I think we may have reached peak smash burger. I still like them. Give me a hot flat-top, a ball of beef, a serious smash, crispy edges, melted cheese, pickles and a soft bun, and I’m probably going to be happy. But somewhere along the way, the smash burger stopped being the new kid on the block and became the block. You couldn’t throw a rock without finding another restaurant smashing beef onto a griddle, and that’s usually when I start wondering if a food trend has gone from exciting to everywhere.
The rise of the smash burger was something to watch. Independent burger shops, pop-ups and eventually the big chains turned those thin patties and crispy caramelized edges into their calling card. By 2024, food media was openly talking about the smash burger as one of the biggest restaurant trends around. When you’re no longer discovering something and instead seeing it on menu after menu, I think it’s fair to start asking where the trend goes from here.
Then I started noticing something else. Food writers and chefs in other cities began talking about saturation and a return to thicker burgers. Toronto has already seen restaurants move in that direction, with chefs putting bigger, juicier patties back into the conversation. I don’t think that means people suddenly decided smash burgers were bad. I think we may simply be getting ready for something different.
And then came A&W. In May 2026, A&W Canada launched its first-ever national Smash Burger, with smashed grass-fed beef, cheddar, pickles, onions, secret sauce and a toasted brioche-style bun. I find the timing fascinating. A&W certainly wasn’t late to burgers, but it was late to this particular burger. After years of independent restaurants, pop-ups and burger specialists embracing the smash, one of Canada’s biggest burger chains finally decided it was time to put one on the national menu.
When A&W finally joins the party, are we looking at the peak rather than the beginning?
I’m not saying A&W killed the smash burger. Quite the opposite. Its launch tells us there is still a market for it, and I don’t want to turn this into one of those stories where we declare something dead simply because we’re bored with it. The smash burger is very much alive. But there is a difference between something being popular and something being the next big thing.
The smash burger doesn’t have to disappear for the trend to have peaked. It simply has to stop feeling new. When every neighbourhood seems to have its own version, when the menus start looking remarkably similar and when that crispy-edged double burger becomes something you’ve seen a hundred times, the novelty starts to wear off. The burger can still be damn good, but discovering one doesn’t give you quite the same feeling anymore.
Maybe that’s why the thicker burger is starting to get another look. I’m not saying one is better than the other. Sometimes you just want something different. After eating enough crispy-edged double smash burgers, there is something pretty satisfying about biting into a thicker piece of beef and remembering that burgers existed long before somebody started yelling “smash it!”
I’ve also seen one of my favourite smash-burger restaurants disappear without warning. I would never suggest its closure was caused by the trend changing because I don’t know that. Restaurants close for all kinds of reasons. But it did make me think about how quickly restaurant concepts can come and go. One minute something feels like the future of food, and the next we’re already looking for whatever comes after it.
That’s what happens with restaurant trends. They arrive, explode, become impossible to ignore and eventually become part of the landscape. The smash burger has certainly earned its place there, but we’re now seeing enough talk about saturation and other burger styles to make the question worth asking: has the smash burger finally peaked?
So no, I don’t think the smash burger is dead. I think it may have won. It went from the burger nobody was talking about to the burger everybody was talking about, and eventually to the burger you could find almost everywhere. That’s not a failure. That’s what happens when a trend becomes part of the culture.
But I’ve got a feeling the smash has had its moment. The next time I walk into a restaurant and see another double smash burger staring back at me from the menu, I may look a little further down the page. Because the smash burger didn’t disappear. It simply became yesterday’s big idea. And in Montreal, I’m already hungry to find out what’s next.
5 Montreal Smash Burgers Worth Hunting Down
If you’re still on the smash-burger hunt, here are five Montreal spots worth checking out. This is not a ranking. Each one brings its own take to the smash-burger format.
MangeDansMonHood
1380 Jean-Talon E, Montréal
A Montreal smash-burger name that has become hard to ignore. Thin, crispy-edged patties, melted cheese and soft buns are the foundation, with the whole thing carrying that classic casse-croûte feeling.
ZEEZ
19 Avenue du Mont-Royal E, Montréal
ZEEZ puts its own personality into the format with halal smash burgers, deeply caramelized patties and house sauces. It also has its signature smashed potatoes, giving you something beyond the usual burger-and-fries combination.
L’Hamburger
933 Rue Saint-Zotique E, Montréal
One of Montreal’s established smash-burger spots, L’Hamburger keeps things straightforward with thin patties, crispy edges, cheese and soft buns. Fries, poutine and milkshakes round out the classic burger-joint approach.
Bāgā
511 Avenue Duluth E, Montréal
Bāgā takes the smash burger in a more contemporary direction, with a deliberately short menu and a focus on local ingredients. It’s a good example of how the smash burger has moved beyond the traditional fast-food model and into Montreal’s broader restaurant scene.
MAYO 28 SMASH BURGERS
5685 Avenue du Parc, Montréal
MAYO 28 keeps things focused on smash burgers, with a compact menu that includes its Classic, N°28, Mayopeño and Truff burgers. It’s another example of a restaurant building an entire concept around the smash rather than treating it as just another burger on the menu.
A Final Bite
The smash burger may be past its explosive growth phase, but Montreal certainly hasn’t stopped making them. These five show just how many different directions the format can take, from old-school casse-croûte nostalgia to halal burgers, local ingredients and sauce-heavy creations.
The smash burger may have peaked. That doesn’t mean Montreal is finished with it.