The Counter Houston

We’ve been several times. The food is popular with all different tastes in the family (even veggie). The killer about The Counter is the consistently, astoundingly slow service. Slow for food to come out. Slow to get an extra fork. Crazy slow to get the check (and then add 15 minutes if you pay by credit card instead of leaving cash not needing change). Every time. Even when less than a quarter full.

I hate giving bad reviews. I’ve been in the service industry and know it’s not easy. Every time we come here the service is really terrible, tonight was a new level of disorganized. The food itself is a great concept but someone’s gotta steer the ship. It’s a disservice to the staff to not organize the floor better and get things running smoothly. Everyone was apologetic at the end.

The service was very slow and the waitress kept coming and asking «are you ready to order?» After we had ordered. Except that the burgers were great but the fries were too salty.
The atmosphere was disappointing.

I should have read the reviews first, and the restaurant management should read them too… Urgently!
The burgers are great, but everything else is terrible. Very cold ambiance. The service was extremely slow, completely disorganized, and just not nice…

Gourmet burgers in a casual setting. They have a bunch of suggested options or you can make your own like I did. I had a ¹⁄₃ pound burger on sourdough with pepper jack, american, dill pickles, crispy onion strings, and ordered two sauces with it: sweet sriracha and korean bbq. After sampling these I asked for some mayo to mix the sweet sriracha in and used that. Now that tasted good! The Korean BBQ sauce doesn’t really work cold. It’s more of a marinade so I don’t recommend it for the burgers.
The sourdough was a San Francisco sourdough (i.e. sour) rather than what a lot of people call sourdough that is really a sweet bun. They have Hawaiian bun as an option so that’s probably their sweet bun option. I really enjoyed how well buttered and toasted the bread was. The third pound patty was a bit smaller than the bread so part of my sandwich was grilled cheese, but that’s ok because I love cheese. There were A TON of onion strings. I pulled most off the burger and ate them like a side, leaving just a couple on the burger for flavor.
The shoestring fries my sister ordered were nice and crisp how I like them.
Our waiter was great, very attentive and very friendly. We chatted with him a bit.
Prices here run a bit high, my burger with its toppings was about $ 11.50 I think. But, I enjoyed my burger.

You can’t really go wrong with any burger at the Counter since you can customize them yourself!!!
I loved their birthday cake milkshake and still can’t stop thinking about it! Even though this place is known for it’s burgers, I would definitely recommend stopping by for dessert!

The perfect word for The Counter: meh.
I should start by saying that I don’t eat meat, and this is a burger place.
My wife and I have been here a few times. They do have veggie burgers (which is the whole reason we went there) and a grilled cheese sandwich.
They have a create-​your-​own-​burger deal with a little sheet where you check boxes for what you want. Pretty cool, because there’s a TON of stuff to choose from, and they offer vegan burger patties, made from scratch.
I tried the vegan burger the first time, and didn’t like it, but not The Counter’s fault. My wife loved her burger. Everything was fresh, but they put mushrooms in the veggie burger patties. I don’t know why everyone assumes that all vegetarians/​vegans like mushrooms, but I hate them. So I had to pick my mushrooms out as I ate the burger, but that’s just me being picky. My wife loved her food, and the sweet potato fries are pretty great. Actually, The Counter is the only place where I prefer the sweet potato fries to the regular ones. And they have very good fried pickles. The portion is kinda small if you get the small order, but you can order a larger order. I think they’re pretty good, but my wife says the batter tastes like it has egg in it, and she’s totally vegan, so she doesn’t share them with me.
The second time we went, service was slow, even though they weren’t very busy. It looked like they were understaffed. They have a sandwich called the grilled cheese trifecta. Sounds pretty great, right? I don’t normally eat dairy, but I like a good grilled cheese now and then. I ordered the grilled cheese sandwich, and was brought a grilled chicken sandwich. There is no way, in a zillion years, that I would ask for chicken at a restaurant. I haven’t eaten meat in 18 years. The word chicken never came out of my mouth. But when I told the server I actually ordered the grilled cheese, she told me I said chicken. No, I didn’t. She took my plate and brought back a really frumpy looking grilled cheese sandwich. I thought maybe it was hastily thrown together because they had to remake my order (and they did it quickly). Anyway, yeah, it was not the spectacular grilled cheese «trifecta» I was hoping for. But again, seemed like they hastily threw it together since I had to send the chicken back.
So the third time we go there, my wife liked her veggie burger, but she wasn’t crazy about it. The pickles and fries were good, and I attempted to order the grilled cheese trifecta a second time. They got the order right, and I was expecting to see what the proper version of their awesome sounding grilled cheese sandwich looked like. Just like the previous time. A really frumpy looking little (overpriced) grilled cheese sandwich. I can make better ones at home, and do a way better job with the presentation.
But the worst part about our third visit was the extremely slow service. They seemed understaffed. The food took forever. Like, almost to the point where I was starting to think about getting up and walking out. Our water was never refilled. Just really slow service. The staff seemed like they were overworked and/​or really didn’t want to be there. I know food service work sucks, and my wife and I always tip at least 20%. I usually tip a little more than that. And we did give our server a good tip. But I don’t think we’ll be back.
The service is slow, I had a bad grilled cheese sandwich, and left the restaurant really thirsty because I couldn’t get a refill of my water.
There are lots of good restaurants in Houston, but The Counter isn’t one of them.

Met some out of town friends here for dinner. A round of beers were ordered all around. Waitress couldn’t remember who ordered what. I got the Meltdown w/​no mushrooms.
Of course after almost an hr it shows up with mushrooms, I send it back and probably wait another 20min for them to get it right. Tasted good, wasn’t bad, wasn’t spectacular either.
Go to leave and after everyone has paid I’m asking the waitress where’s my bill. She’s convinced she gave me one. Nope. I’m not a terrible person and insist I wasn’t given one and I’d like to pay despite the not so great experience.
Meh, I tried it. Can’t say I’ll be back anytime soon.

I want to give this place 5 stars because the food is just so damn good, but the service is so terrible that I have to knock off 2.
I’ve been twice now, and I live right up the street, so I’m not too bitter about the whole experience, and I’ll definitely be back because the burgers are SO good. The food is perfectly cooked and well worth the price. I was very impressed by the quality of their meat, their fries, and their shakes. I’ve done the build-​your-​own-​burger both times on a multigrain bun: first with cheddar and then went for provolone. Loved both. I’m also lusting over the parmasean fries and ordered them both times. The nutella prezel shake has me smitten as well.
Now let’s talk about the service… I’m not sure what is going on at this place. Both times I’ve been it was awful. The first time we came in pretty late (30 min before closing), and I profusely apologized to the staff and told them we’d be really quick (I eat quick and can decide what I want in about 2 minutes). I was ready to order, but every employee was sitting at a table in the corner on their phones and counting money. Pretty sure it takes 1, maybe 2, people to count cash at the end of the night. Also pretty sure you’re supposed to wait until the place is closed, but whatever. Had to flag them down to take our order… which you think they’d be inclined to do to go home on time. Took our order but forgot the milkshake, so when I asked about it, someone made it right away. Our food came and again I had to flag someone down for our check and to pay, and we were the only people in the restaurant. Our waitress was really nice, and she gave us a few coupons for a free burger. We came back 2 days later…
The second time around, we were a group of 5. Came at about 7PM and the restaurant was «busy» but not too crazy. We ordered our drinks and things just went downhill from there. Our server forgot 2 of the drinks, forgot we ordered wine, and didn’t bring silverware. We had to remind him about all of those twice. I also ordered a milkshake, and I knew he would forget about it because he didn’t write anything down. I could tell the table next to us was annoyed because they were trying to leave and he kept forgetting to bring their check. He verbally kept saying «I forgot it, again! Let me grab it».
It took our food an hour to arrive. I’d understand this if it was a poppin’ Saturday night, but it was a pretty lax Sunday with ample staff. They brought out ³⁄₅ meals and walked off, not mentioning where the other plates were. We flagged someone down to ask, and they said it was on the way. Came about 10 minutes later. Still no silverware. We decided to just get up and grab some off a table inside. I then asked about my milkshake which hadn’t come and was told «uh, we have a lot of milkshakes going on right now». …Ok, That might be valid if it were packed… but it’s not. And I ordered one an hour ago, so it should have been made an hour ago. Then 15 minutes later he comes back and says, «Your milkshake got lost somewhere… what did you want in it again»? Things like this make me mad… I’d respect someone telling me they forgot to put the order in before making nonsensical remarks when people are already annoyed.
I hate to bash this place because I really do love it, but like a previous review said, the service has a pretty large effect on your dining experience. And when it’s this terrible, it just pisses everybody off and kind of makes you want to get up and leave. The Counter would be one of my favorite places if someone got in here and fixed the customer service.

Been here for dinner several times and seems the wait staff is just worried about standing around on their phones and talking behind the bar area.
Finally have had enough with this place. Today, was heading out of town and thought I’d treat friends to a burger on the way. Shared the menu and gathered up the 2 orders. Went online to their website to order and you click the link and it goes nowhere. Decided to stop on our way out and would call before hand to get the order ready. For 15mins the phone was busy. Why list a number on your site if you can’t use it to call in an order. Get there and the girl is behind the counter with her back turned on her iPhone. Had to get her attention to place my order. When I told her about the phone not working… Her care was lack luster.
Needs to definitely work on the customer service here. You have good food but I can find other places with good food.

Very delicious burgers. I am a bit of a picky eater concerning burgers, so I was hesitant to come to this place. I am very glad I did though. They have an option to customize your burgers and I believe that this is the best thing ever. You can put an unlimited amount of toppings on top of your burgers and there are over 20 to choose from. I was able to make a burger with all my favorite ingredients.
The store has a lovely atmosphere that is very relaxed yet trendy. Recommended for sure.

Yummy burgers with tons of options with HUGE portions. Pricey, but you get a TON of food, so it’s worth it.
The shakes aren’t that impressive, so don’t bother with those. I recommend the burger in a bowl. The ingredients are fresh and yummy. Tons of sauce options as well. They truly are custom burgers.
I only gave it 4 stars because it’s in a douchey strip mall on Washington and I wish it was a tad fancier for the price tag.

I have been going to the Counter for almost 3 years and have disagreed with most of the reviews about the service up until this week.
My friends and I got there around 8 PM. Initially, the waitress was very attentive and dealt with out indecisiveness. We ordered fries first and then starting working on our meal. The fries came out but they forgot the sauces. That was fine except after we reminded them, they never brought it out. When we got our meals, there was something either missing from everyone’s plate or the food was cold (who wants to eat stone cold grilled cheese?). It took the waiter about 20 minutes to get the missing from the kitchen because «no one wanted to listen to him». We then find out the waiter is the manager. An establishment run by a manager who doesn’t have staff listen to him? Not good …
Basically, if you go during the day time, it is fine. Just don’t go about 2 hours before close. The laziness of the staff is enough to ruin your meal experience.

I had high hopes walking into this place, especially since a foodie friend had recommended it, but sadly it did not meet my expectations. The venue is great — we went on a Saturday around lunch time and it wasn’t crowded at all but it still had a cool vibe. All the walls are white, and there’s a huge chalkboard behind the bar area that definitely gives it a trendy, sort of modern feel.
The service was really slow — even getting water took forever — and our waiter was kind of haughty with us. I initially decided to do the build your burger, which seemed like such a great concept, but I got kind of overwhelmed by all the options so I ended up just getting the standard Counter Burger. Honestly, it was nothing special; the burger was pretty dry (and it was the thicker patty style, which isn’t typically my favorite) and the bun was a little flaky. We split the parmesan fries and sweet potato fries, both of which were a lot better than the burger but made the meal pretty pricey since they weren’t included in the burger cost. Overall, I thought everything was all way over-​priced.
Considering how many other great burger places there are in Houston, I wouldn’t waste my time coming here, as enticing as their build-​your-​own-​burger premise may be. The only reason I would consider coming back would be for the birthday cake shake (it sounded really yummy) or for some of their other drinks (their bar selection was pretty creative). If I ever just wanted fries and a shake and were willing to pay a little extra for it, I may try Counter again, but I can’t say I’d recommend coming here for one of their supposedly heralded burgers.

Service is dismal.
Food is marginal.
Waste of money and more importantly time!
The people that work there are nice, the problem is that it takes almost 35 minutes to make a simple hamburger. I understand that it is a gourmet hamburger restaurant but there’s no need to take over half an hour for simple hamburger. Also the servers seem to be very disorganized. And there seems to be some internal strife going on between the manager and the servers. There is no communication and none of the servers help each other out.

I was warned by my friends before coming here that the service is terrible (which Unilocal definitely seems to agree on). I was expecting the worst, but for some reason when I went the service was great and quick. I like that this place has a parking garage, so you won’t have to worry about that.
As for food, I decided to do the custom build-​your-​own. I got the pretzel bun which was an extra buck, turkey for my meat, the Korean bbq sauce, and then about 30 bajillion toppings (hey, gotta get my money’s worth). The burger was yuuuummy! Nothing spectacular, but it definitely was tasty and it’s fun to pick all your toppings and meat and bun.
I also got a side of shoestring fries (not worth the $ 2). They were soggy and nothing great. Would not recommend. I tried my friend’s vanilla shake and it was good — will have to try the others next time.

This is definitely one of my favorite places to get a burger! Personally, I love an egg on top of pretty much anything so I was really excited that was an option here. The Counter lets you choose pretty much anything you could ever want to go on your burger and gives you lots of options of what type of patty you want as well.
This location is not so attentive with service, every time I go, there are only a few other people and it takes forever or they mess up my order. I have been to The Woodlands location and it was much quicker with way better service.
I am giving this location 3 stars though I would definitely give The Woodlands location 4.

This is my 3^rd restaurant for the night (The last two, Beaucorp Bar and Grill, and Goode’s Armadillow’s place were closed on FRIDAY EVENING. — sorry I was really upset about it :()
Anyway, I am kinda glad that this restaurant was open on Friday evening. I was getting really hungry here.
The hostess brought us to our table, but the waitress took a pretty darn long time to even get our drinks. By the time HE came over, we were ready with our order (granted, we were hungry…) But like I mentioned I think the waitress should come to us as soon as we were seated. (it’s not CROWDED in there, I promised…)
So, in this place, you get to choose what meat you want, how do you want it cook and how do you like it to be served. So I choose a ¹⁄₃ lbs of burger MEDIUM RARE (3 choices for the meat weight) on a salad bowl (+$ 1)
I chose parmesan cheese on the burger with onions and sunny side up eggs, and basil pesto as a sauce. I added avocado as a side (+$ 1)
The burger came in COOKED till. COOKED. very very dry, no taste to it. :(I couldn’t eat the burger at all. So I told the waitress about the burger, SHE gladly exchanged it for me. It is better than my previous one, but not as good as I have tried the Counter located in the Woodlands. I enjoyed the basil pesto sauce, and I also enjoyed the salad. The sweet potatoes fries are good too (+$ 2.50)
I then ordered apple crumble, ($ 5) it was ok, too sweet for me. but i enjoyed it.
Overall I’ll still come to this restaurant but there’s no way I can make them change their customer service?
Thanks again for the dry burger. I should have taken pictures of my food but I guess I don’t have that urge anymore lol.

Bear in mind that this is not a HUGE restaurant. The bar occupies most of the restaurant so taking orders and bussing tables shouldn’t be too hard.
Sparing most of the grueling details that have already been touched upon in (an)other review (s)…
— 30 minutes before we could place our order
— 49 minutes from order placement to get warm (not hot) fries/​rings (was promised a redo of the fries — never happened)
— 15 minutes from receiving fries, the burgers came out (my Burger was plated incorrectly and missing the bacon I ordered — other people’s had theirs cooked differently from what they wanted)
— Tons of people in our group had empty water glasses for 10+ minutes (waitress would disappear for 15−20minute intervals — like into the kitchen never to be found disappear)
— Waitress and MGMT didn’t check on our tables until multiple complaints were lodged
— The bill was comp’ed after playing the run around for tons of time
If I listen to my heart, I would 1 star this place. Because the bill was comp’ed I’ll 2 star it. If they had handled things properly from the get go I would have gone with a 3 star and given them a 2^nd chance.

I ordered takeout from The Counter last night. The young man who greeted me was very courteous, prompt, and apologetic when my order wasn’t correct (I wanted the Parmesan fries with the ⁵⁰⁄₅₀ to go with their crispy onion strings, but the kitchen missed that fact). He offered me a drink while I waited, and said that they would make me a fresh batch of fries. I went ahead and paid him before getting my food. I was preparing to write an update with a much better assessment of this place, and I also wanted to give him a good tip…
Shortly after taking the payment, he brought me my food, and bid me a good evening, and walked away. He didn’t bring me my change back. It was a very small amount due back, but I don’t like it when servers assume that I don’t want my change. I also wanted him to come back so that I could tip him. So he basically missed out on a better tip for assuming that I didn’t want my $ 0.50 back.
I live less than 5 minutes away, and when I got home, the fries were rock cold. I highly suspect that they didn’t make me a fresh batch of fries, but kept the old order and just topped it with cheese. They also didn’t include the dipping sauce that is supposed to accompany the onion strings. After reheating them, I was fine to just use ketchup, but about halfway through eating, I noticed some black paper that kept moving around under the food. At first I thought that it was wax paper, but after dumping the food onto another plate, I saw that it was the manufacturer’s paper that came with the tin pan; this suggests that the container wasn’t washed. I dumped the uneaten fries and onion strings in the trash.
I’m done with The Counter.