The Counter Newport Beach

Sam gave us great service and she was really nice. They let you sample the alcohol before you buy a full glass. It was a great burger and the fries were delicious! I like their mustard that they make in house.

This food chain is notoriously good, but the staff can make or break you. On this visit the order came out wrong, cold and slow. The Irvine location is much stronger, I won’t be returning.

It is a nice place. clean and simple. The liquor cocktails are pretty good. The prices are little too high compared with the burger. I’m not a chef but at least I cook my own food and I have a grill, I almost grill everyday so I have a little experience with girlled food. In my own scale I give 2.6 out of 5 for the burger, 4 out of 5 for the liquor cocktails.

I’m not a big burger fan but The Counter is one of my favorite spots. The fried pickles are hands down my favorite of any fried pickle I’ve ever had. The apricot dipping sauce is such a wonderful addition. All of the french fries options are wonderful cooked or seasoned (try the parmesan fries!), even the burgers are worth eating!

I’d actually say this is more of a 3.5. It’s hard to really give an accurate rating after one visit, but hey… that’s what goes on here.
I built my own burger. nothing amazing. added some normal toppings. There is a wide array of toppings just like the other burger places in this genre. I don’t like a ton of stuff so i only chose a few. The burger was good. I can really only review the meat and the bun as the toppings were my doing and pretty standard. The beef was good. I could use a little more seasoning, but that’s just how I tend to like my patties. Cooked perfectly. The brioche bun was also very good. I had the onion strings and those were what you’d expect. Done well. Nothing amazing, but then again are they supposed to be? They’re onion strings.
The restaurant was very clean. Quick service. The prices are a little high to me, but they fall in line with those other burger joints so that’s fine. Just wouldnt be a place i’d go that often because of the prices. I dont need to pay $ 20 for a burger, coke and fries/​onion rings.
Extra marks for this restaurant due to my server, Edgar. He was everything you’d hope for as an owner/​operator. Friendly. Not overly nicey nice. Informative. Asked if i’d been there before and when I said «no» he quickly explained a few things. Wished me well and that he hopes to see me in again. Very good server.
So…3.5 stars.

Went here for the first time tonight, built my own burger and it was so good! Great beer selection on tap too!

Thanks Rick… Our server on my first visit here. And the woman manager on this Tuesday Feb. 16^th. Sometimes a meal can be really great but if service is bad it resonates into the food. This is absolutely not the case here, I was so happy with the service.
We ordered:
Two old –school burgers. Cooked medium. Everything was so yummy. The beef flavor is really good, I can tell the quality of the meat is very exceptional for the price, it’s a deal. No hormones, no antibiotics and they know where their meat comes from.
Considering this is a little corner shop in the Westcliff plaza they have a full bar and their prices are very good. $ 10 – 12.50 for the burgers. The only thing I can add is the cook should make the burgers more flat, less baseball shaped. We cut ours in half and put each half on the bun opend up. Worked fine, kinda messy to do. But that’s an easy fix in the kitchen. Just shape the burger and press the middle down before cooking.
The sweet potato fries were awesome they came out hot with the special sauce and a special salt.
The best thing we ordered were the fried pickles for five dollars. They come with an apricot jam but I wanted ranch in the server Rick agreed ranch was the best bet and boy was he right
I would recommend the fried pickles for anyone who goes there, they were so good.
We also got two cocktails, vodka on the rocks in a tall glass with soda water, maraschino cherry and lime, the server served exactly what we asked for even though it wasn’t on the menu and the price was very fair.
So many places I try for the first time I do not have this experience. What a great place to stop in for lunch and a drink and some great food without all the hassle of reservations.
Big thanks to Rick our server & to the female manager that stepped in for him while he was on a break. On a busy day when things are hectic they made our dining experience mid-​afternoon a real pleasure.
We did ask if the music volume could be turned down… it was slow in the restaurant and we wanted to get out of the city noise and relax. We were told it was not allowed per the management. But they did turn it down so we could hear each other talk. Thanks guys!

I’m not going to give anything less because the service and food is very good! BUT, please teach your line how to fire a burger. You serve either rare or well done, no medium rare/​medium. Your servers should not have to warn the clients that medium rare is bloody with a warm center, AKA rare. When I order medium, it is barely pink… well done… Or not?

This place is the best place to have a burger
Nice corner I come here all the time and they are always consistent with a food
SERVICE: is the best ever
Eddie he makes the best martini I ever have and he is very nice with customers. The girls works here they all nice and friendly.
Rochelle the manager she on top of everything she is taking care of the place it’s like she is the owner

Came here on a date night with hubs. Got a table pretty fast, but our server disappeared after bringing our drinks and taking our order. We were there for 45 minutes before getting our food and our kid was with a sitter. The hostess finally brought our food out. If servers take breaks, don’t other servers cover? We started to feel forgotten.
Then when she came by, she never offered refills on hubby’s soda, so he had to ask. And she never tried to get me to order another blueberry lemonade.
Lackluster service aside, the food was delish

My boyfriend and I happened by chance to go to this burger joint and it’s amazing! We’ve gone twice so far but we’ll definitely be coming back. My boyfriend and I are so picky but this place really accommodates us. Not to mention the service is amazing! Really laid back atmosphere. Both times we’ve gotten Edgar as our waiter and he really is amazing! Our drinks never had a chance to be empty. He even remembered we loved the cheese fries. He really was on top of everything, even when we came back the second time and it was extremely busy. Very happy customers!

Went for lunch, can’t comment on the libations.
Pretty darn good burgers, lots of variants, the veggie burger option was not available as they were making them — pretty cool idea, fresh veggie burgers, but the cow based burgers were large, well cooked, and flavorable.
Buns were good, I had the breakfast burger, and the English muffin style bun was good and didn’t try to overwhelm the sandwich, the rest of the crew got a variety of food, and all were smiling and thumbs up. Fried pickles were OK, and the fries were good. Reccomended!

Terrible experience. We started eating the manager (Antonio) turned up the music. We asked if he could turn it back down to the original level and he refused. Really he was a complete ass about it. After many years of taking my family here we will not be coming back.

Really, really disappointed in my first meal at The Counter. My boyfriend and I placed an order to-​go via their online website, after getting home and taking the first few bites I realized that my «medium well» Backyard BQQ Burger in a bowl was far from it. It’s disappointing to be spending close to $ 50 on a lunch for two and not have the food cooked to our specifications. Not to mention that my boyfriend had to also remove the chicken in his salad and throw it on our skillet at home because the middle wasn’t cooked all the way through. The only reason why this review isn’t getting a 1 out of 5 stars is because their french fries were on point. I’ll give them that much.
If we were dining in the restaurant it would have been a simple fix of sending the meal back. Now our relaxed Sunday intended to be spent dining at home has turned into unsatisfied decision with bellies full of nothing but sweet potato and shoestring fries.

5 star for taste and options to build your own burger but the price is pretty steep.
Yes, it starts at $ 10 but realistically you are looking at a minimum of $ 15 if you want anything that is worth going to The Counter for.
We like the location because it is close by and never too crowded so we always get seated quickly and get our order in fairly fast.
Another drawback is that they so take awhile to prepare the food, which is fine because it is amazingly delicious and fresh. Just wanted to give a heads up :-)
I usually stay healthy and go for the ahi tuna (extra $ 4) in a bowl (extra $ 1) with too many toppings to name them all (you get unlimited basic toppings now) but to name a few unique ones: roasted tomatoe, sprouts, roasted peppers, onion confi, coleslaw, grilled pineapple, hard boiled egg, the list continues…
Am a happy regular to The Counter.

I used to eat here (Irvine location) sometimes 3 times a week. I went to the Jamboree location a couple months ago and it was lack luster at best and yhe time before that wasn’t much better. I wanted to give it another shot because the owners are super cool, but this last dinner was horrible. Two of the 4 burgers were wrong temp wise, and even when my replacement burger came out it was missing items.
The «general manager» (that title is in air quotes purposely) brought out the replacement burgers, then had the gall to argue with me. He said that even though the 2 burgers temp were flipped that they were both actually correct. Since when does a manager EVER argue with a customer. I was eating at the original Counter when he was still dreaming of his 1^st job, not to mention that meat temp is a universal measurement… if I like mid rare at one place, it’s the same at the next.
Service could have been better as well. I had to walk to the bar to get my forks, he didn’t ask if we wanted additional drinks till the end of the meal after we were done, food was slow for how busybthey we’re at 8:00 and the runners didn’t know that I even had a burger coming.
I will not be visiting The Counter again… this food segment is way too broad to suffer a marginal or horrible experience again.

Okay the burgers here are awesome! But the service isn’t all that great. I went here with my Dad to meet a friend of his for lunch. I’ve heard about this place a few times before and was really looking forward to finally eating here. We sat outside and I ordered some iced tea to drink. I looked at the menu for a long time. There are so many options for a burger and I wanted mine to be perfect. Didn’t want any of my flavors to clash. I ended up ordering a bison burger medium rare with gouda cheese, coleslaw, radishes, fried pickles, sesame dressing, no bun with a side of onion strings. We didn’t wait too long for our food. I think my order was a little off though. They gave me a flight of sauces that I didn’t ask for, but I was okay with it. The onions strings were not very warm when they came to the table and with it being windy outside they got cold fast. They didn’t taste as good cold so I was only able to eat half of them. My burger on the other hand was perfectly cooked and absolutely delicious. I don’t remember the last time I’ve had such a satisfying burger. The coleslaw wasn’t too wet so the fried pickles didn’t get soggy. Then the dressing that I poured on top just melded everything together. I discovered the perfect combination for a burger here. The gouda was smokey, the coleslaw was light and crunchy, the radish was slightly bitter and spicy, the pickles were sour and the dressing gave it a nice zing.
The only problem we ran into was when we were waiting for our waitress to come outside to box my left over onion strings so I could reheat them at home as a snack. We waited more than ten minutes until my Dad finally went inside to get her. Half the time while we were waiting she wasn’t even really doing anything. It was really annoying. It’s like she forgot about us. I would of given this place five stars if that didn’t happen. I will most likely come back here though for my perfect burger.

I really want to give this place 3.75 stars. It is definitely a nice place with a decent menu and serious options for everybody. The problem is the HUGE number of trendy burger shops. Bottom line is you will get a decent burger. Cooked the way you want. With the toppings and bun you want. With the trendy fries (reg or sweet).
It’s pricey, it’s trendy, it’s got a full bar…
Not bad, but nothing to really differentiate from the next one.

he Counter has some damn good burgers!
I do think the servie is not the best though and the prices are a bit high.
My husband had the full pound burger and I had the veggie and we shared an order of fries.
Good burger, the fries a bit soggy and forgettable.
For sauces I had the garlic aoili, the ginger soy and the pesto, all of them were fantastic.
My husbands burger was also perfectly cooked, I got to try a bite and loved it as well.
If they speed up the service a bit I could see myself coming here more often, but honestly for that price I get much more at In N Out or the Habit.

I’ve been to the Counter before and had ok experiences, but this review is specifically for their take out. When I called, they immediately picked up and transferred me to a manager to take the whole order. He took down my order quickly/​efficiently and even took the time to read everything back to me. Everything was read back correctly, so I hoped that there would be no errors with the order.
When I picked up the order, everything was ready and the bartender had my check ready to go. She added extra condiments and made sure that I had help out… The food was packaged carefully in take out containers and labeled with each employee’s name. AWESOME! I mean this was just stellar… Unfortunately, this is where the awesome ends…
When I unpacked the food, we noticed that all 3 salads that were ordered did not have salad dressing to pair with. We also found that any extras that we added on to burgers were not provided… For example, we added avocado on a few of the burgers and no avocado was provided. Also, the food was not packed as carefully as I had originally expected. My burger was sloppily thrown together in the takeout container and the aioli (in a smaller container inside the takeout container) was not properly shut and had exploded all over the container. Lastly, we had a couple of people order gluten free buns for their burgers. The bun was overly chalky and crumbled as it was being eaten… Not cool.
Pros:
–Nice Staff
–Extensive Menu
Cons:
–Takeout service is a miss
–GF buns are not very good