Burger at Ray's Hell Burger

Get it?? Suffice it to say that you’ll be raising hell if you can’t get into to try one of their massive 10-oz burgers made from fresh ground, hand trimmed beef! Ray’s Hell Burger is a very unassuming spot in the heart of Arlington, with very little out front to make you stop and say “oh, a burger place!” But you’ve got to try it. Traditional tastes and more “out of the box” flavors on the menu will satisfy any appetite. Plus you can wash it all down with ice cold root beer!

A Ray’s Hell Burger is the most talked-about burger in the district for a reason: As Citysearch Dictator Tim D. puts it, “It’s not a patty; it’s a hunk of chopped chuck from the scraps of Ray’s prime cuts that makes you earn its taste.”

Juicy but not greasy, Ray's patty satisfies while paying tribute to famous rappers. The "Big Punisher" burger is topped with pepper jack cheese, charred jalapenos, grilled onions, and something called "piranha sauce," while the "B.I.G. Poppa" drowns in blue cheese, cognac and sherry mushrooms, and grilled onions. There are veggie-friendly options at the Arlington spot, too.

“Just ask Prez Obama” – even “he stood in line” for one of the “heavenly” headliners at Michael ‘Ray’ Landrum’s “burger nirvana”; it’s “absolute mayhem” within the original Courthouse-area “bare-bones” storefront (the nearby ‘Too’ spin-off, with table service, opened post-Survey), but “none of that matters” since the “juicy”, “fresh-made” patties of “unsurpassed quality” and “high-end” toppings like foie gras are what “it’s all about”; “draft root beer”, “limited sides” (“finally added fries”) and “decent prices” round out the cash-only experience: P.S. a third location in the same strip is rumored.

You can watch an employee work the meat grinder, turning out a fresh blend of loosely packed meat into massive 10-ounce patties, subsequently served on custom baked brioche buns. The beef is cooked perfectly and the toppings are solid. For the price, it’s definitely the area’s best quality-per-dollar burger. The original Hell Burger comes in around $8.