Best Late-Night Burgers in the East Village

“Late night food” is a wide door. Most of what is behind it, after midnight, is pizza, dumplings, or a diner that never closed. A burger is a narrower craving, and the East Village answers it in two different buildings: a counter that smashes beef to order, and a bar where you can sit down with one at 2 a.m.

The neighborhood guide for everything else on the stove is late night food in the East Village. This page is the burger. Hours and prices below are from the shops’ own menus and location pages as they stand this fall.

Quick reference: late-night burgers in the East Village

FKA: is the only one cooking a bar burger at 3 a.m. on a Monday. 7th Street Burger is the $6.50 smash, and it closes earlier on weeknights. Paul’s is the old 8-ounce burger on 2nd Avenue, done by midnight. Burgerhead splits the difference on the same avenue.

Burger	Price	Latest you can get it	Where you eat it
Royale With Cheese at FKA:	$12; double $16	4 a.m., every night	At the bar
7th Street Burger	$6.50 single	1 a.m. Mon–Wed; 3 a.m. Thu–Sat; 2 a.m. Sun	Counter
Paul’s Da Burger Joint	$6.50 cheeseburger; deluxe $10.50	11:30 p.m. Sun–Thu; midnight Fri–Sat	Booths, 2nd Avenue
BURGERHEAD	See their Toast menu	Midnight Sun–Wed; 2 a.m. Thu; 3 a.m. Fri–Sat	145 2nd Avenue

1. FKA: Formerly Known As

Best for: A burger at the bar, including at 3 a.m. on a Tuesday

The Royale With Cheese is a house-blend burger with royale sauce, red onion, and American cheese on a griddled potato bun. It is $12. Make it a double for $4 more. It is on the menu from the minute the kitchen opens at 4 p.m. until the bar closes at 4 a.m., every day. There is no second, shorter, late-night card. The late-night kitchen page is that fact in one place.

Eater has already said the food out loud. The July 2026 openings item put $6 beers and $15 cocktails next to $1 oysters, hot dogs, burgers, and Frito pies. The October editors’ cocktail map came back for the same plates: Frito pies and cheeseburgers, with the dollar oysters. The Frito-Pie is $16, built on 14-hour smoked pulled pork, Tsingtao cheese sauce, National Bodega sticky sauce, crispy onions, and a white sauce. It is not a burger. It is the thing people order when they meant to order the burger and then read one line further. Get both if the table is larger than one.

This is a bar burger, which is a different object from a smash at a counter. You can have a beer with it. The beer is $6 a bottle (Guinness is $8), or $8 for a beer and a shot. You can have it after something else, which is the actual late-night pattern: oysters at 8, a burger at 1, nobody changing neighborhoods to do it. 221 2nd Avenue, between 13th and 14th.

• Address: 221 2nd Avenue, New York, NY 10003
• Price: $12, double $16
• Kitchen: 4 p.m. to 4 a.m., every day
• With it: Frito-Pie, $16; hot dog, $6

2. 7th Street Burger

Best for: A smashburger and a smaller bill

7th Street Burger at 91 East 7th Street is the counter. The single cheeseburger on the shop’s Toast menu is $6.50: fresh beef, American cheese, grilled onions, pickles, house sauce, Martin’s potato bun. The official hours are noon to 1 a.m. Monday through Wednesday, noon to 3 a.m. Thursday through Saturday, and noon to 2 a.m. Sunday.

It is the burger New York is still arguing about in public. That argument is a review. The practical note is mess. A smashburger is a counter burger. Eat it there, with fries, and do not plan to carry it six blocks in a blazer. On a Monday after 1 a.m. the argument is moot, because the gate is down. That is when the Royale is the late burger, not the smash.

• Address: 91 East 7th Street, New York, NY 10009
• Price: $6.50 for the single, on their order menu
• Late: 3 a.m. Thursday through Saturday; 1 a.m. early in the week

3. Paul’s Da Burger Joint

Best for: An 8-ounce burger that has been on 2nd Avenue for years

Paul’s Da Burger Joint at 131 2nd Avenue, at St. Marks Place, posts an 8-ounce beef burger at $6, a cheeseburger at $6.50, and the deluxe (the one that eats like a meal) at $10.50. The Eastsider, their bacon cheeseburger with ham, mushrooms, tomatoes, and onions, is $12, or $15 deluxe. The site lists Sunday through Thursday 11 a.m. to 11:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday 11 a.m. to midnight.

This is not a 4 a.m. burger, and it does not pretend to be. It is the neighborhood joint: a listed weight, a long topping menu, a check that still looks like 2nd Avenue. Go for dinner. If you are leaving another bar at 1 a.m., Paul is closed and FKA: is not. Knowing that split saves the walk.

• Address: 131 2nd Avenue, New York, NY 10003
• Price: Cheeseburger $6.50; deluxe $10.50
• Closes: 11:30 p.m. weeknights, midnight Friday and Saturday

4. BURGERHEAD

Best for: A 2nd Avenue burger later than Paul’s, earlier than 4 a.m.

BURGERHEAD at 145 2nd Avenue posts hours on Toast: noon to midnight Sunday through Wednesday, noon to 2 a.m. Thursday, noon to 3 a.m. Friday and Saturday. The price moves with that online menu, so read it when you order rather than trusting a roundup. On the avenue it sits between Paul’s early close and FKA:’s 4 a.m. kitchen. Friday and Saturday, 3 a.m. is a real late night. Monday at 1:30 a.m., you have already missed it.

• Address: 145 2nd Avenue, New York, NY 10003
• Late: 3 a.m. Friday and Saturday; midnight early in the week
• Price: Check the Toast menu for that shop

What to order, and when

Match the burger to the hour, not to a ranking you saved at lunch.

Before 11 p.m. You can eat any of these. Paul’s if you want a thick neighborhood burger and a table. 7th Street if you want the smash and $6.50. FKA: if you are already drinking and the burger should come to the bar.

Midnight to 2 a.m. Paul’s is closed or closing. 7th Street is open, including on weeknights until 1. Burgerhead is open Thursday through Saturday. FKA: is open, and you can sit.

After 2 a.m. The list gets short. 7th Street, Thursday through Saturday, and Burgerhead, Friday and Saturday, until 3. FKA: until 4, every night, with the rest of the menu still up. The citywide version of that last stretch is where to eat after 2 a.m..

A bar burger should survive a beer. It should not require a fork, and it should not be a secret menu item the kitchen stops making at 11. The Royale is on the printed menu at the same price at 3 a.m. as at 6 p.m. That is the whole late-night test.

If you want the Frito-Pie instead, or next to it, it is $16 and it was in the press for a reason. If you want oysters before either, West Robbins are $1 and the seasonal East Coast selection is $2.50. Both are on the oyster bar guide.

221 2nd Avenue. The kitchen is on until 4.

Frequently asked questions

Where is the best late-night burger in the East Village?

FKA: Formerly Known As, 221 2nd Avenue. The Royale With Cheese is $12 and the kitchen cooks it until 4 a.m. every night. 7th Street Burger at 91 East 7th Street is the smashburger, $6.50, until 3 a.m. Thursday through Saturday and 1 a.m. Monday through Wednesday.

What time can I get a burger at FKA:?

Until 4 a.m., seven nights a week. It is the full menu, not a late-night abbreviation. The same hours cover the Frito-Pie, oysters, and dumplings.

How much is the Royale With Cheese?

$12 for the house blend on a griddled potato bun with royale sauce, red onion, and American cheese. A double is $4 more, so $16. It comes out of the same kitchen as the $16 Frito-Pie.

Is 7th Street Burger open late on weeknights?

Monday through Wednesday the East Village shop lists noon to 1 a.m. Thursday through Saturday it lists noon to 3 a.m. Sunday it lists noon to 2 a.m. After 1 a.m. on a Monday, it is not the answer. FKA: is.

What else should I eat if I am already at the bar?

The Frito-Pie, $16, which Eater named in the same breath as the cheeseburgers: 14-hour smoked pulled pork, Tsingtao cheese sauce, crispy onions. A hot dog is $6. West Robbins oysters are $1, and the seasonal East Coast oyster is $2.50, if the burger was the second idea.