After nearly a month of hard-fought matchups in our Burger Battle Royale, readers have picked the ultimate winner. Plus: Some other local spots readers love (that we didn't include in the bracket of 32). So many great burgers in this city!
Drum roll, please … after nearly a month of hard-fought burger matchups in our Burger Battle Royale, readers have picked the ultimate winner: Dick’s Drive-In.
Service is fast. Burgers are cheap. And the place exudes an old-Seattle charm that is increasingly hard to find these days.
Co-founded in 1954 by Dick Spady, Dick’s Drive-In, a family-owned company, has six locations around Seattle (with another opening soon!) and is fiercely community-driven. People flock to Dick’s in their caps and gowns each graduation season for a free burger. Macklemore and Ryan Lewis filmed a music video on its roof. Dick’s even invited customers to vote for where to open its next location (and thereby crashed the website).
That’s not all; the company is known for its employee benefits. Pay for employees starts at $14 per hour (or $16 per hour in Seattle proper), there’s free health insurance for all workers, and part-time workers are eligible for child-care assistance and a $25,000 scholarship to put toward furthering their education.
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So, maybe Dick’s doesn’t have the fanciest burger in town — or the tastiest, for that matter. (We know some of you have A LOT of feelings about that.) In the words of food writer Bethany Jean Clement, “Is the burger technically ‘great’? No, it is not … But is it actually PERFECT, for hundreds of high-school lunches or a just-walking-by-anytime snack or a late-night life-saver? Yes, it is.”
There you have it, folks. Congratulations, Dick’s Drive-In, on winning the honor of Seattle burger champion.
In case you missed it, check out the full list of 32 burgers in Round 1 of our bracket to try a bunch and decide a winner for yourself. And, just for fun, here are some of the other local burger spots readers told us they loved:
Blue Star Cafe (Wallingford)
Rain City Burgers (Roosevelt)
Red Robin (Multiple locations; founded in Seattle)
Mike’s Chili Parlor (Ballard)
Two Doors Down (Capitol Hill)
Bob’s Burgers (SeaTac)
Mr. Lu’s Burger & Seafood (U District)
Perihelion Brewery (Beacon Hill)
Metropolitan Grill (Downtown)
Ballard Brothers Seafood & Burgers (Ballard)
RAM Restaurant & Brewery (Multiple locations)
Burger Broiler (Multiple locations)
Smokey’s Char-Broiled (Burien)
Relish Burger Bistro inside The Westin (Downtown)