Who has central Ohio's best burger? Vote now in Round Two of our bracket

We knew there would be plenty of contenders when we decided to seek out central Ohio's best burger.

Ohio has the second highest number of burger restaurants per capita, according to a 2023 study by the food website Pantry & Larder. There's one burger place for every 10 of us, the study found. The average Ohioan eats a hamburger every five days.

We want you to choose your favorite in our neck of the woods. In what has become an annual tradition during March's month of basketball-tournament madness, The Dispatch has set up a 32-burger bracket to find the best burger in central Ohio.

In 2024, our readers chose Terita's as their favorite pizza. Staas Brewing Co. was voted in as the top craft brewer in 2025.

How did we choose the 32 burgers that fill our 2026 bracket?

We asked, and members of the Facebook group Columbus Foodies delivered on our request for burger nominees. With almost 200,000 followers, it hosts perhaps the largest ongoing online discussion of the local dining scene. In just two days, members of the group offered up 350 suggestions for 129 different burger joints across Columbus, its suburbs and communities as far away as Lancaster, Marion and Urbana.

Chapman's Double Burger with Shoestring Fries at Chapman's Eat Market in Columbus, Ohio on September 15, 2020. [Kyle Robertson/Dispatch]

You'll find the top nominees in our bracket.

Round Two voting begins today.

How will central Ohio's best burger be chosen?

Last week saw 32 burger joints go head to head to advance. Voting for Round Two, to narrow the field from 16 to eight, begins now.

Rounds will run weekly until we're down to the two burger finalists. We'll announce the winner April 6.

Who's in the 2026 Best Burger bracket?

Contenders in our bracket include long-established burger destinations such as Ringside Cafe, in business since 1897, and Gahanna Grill, a relatively younger place that opened in 1939. The field also includes Stacked Burger Co. and Burger Royale, which have moved from food trucks to food halls to their own locations in 2024 and 2025, respectively.

There are places known for their burgers, such as Thurman's Cafe and Preston's: A Burger Joint, and places such as Roosters and Buffalo Wild Wings where burgers aren't the star of the show.

Stay tuned for closer looks at each contender.

And let the voting begin.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Who has central Ohio's best burger? Vote now in Round Two of our bracket