Overall Best Burger in Missoula: Double K Ranch Deli
Let’s not beat around the bush. If you have a human mouth with human taste buds, you’ll agree that Double K Ranch Deli has the best burger in Missoula, Montana. Double K Ranch locally sources all of the meat and processes it at their corresponding facilities. You can undeniably taste the difference. The quality of the meat is so impressive in fact, that it may lower your ability to enjoy the other burgers on planet Earth. But if you’re simply looking for the best burger in Missoula Montana, if not the world, then the list starts and ends here: at Double K Ranch Deli.
Highlights From the Menu
The burgers at Double K Ranch are so good that you’ll want to acquaint yourself with each and every burger on the menu. It hardly matters where you start. On this test, there are no wrong answers.
The Lamb Burger is rich and flavorfully viscous with its smoked gouda, spicy honey mustard, lamb bacon jam, balsamic dressed greens, and onion. Similarly adventurous are the dry-aged Ranch Hand Burger and the French Onion Burger.
The reliable Smash Burger rolls out the greatest hits if you prefer to go the old fashioned route. It comes with American cheese, pickles, lettuce, onions, and a creamy thousand island adjacent sauce.
When you order any burger off of the Double K Ranch Deli menu, it will be seasoned so perfectly that you may find it to be an emotional experience. The bread is sturdy and reliable, helping you get from the first bite to the last with integrity intact. Every sauce on every sandwich will have you questioning why other restaurants are so boring.
Importantly, Double K Ranch Deli also has the best french fries of any restaurant in Missoula. They’re fried in pork fat, and their crunchiness will make your lofty french fry dreams look modest, like a prospector who just struck as many plates of edible gold as they care to order. Double K Ranch Deli’s main courses would be intensely worth the trip, even if their trusty sidekicks weren’t threatening to steal the show.
Double K Ranch Deli is located at 2700 Paxson St Suite B, and you’ll be right next door to Samar International Food Market. I recommend that you take a stroll through there while your food is being made to find a fun and exotic drink to pair. There isn’t a better burger experience to be had in Missoula.
Best Value Burger: Frugals
How many drive-thrus are there in America where you can order a burger with grilled pineapple, fries, and a drink for under ten dollars in 2024? The answer is Frugals. Frugals’ flavors blend the familiarity and smokiness of picnic barbecue nostalgia with a powerful arsenal of hot rod toppings. They’ve surpassed and mastered the simple elements of the hamburger, and they’re flicking them out the window at everything-must-go prices. All of this is to say that Frugals offers great burgers at a great price.
Frugals’ Incredible Bacon and Fries
Frugals manages to have some of the best bacon in the city. At certain burger joints you can go without the bacon, but Frugals has got bacon’s number. Every time I order a burger from Frugals that includes bacon, it’s cooked to a crispy perfection that dissolves into soft fatty granules. The quality of the ingredients altogether will surprise you when you see the fair price you’re paying. Within a couple blocks in any direction you can pay the same price or more for some Soylent Green at a McDonalds or Burger King, but Frugals continues to whip up high quality patties with vigorous cheese and sesame seed capped buns, churning them out at a Spongebob pace.
You cannot tell the story of Frugals without mentioning their french fries and fry sauce. They have a fierce crisp relative to their structural simplicity, and a hard flavorful edge that cuts through to a level that most drive thru french fries cannot. The fry sauce is dainty and smooth, and the perfect calming compliment to the explosiveness of the fries.
Frugals’ Retro Atmosphere
Frugals harbors and delivers the refreshing feeling that it’s been lifted up and placed out of time itself. Whether it evokes images of the sleek and often romanticized soda fountain scene of the 1950’s, or whether it stands as a gateway to a Missoula that’s unchanging unlike everything else, there’s something to the feeling you get when you drive or walk up to a Frugals window.
This is an unquantifiable and highly subjective variable, but my experience with Frugals can sometimes feel close to meditative. The high stylization of the place oozes from every detail, from the design of their menu and packaging materials, to the ingredients themselves which make a burger at Frugals feel like you’re putting time on hold. The best burger in Missoula should be a complete experience.
Oh, and their milkshakes. The english language may or may not allow me to convey to you how delicious they are.
Spunkiest Burger: Wally and Buck
Just thinking about the visceral burgers at Wally and Buck makes me hungry. There’s a cohesion between the ingredients that oversees every bite of every burger, and keeps it running smoothly. The architecture of each burger is immaculate, and they’re as delicious as they are impressive. The patties are smashed and lacy, buns are toasted and crispy from the inside out, and the toppings adhere to an incredible engineering against my understanding of the laws of the universe.
Each week Wally and Buck introduces a new rotating burger onto their menu, sourced from local and delicious ingredients. The novelty and creativity of these offerings usually compel me to try them. These burgers boast ingredients that make me wonder why nobody else is pioneering such interesting ideas as Wally and Buck. They make a compelling case for having the best burger in Missoula.
If you see something on the Wally and Buck menu with curry mayonnaise, order it. Better yet, order a side of it to dip the fries in. Their original sauces could make you weep tears of joy. The shoestring fries are flavorfully compact and densely crispy, almost begging to be used for scooping.
In this post about the best burgers in Missoula, I have to make an exception and mention Wally and Buck’s chicken sandwich. It’s a popular sentiment that the Buck Buck, Wally and Buck’s chicken sandwich, is among the best in Missoula. It’s absolutely worth the deviation if you’re craving poultry.
Wally and Buck: Modern Missoula
Wally and Buck’s modern atmosphere is a testament to the hospitality of Missoula’s sweeping, open landscape which so naturally accepts and houses not just the beautiful relics and capsules from the greatest city on earth’s rich past, but an adaptable beauty that provides the backdrop to the sleek architecture of the newest additions, like the Missoula Public Library right down the road.
Metal serving trays and all, Wally and Buck is a contemporary restaurant, and it’s proud to be what it is. You can watch a beautiful Missoula sunset down the tunnel of the road when you sit outside and face west. It’s a perfect experience with an inspired burger and I recommend it.
Best Burger Bar: Flippers Tavern
The burgers at Flippers Tavern are popular for a reason. The portions are generous, the food is hearty, and the flavors are powerful. Your mind simple thinks “awesome” as your eyes watch the plate descend to the table in front of your face. The burgers are big and the patties are juicy. The cheese blankets the patty and its toppings like the warm atmosphere blankets you when you step through the door. Your side can be orange if you prefer sweet potato fries. However, if you’re going for gold, the tater tots, fries, and onion rings are all delicious.
Flippers Menu Standouts
You can’t go wrong ordering off the menu at Flippers Tavern. The patty melt is delicious, the mushroom and swiss burger is worth trying, and The Chrondo is exciting with its pepper jack cheese, jalapeños, and sriracha. Flippers features great prices and an exciting variety of offerings that make every trip as great as you remembered it.
There’s something about the juiciness of the meat that evokes feelings of a home cooked meal. It’s more intimate a flavor than what you can find at most restaurants. And if you prefer to wash your burger down with a beer, you may find Flippers to have the best burger in Missoula.
Flippers Tavern: Unmistakably Missoula
The log cabin facade on the outside of the building evokes a similar feeling to the one you’ll get once you step inside. You’re unmistakably in a cozy western tavern. This authenticity makes Flippers a favorite among locals, and there’s always something going on. Be sure to check out the Flippers Facebook page for information about upcoming events, of which there are usually many.
Flippers Tavern is also a casino, and so has games among opportunities for social activities like a billiards table, making Flippers a great spot to go with a group. The televisions make it a perfect place to catch a game, and being open every day of the week until 2 AM makes Flippers a reliable option through the night. Flippers Tavern has its own ecosystem, and it’s worth checking out if you’re in the mood for some drinks on your quest to experience the best burger in Missoula.
Best Overall Restaurant: Iron Horse Brew Pub
The other establishments on this list are first and foremost burger joints, but Iron Horse Brew Pub is a well rounded restaurant with an impressive menu that cannot steer you wrong. Of course this list is about finding the best burger in Missoula, and Iron Horse boasts a top tier burger. But suppose you’re craving a burger and somebody else in your party is not? Or maybe you’re trying to accomodate a vegetarian, then Iron Horse Brew Pub is clearly the best option.
The food at Iron Horse Brew Pub is altogether delicious, but the burgers are something special. Working our way from the outside in, the fries are about as good as fries can possibly be. I’m sure you’d agree that there isn’t much higher an experience to be achieved as far as human taste. The burgers are served on the delicious Wheat Montana brioche buns, sourcing ingredients from the tried and trusted local top dogs. Iron Horse’s patties are delicious and made with high quality meats resulting in a difference that you’ll notice right away. The juiciness of the burgers is unmatched if you’re looking for something hearty.
Iron Horse Burger Standouts
I recommend the bison burger, a massive half pound patty with chipotle bacon jam, swiss cheese, and crispy fried onion strings. These crispy onions are a star player on the Iron Horse roster, and I’d steer in their direction whenever possible. The Griz is popular too, designed and described by Chef Todd himself as “a half pound chuck brisket blend topped with house made mushroom duxelle, caramelized onions, blue cheese, and bacon.” The menu is full of gems, and you can’t go wrong trying any of them in pursuit of the best burger in Missoula.
Iron Horse Brew Pub’s Impressive Atmosphere
With impressive happy hour deals, Iron Horse Brew Pub makes its case for brunch, lunch, dinner, and everything in between. Iron Horse caps Higgins Avenue, the most impressive street in the city of Missoula, and points down the road like the penthouse suite of the block, making the outdoor seating options incredibly appealing.
It’s just as charming to eat indoors, and Iron Horse respects its customer’s space by providing lots of comfortable seating options across several rooms and patios. It’s clear that Iron Horse aims to create a hospitable atmosphere for its patrons, with incredibly friendly service in a welcoming spot that radiates the care and attention that must have gone into designing such a place. More-so than any other entry on this list, I recommend that you dine in when you go to Iron Horse Brew Pub.
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