In 1985, John Green opened a burger joint on Greenville Avenue near 635 with no restaurant experience whatsoever. Six months in, he was done — overwhelmed, ready to sell. Morris and Susanne Bagheri bought it that same year with a plan: clean it up, improve it, flip it for a profit. Morris had decades of restaurant experience by then, having worked every job from dishwasher to manager to put himself through college, and eventually co-owned a French continental restaurant in Dallas. “We never planned to stay here,” Susanne has said. “It was not our thing.”
Forty-one years later, JG’s Old Fashioned Hamburgers is still theirs, and it’s become exactly the type of place that makes a flip plan impossible — the walls covered in decades of “best burger” awards, regulars who’ve been coming for fifteen-plus years and get greeted by the same person at the counter, and a reputation that’s outlasted whatever the Bagheris originally had in mind.
The format hasn’t changed because it doesn’t need to. Burgers are made to order with Certified Angus Beef, no frozen patties, ever. A condiment and toppings bar lets you build the burger exactly the way you want it — Susanne points to the mushroom cheeseburger as a particular standout, “none of that canned junk, everything is fresh.” For something further upmarket, there’s a Wagyu burger that’s drawn its own following among regulars who know to ask for it.
The chili dog exists and is fine, but it’s not the reason anyone’s there. The fries are the other half of the argument: thick, hand-cut from Idaho potatoes, the opposite of the skinny shoestring fries that dominate most Dallas burger menus, with a cheddar-topped version that’s become its own signature even when consistency reviews are mixed. The milkshakes are hand-dipped, made with Blue Bell — the kind of detail that tells you everything about which decade this place’s standards were set in, and that those standards never moved.
The room itself is the other half of the appeal — wood-paneled walls, checkered green details, vintage signage, and enough framed awards and accolades covering the walls that reading them all could take longer than the wait for your order. It’s the kind of interior that newer restaurants spend money trying to replicate and can’t, because JG’s didn’t design this look — it just never redecorated, and four decades later that’s what it is. Combos run around $15, which in 2026 Dallas is its own kind of throwback.
JG’s Old Fashioned Hamburgers is at 12101 Greenville Avenue, Suite 109, just before 635. (972) 644-8628. Open Monday through Saturday 10:45 a.m. to 8:30 p.m., Sunday 10:45 a.m. to 8 p.m.
