Representative photography. Actual appearance may vary.
Hand-smashed patties with a crispy-edged crust, cheddar cheese skirt + white American, griddled onions, pickled jalapeños, and the signature aji verde — a creamy, garlicky, lime-green cilantro mayo that The Infatuation calls the "secret weapon that catapults it to the top."
Representative photography. Actual appearance may vary.
Sam Hong and Josh Kim left their careers in tech to make great burgers for good people. They started Softies as a pop-up vendor at Smorgasburg LA in 2022, honing the menu and building a following before opening their first permanent brick-and-mortar location at USC Village in August 2025.
LA is, by most accounts, oversaturated with smashburger spots. Softies broke through because of one thing: the aji verde. The creamy, garlicky, lime-green cilantro mayo was developed as the signature element of The Aji burger, and it works with the griddled onions and pickled jalapeños to create a flavor profile that's genuinely different from the Thousand Island-and-American standard. The Infatuation called it "the secret weapon that catapults it to the top" of their LA smashburger rankings.
The concept is Oklahoma-style with Korean-American influences — the founders' dual identity showing up in the heat, the brightness, and the precision of the build. The cheese skirt (cheddar laced onto the griddle) is an Oklahoma technique. The aji verde is something else entirely.
This former Smorgasburg vendor has a secret weapon that catapults it to the top of this list: aji sauce. The creamy, garlicky, lime-green condiment levels up their signature burger.
In L.A.'s competitive burger scene, the Aji is worth going out of the way for.
Softies' version of a standard smashburger is better than most we've had. The patties have a crisp seared crust but aren't smashed too thin.
While I wouldn't necessarily pick Softies' classic smashburger out of a lineup in a blind taste test, Hong and Kim truly distinguish themselves with their must-try Aji.
The burger as a whole was greater than the sum of its parts and everyone really liked the aji burgers.
The quality and taste of the food was truly remarkable. The Aji burger and sauce was definitely a stand out and highly recommended. The crispiness of the patties were so tasty!