Al’s Burger Shack

The best burger in town. Hands down. Al is also a stand up guy and is one of the friendliest people in town. ALSO if he does breakfast… go. Wake up and go. It’s amazing.

This is my first five star rating. Our last stop before our flight home was Al’s Burger Shack in Chapel Hill. Ordered Sean’s Bacon Cheddarburger, DC 40 hot dog w/​NC spicy sweet mustard and grilled onions and sea salt rosemary fries. Staff was terrific, you could sense they wanted to be there instead of having to be there. I ordered the small hamburger and hot dog. Burger was great, juicy, cooked spot on. The dog was incredible, the mustard perfectly accompanied the sweetness of the grilled onions. Never had rosemary fries before, they were good. We travel quite a bit, but my girlfriend said this was the best burger she ever had. Now I know this isn’t haute cuisine, it’s burgers, hot dogs and fries. Yet when you do it correctly as they have, the end result is perfection no matter what it is. Great food here at Al’s.

Best burger in Chapel Hill (sorry Acme). The crinkle cut fries are pretty great too. Affordable, decent and cheap beer. Worth the short wait even if there’s a line. Sit on the porch and wash the burger down with more beers. Maybe someday Al will make a Hatch Green Chile Cheeseburger with guacamole and everything will be right in the world. Or maybe he’s scared — hard to tell. C’mon Al, you’ve got this.

Al’s is great. I got the veggie burger which was delicious, but I would have liked it better if the texture hadn’t been so mushy and basically fallen apart in my hands. My friend got a regular burger too which was also good but not one of the best we’d ever had. Would come here again, but not one of my favorites.

Favorite place for a burger… anywhere. I love the variety of size options for burgers and the variety of fries as well. The Mookie (buddy bite) with a side of rosemary fries is my go-​to. This place is fast, efficient, and everyone is friendly — most especially Al who couldn’t be better!

Just what it is… a shack. But the food… yooooo the food is so good! Those fries with the rosemary on them and the perfect crisp. The «mookie»…delish. Of course you wash it down with a chocolate shake! The only down side is there isn’t much seating but the food is well worth it.

Best burgers in town. Awesome casual but super friendly atmosphere with fast service and a funny and nice staff.

Pretty good burger! As my first time here, I thought the Paco burger I ordered was alright. It was fresh, but I felt it missed a zest or flavor to it, like it needed something else. Either way, even though I felt it was sort of pricey, it was not enough to convince me to go somewhere else. Tip: if you want to have both types of fries (sweet potato and crinkle fries) on your order, just ask! I only had one burger here, and with so many different flavors, there’s no telling what the other burgers have to offer.

I can’t believe I haven’t reviewed Al’s yet… In the last year since moving to the area, I’ve been to Al’s several times now. Hands down the best burger in Chapel Hill!
My go-​to meal includes: (1) Sean’s Bacon Cheddarburger (buddy bite size), (1) order of regular fries plus a soda to wash everything down. I know that doesn’t seem like a lot of food, but it’s actually quite filling! On my first few trips, I would try eating 2 buddy bites or 1 regular sized burger with fries, and I would literally be too stuffed to move. Not to mention the 2 hour food coma that would occur afterwards. I’ve now discovered that 1 buddy bite plus fries is the perfect meal for me. And the Bacon Cheddarburger is really the best thing on the menu (that’s after trying the Paco, Bobo Chili burger, and Mookie burgers as well). Also, I keep meaning to try to sweet potato fries, but I can’t seem to resist the regular fries with rosemary… so tasty! The hint of herb just makes them so unique.
I’m definitely an Al’s fan. Great place to bring out of town guests as well to let them try a local favorite.

Al’s is no frills. Just burgers, dogs, and some killer sweet potato fries. But guess what? When it comes to a burger joint, a no frills attitude is definitely not a bad thing! (or at least in my book)
I’ve probably walked past Al’s a few dozen times before without bothering to give it a shot. Was it because I don’t eat a ton of meat? Or could it be because I feel oh so very old whenever I hit up a Franklin Street establishment these days? If I was a betting man, I’d put my money on the latter. Regardless, my lady friend and I recently popped in and definitely were not disappointed.
Service is fast and the staff is friendly. The menus up on the wall feature font that is big enough even a geezer such as myself can make it out, and as mentioned before what you see is what you get. There are about eight burger options (including a vegetarian one) and four hot dog choices plus you get the option to «Big Al» size your burger which entails some double patty action (incidentally not available for the vegetarians). Fries come in the crispy crinkle or sweet potato variety. Plus the beef used for the burgers is all NC pasture raised and sans hormones and antibiotics. You gotta love that.
You grab your food from a window on the side and then can sit on some picnic tables with a bunch of UNC undergrads that will make you feel super old. BUT biting into that tasty burger will make you feel young again… or give you terrible heart burn and worst case scenario some chest pain. But it’s worth it because these burgers are excellent!

This was hands down one of the best burgers I have had in Chapel Hill. I read about Al’s in the Only Our State magazine after it made the top 10 «best burger joint» list. You can also see all the accolades from the Indy and Best of the Triangle featured proudly on their walls.
We frequented Beer Study a few times and you will get a whiff of the fresh burger smell as you approach Al’s. It is a small shack with a connected outdoor patio seating area. As you enter from Franklin Street, there is a large colorful chalkboard listing all of the burger options. The open kitchen is right there and you see all the beef patties being cooked on the grill. I opted for the Classic burger and you can get the Buddy Bite Size or the Al’s size. If you are really hungry, you can also get the Big Al with two large patties. You have to get the crinkle fries with fresh sea salt and rosemary. They are piping hot and so so so delicious. After you place your order, you can grab a seat in their covered patio area. There is a small pick-​up window and they will call your name when your order is ready. We only had one small mishap with our order where the small bite size burgers came out instead of Al’s size and they immediately re-​did the order. The bite size are slider size just in case you are wondering :-)
The burger was cooked perfectly, juicy and all of the vegetables on top were fresh. The beef is locally raised and hormone free and just one of the best patties I have had. I also saw a Taste of Carolina tour going on while we were dining and they were sampling Al’s. Just like the sign says, «Good is good y’all” — I might have to amend that to great is great, y’all.

We ate here on a Saturday night. Lots of students. NOT a lot of seating. Best bet would be to get your food to go.
I had the chili cheese and slaw burger. It was super tasty. Also had half regular fries and half sweet potato fries. The regular fries are crinkle cut and have a hint of rosemary. Very good. The sweet potato fries have brown sugar and a hint of cinnamon. Kinda sweet for my taste.
Kinda pricey for a place that only has a few wooden picnic tables for seating.

This place has only been here for 2 years when we visited, but it feels like it’s been here for 22!
We walked into a cozy little space and were immediately greeted by the staff in the kitchen. They were incredibly easy going and it was cool to see them having a good time in the back.
The menu is simple and to-​the-​point: burgers and beer. They also have dawgs, which seemed awesome, but I thought that if we were at a place called «Al’s Burgers» we should honor the name.
We ordered the simple burger and Sean’s cheddar burger, in the «buddy size» so it was a bit bigger than a slider. We also ordered the sweet potato fries, because if you know me than you will know that I will never miss an opportunity to order them sweet fries. We talked with the girl who took our order for a bit, and she is a student at UNC and was representing well. After my mom got her beer, we sat where the only seating was: outside.
We sat under a naked pergola that was lit with big, white bulbs. You have to be ok with meeting new people because the seating was 4 picnic tables that could sit about 6 each. This place is literally a block away from a college in the south, so it was no problem at all sitting with different people. Our name was called from a kitchen window, a cue that our food was ready. Before we got up a man with the biggest personality swooped down and took our food to bring the food to us. It was none other than the owner, Al himself. It was evident that he wanted to make sure his guests were having a good time, but I couldn’t help but to start digging into the fries while he and my mom talked.
Dang, those fries were SOMETHING. You cannot miss them. For anything. They are everything a sweet potato fry should be: a bit crispy with a meaty bite, and good sweet/​salty flavor. The burgers were picturesque, cooked to perfection with a little pink center. It was everything a burger should be, and the buddy was the perfect size.
We finished more than satisfied, but didn’t leave without taking a picture with the owner! The combination of service of food and service lends to the 5 star rating. I really hope that I go to UNC so I can come here again and again.

The burgers are really good and I usually get a bacon cheese burger. They are some of the best burgers I have had. They are lacking in indoor seating in fact most of the seating is outdoors, which is good except when it gets cold. The service is great and THEY HAVE CHEERWINE! Good food, good service, low price, ¹⁰⁄₁₀ would recommend to a friend.

Very cool theme, nice atmosphere, and engaging service. Unfortunately, two items on my burger were wrong and not what I ordered. Also, the fries were served cold, or at best room temperature. The burger also was served a bit rare, which is not my preference. It is a bit pricy for a meal there, and for that reason, I hope they step it up a bit and impress me a lot more, if I come back again some day… More effort should also be made to trap and get rid of the pest flies in there. They were a really annoyance to my meal eaten at the counter.
I need noticeable improvement before I can award more stars… However, I may try again someday, as they appear to have potential!

My FAVORITE burger place on Franklin St/​in the Chapel hill area!
Their burgers are great (my favorite is the Sean Bacon Cheeseburger), and their sweet potato fries are AMAZING!
I always find myself leaving Al’s very satisfied. Staff is very nice and enthusiastic! Definitely will be back again.

Don’t let this tiny façade fool you. They make some good burgers here. Some people take their orders to go, but you can sit in one of the few counter top bar seats overlooking the sidewalk indoors or on a covered picnic table outdoors. I got the Paco burger with jalapeño, habanero jack cheese, and avocado with a side of sweet potato fries. It was so good and filling. Cheap. Accepts credit cards. Street parking only. Since the shack, er, restaurant sits on a street corner, there is some great people watching to be had.

I revoke my 4 star rating! After multiple return visits to this place, I’ve decided it’s pretty darn awesome.
Maybe I just didn’t know how to appreciate a simple burger before or maybe it was their rush hour that killed it for me initially. I may never know, but I can say for certain, they make a fantastic one.
Their smallest sized burger is SO cute, it’s the perfect size for me if I want a snack. It’s like an appetizer burger.
Also, I don’t know how Al’s does it, but somehow, the buns on their burger stay perfectly aligned with the rest of the burger’s contents. No slipping and sliding around. I know you all know about this problem that burgers often face! But not here, take a bite, set it down, pick it back up, it’s exactly the same!
And your patty will come out perfectly pink in the middle. And those sweet potato fries?! Best I’ve ever had anywhere.
Another perk, they’ve added a covered outdoor seating area since I last wrote my review! Love this addition!

The best burger in the area, and there’s no room for argument, folks. I apologize for being so heavy handed with my opinion, but I can claim without hesitation that the burgers here were delivered from a divine being.
I tried Al’s within the first couple months and was immediately blown back by the quality of food that this tiny establishment offers. Despite the high volume of customers that frequent this place, there is no quality loss. I had the Paco burger and also tried the Mookie. After taking my first bite, I put the burger down and sighed with disbelief; that I had found the best burger I have ever encountered in my life. To see if it was an aberration, I took a bite of my sister’s burger and had the same reaction. They were cooked perfectly, seasoned to perfection, with the perfect ratio of ingredients.
Even the fries here derive from the heavens. Never would I think that crinkle-​cut fries could be this good, but I was immediately proven wrong. I ordered half & half fries and both were amazingly crispy on the outside, tender on the inside, and seasoned perfectly. The Sweet Potato Fry Crown was previously held by «Buns,» but Al’s has strongly taken the throne.
And when I thought Al’s could do no more, they blew me away with their «Sweet Burger,» and Ice Cream Sandwich, made with Maple View Ice Cream.
If I were to say there was a chink in this beautiful restaurant’s armor, it would be that there isn’t enough seating. But the food will swiftly, and easily make you forget all of that.

After a tough workout at Orange Theory Fitness, I decided to reward myself with a burger. I wanted to give Al’s Burger Shack a try, since many claim it’s better than Bun’s. Shack is a very appropriate term. Al’s is in a very small space, and I can imagine this place getting very crowded during busy hours.
Al’s features burgers, hotdogs, and fries. Wash it down with a milkshake, Pepsi products, beer, or wine. I went with the Paco — guacamole, jalapeño, and habanero jack, crinkly fries, and a Cheerwine. At $ 12.36 total, the price is high but not quite BurgerFi.
The most notable thing about the burger is the incredible quality of the ingredients. The guacamole and the jalapenos were fresh and full of flavor. Unfortunately, the patty’s flavor did not quite match up with the rest of the burger. This was easily remedied by the Sriracha present at every table. I also would’ve preferred a better toast on the buns or even a different kind of bread, as the guacamole made the buns very mushy.
Crinkly cut fries were the true star of the night. These fries are cooked to absolute perfection and finished with salt and rosemary. Rosemary has a slightly sweet taste that may not be for everybody, but I was very satisfied with portion, price, and taste.
It seems that I’ll have to go against popular opinion yet again, and rate Buns slightly above Al’s. I liked everything about Al’s, but the patty slightly hurt the burger. While the fries at Al’s are incredible, their burgers are a slight cut below Bun’s. That does not change the fact that Al’s is still one of the best burger places in the Triangle.