazed with our Sailor Jerry Savage Apple buffalo sauce; an apple crumble savage spritz cocktail; and deep fried lamingtons with Nutella sauce for dessert.
Famous for its outrageous towering concoctions named after hip hop artists, Milky Lane is where the serious cheat eaters get their fix. With the option to triple stack your patties, load up on extras like mac and cheese croquettes, and finish off with loaded doughnut churro fries for dessert, you’ll be glad winter is on the way because one bite will put your bikini bod on the line.
2. Ze Pickle
37 Connor St, Burleigh Heads
There’s burger enthusiasts and then there’s Ze Pickle customers. Co-owner Nathan Zukerman says people have gone to extreme lengths to prove just how much they love the Burleigh restaurant’s buns.
“We had one guy get one of our burgers and our logo tattooed on himself,” Nathan says.
“It’s not something I’ve ever thought of doing but we were stoked.”
Burger bonding is common at Ze Pickle, so rest assured the new menu has all of your favourites with some tasty new additions.
“We’ve got a new, we call it the zEPICkle burger, it’s double cheese, double bacon with our truffle butter, served with shoe string fries,” Nathan says.
“The other is a fish taco burger, we’ve been running over summer, that’s been so popular.”
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1. Eddie’s Grub House
171 Griffith Street Coolangatta
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Part dive bar, part live music venue and part fried food cafeteria, this Coolangatta restaurant serves up mouth-watering burgers to match the feel-good vibes. There’s nine burgers to choose from (plus another two on the secret menu), however staff recommend the signature Big Ed, the Classic Ed and King of The Roost.
The Big Ed features a 220g beef patty, double cheese and bacon, lettuce, tomato and pickles with ketchup and special sauce, while the Classic Ed comes in a similar set-up minus the bacon and with Ed Mac sauce.
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The King of The Roost comes with southern fried chicken tenders, lettuce, red onion, cheese and chipotle mayo.
As for the secret selections, let’s just say they’re not for the faint of heart — two covert burgers come stacked high with double the ingredients for double the pleasure.
The herbivores haven’t been forgotten at Eddies, either.
There’s a fried and battered cauliflower snack called Macauliflower Culkin’s Balls, or the Nancy Burger that comes with a whole wheel of brie cheese. To top it all off, fries come free with every burger.
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