Las Vegas, Nevada’s Best Smash Burger Started as a Parking Lot Pop-Up in 2021

In 2021, Drew Belcher and Kevin Whelan showed up in a Las Vegas parking lot with a flat-top griddle, fresh beef, and a commitment to smash burgers done right. Lines formed immediately.

The first With Love, Always brick-and-mortar opened at 6441 North Durango Drive in Centennial Hills in late 2024. The grand opening offered free meals for the first five customers and a raffle with televisions and a PlayStation 5.

The name, by design, is a statement of intent: this restaurant was built for Las Vegas locals, not the Strip crowd. It made the top burger joints across all 50 states.

The red-tiled bathroom at the Durango location is hung with white-framed images of important people and events from Vegas history. That's the kind of detail that signals a restaurant thinking about its community rather than just its menu.

What to Order

The double smash is the core burger: two fresh-beef patties pressed thin, American cheese pooling into the crispy edges, pickles, and house sauce on a toasted potato bun.

The SOB Burger smashes onions directly into the patty as it cooks, caramelizing them into the meat for a deeply savory result that's different from a standard onion topping.

Beef tallow fries, cooked in rendered beef fat, have developed their own following for their crunch and flavor. French custard soft serve and dipped cones for dessert. Local craft beer on tap. For more on the food scene nearby, see Las Vegas restaurants locals actually eat at.

A Love Letter to Las Vegas

With Love, Always was built specifically for Las Vegas locals rather than tourists. The concept is for the city and from the city, and the restaurant's community engagement reflects that from the menu to the decor.

A second location has since opened at 8670 West Sunset Road. Both follow the same sourcing and kitchen standards as the original.

The name With Love, Always is a deliberate contrast to the Vegas dining scene's tendency toward spectacle and celebrity. The restaurant was designed to feed the people who live in the city rather than the people passing through it.

The Centennial Hills location opened first, in late 2024, serving a neighborhood in northwest Las Vegas that had limited high-quality local dining options. The second Sunset Road location extended that community reach to the southwest valley.

The name With Love, Always is a deliberate contrast to the Vegas dining scene's tendency toward spectacle and celebrity. The restaurant was designed to feed the people who live in the city rather than the people passing through it.

The Centennial Hills location opened first, in late 2024, serving a neighborhood in northwest Las Vegas that had limited high-quality local dining options. The Sunset Road location extended that reach to the southwest valley. For more of the state's dining history, see the best off-Strip restaurants in Las Vegas.

Plan Your Visit

Two Las Vegas locations: 6441 North Durango Drive, Suite 140, and 8670 West Sunset Road, Suite H110. Both open daily at 11 a.m.

Weeknights to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday to 11 p.m. Order at the counter. While you're planning the trip, check out new restaurants in Las Vegas worth trying.