The Counter Phoenix

Amazing food, fun atmosphere and our waiter was great. Took way too long to cook our food, but it was worth the wait.

My colleague and I visited The Counter for lunch today (February 3, 2016), as it is conveniently located near our office and we had not yet tried it. We arrived just before noon and were told it would be about 5 minutes before we could be seated. Of course, this was no problem and they seated us shortly thereafter. We placed our order right away and unfortunately, that is when the experience went downhill. It took over an hour from the time that we ordered to get our food. When our food did arrive, the burgers were not prepared properly and they were not even very warm. The waiter only came by one time in the hour we were waiting to see if we needed any refills. Admittedly, we probably should have left and went somewhere else, but we kept thinking that it could not possibly take much longer (we were wrong, obviously).
While we waited, we saw other tables also experiencing ridiculously long wait times. One larger group eventually had to get some of their orders to go, considering most people can only take an hour for lunch. Food was coming out to the same table at different times and customers were very clearly frustrated. The staff half-​heartedly apologized for the wait, and blamed the larger group for the delay. However, even with the large group, the restaurant was not filled to capacity, so it was hard to buy that excuse.
I will never return to The Counter, and I would not recommend it to anyone. The food was mediocre at best, and the horrendous service made it a complete waste of time. I cannot possibly imagine how it would take over an hour to get a burger, but The Counter was certainly able to accomplish that.

Very bad experience. Waited 55 minutes for lunch. It never came. We ended up leaving. A few minutes prior to leaving we heard at least two other groups complaining of the same thing, both of which left right before us without having been served.
Waitress was nice and apologetic, but it wasn’t much consolation after waiting your entire lunch hour and having to go back to work without eating at all.
We won’t be back.

Went in because I ate at the location in Walnut Creek and loved it. This one wasn’t as good. My malt was excellent but my burger was only ok. The server was fantastic, she was fast and kept coming by to apologize for the wait which was in no way long or unexpected at lunch time.

I ate here Sunday evening just before close with a friend. The food was good but service sucked horribly.
I ordered a custom burger with side of chili as did my buddy although his was off the menu. It took nearly 45 minutes for our server to return to the table only to advise that my order had been missed/​mixed up but was being expedited and available shortly.
Being I also ordered a bowl of chili also, I didn’t get too crazy but asked that my chili be brought out immediately. My buddy had already been brought his chili (with no utensils/​spoon). Again I waited probably another 15 minutes before I flagged down a second server and asked that my chili be sent out. It was probably another 10 minutes before that occurred.
My buddy ate his (cold) chili as well as his burger before I even received my chili. We were both bewildered why, with no more than three tables, it took such an extended period to obtain food. It’s typical once a mistake is made for a server to do what it takes to recover and expedite the meal.
I’m not prone to exaggeration but I’ve received better service at a McDonalds.
On a good note, the food was quite good so ok inclined to go in again but I hope this feedback encourages service changes. Everyone was friendly, the food was good but serious focus should be made on service or I doubt your business will last.

Staying across the street and needed a basic dinner. Turns out this was a real pleasant surprise. First, the service was great and the waiter extremely nice. No up sell pressure… very relaxing
Made my burger and it was cooked to perfection. I really enjoyed it. Finally, it is an incredible value. A great and affordable meal. If you ate downtown, I highly recommend this place

Food took longer than expected due to a convention in town. But other then that the staff is super friendly great food and even greater shakes. The bison burger was great and I had a custom grey goose shake it was amazingly good!

Love the selection of toppings, the choices of burgers to choose from & the quality of the food itself. The milkshakes are a nice addition too, perfect ending to a great burger!

Came across this place while we were downtown, my boyfriend loves burger places and wanted to check it out, so we did. We both ordered the Bacon BBQ burger, chili cheese fries, a side order of regular and sweet potato fries as well. Our burgers came out before of chili cheese fries which was fine, but with the amount of fries in that bowl, we definitely expected MORE toppings, so that was a fail. Our burgers were too over cooked eventhough we asked for medium rare but I guess burger places just can’t make it medium rare anymore, only thing I really loved about the burger was the BBQ sauce, which was on the side, oddly and the onion rings in it. Our side order of fries actually tasted better than the chili cheese one, guess you can’t really go wrong with just fries though. Ultimately we weren’t big fans of this place, definitely over priced for what we got.

My husband and I just moved to Phoenix from Los Angeles. We would frequent The Counter in Marina del Rey and LOVE IT. So today, November 14, 2015 at 12:45 we wanted try out the one here in Phoenix on Central. It was the WORST experience I have ever had. For starters, we sat at the bar and weren’t acknowledged for 5 minutes and it wasn’t even busy! We finally get acknowledged by Macy who now takes our drink order. I’ll be candid, I don’t think she wanted to be there, no smile, was complaining, seemed miserable and my husband and I actually witnessed her tell a server, «I don’t think this is what was ordered, but give it to her and if she doesn’t like it, I will take it off their bill.»
So we finally place our order and my husband creates his own burger and I always get the BLT with avocado and extra crispy bacon. Well our food arrives and it’s NOT crispy bacon. I take it off the sandwich and tell Macy that I asked for crispy bacon and she says «Oh, I forgot to put that in when I placed the order. I replied with «I would like to get what I ordered.» So she comes out with a plate of 3 pieces of bacon and apologizes and says «I’m sorry, they are stingy back there and if I bring more they are going to want me to charge you extra for it.» I had this stunning look on my face like are you F-​ing kidding me, its your mistake and I would have to pay extra.
Macy said that she took 25% off of our bill, but our bill came out to $ 30 something dollars and only .30 cents was taken off, but I left it alone and figured I would bring it here to Unilocal.I couldn’t believe the customer service that we received. Clearly the wrong person is behind the bar. She was not sociable and if John Taffer was to ever go their he would rip Macy a new one or even FIRE her.
The kicker to this scenario is that before our food came out we witnessed a group of 3 men saying «It’s not even busy in here, what is taking so damn long.» Turns out these guys came in for lunch on their lunch break and had been waiting for over 10 minutes to get their bill so they could go back to work. One man finally got up and tracked the waitress down and said, «we need our check, we have to get back to work.» They were clearly upset at the service they received considering the place was empty. One of the men ended up leaving her a note on the receipt, which I don’t know what it said, but the waitress clearly thought it was funny!
I can honestly say that management needs to step it up at this location and hopefully will be doing some serious customer service training soon. I WILL NOT be going back anytime soon and am sad that I can’t get my money back for this experience. Oh and I wouldn’t recommend anyone else to go to this location either.

Went to grab a Burger at the bar and watch the FSU game during my lunch break. Sat for 10 minutes while the bar tender completely ignored me and talked to her friends at the bar. Didn’t even get a water…
Got up and walked out.

I’m rarely in the mood for a burger these days, especially since they all seem the same. I mean, how creative can a burger get anymore?
I didn’t try any of their specialty burgers — I decided to build my own. I know that’s not new or anything, but when you have things like sun dried tomatoes, pesto, grated Parmesan. You can make one helluva burger.
The service was great, the beef was cooked extremely well and the view of the city and light rail made for very interesting people watching through their large double pane Windows.
Only downside imo is location. Parking is a bit tough, but don’t let that deter you. Check it out and tell them Chris sent you.
Ok, don’t tell them that. They probably have no idea who I am.

Should have heeded the long wait warnings. Would love to try this place out again but lunch in under an hour isn’t an unreasonable standard. Place was maybe 60% filled and between 3 to 4 host and wait staff we gave up after waiting at our table for 30min before someone asked what happened to our food.
Unfortunately we weren’t the only ones. Saw a few people speak to the manager so I assume it was a good day.
Lunch goers should avoid if time is important. The food did smell good but at those prices of hope for less than 45min dining experience.

I was staying across the street at the Renaissance hotel for one night, and I was looking for someplace close by to eat. It’s tough to be closer than The Counter, so I gave it a shot.
The food was excellent. They have this massive menu of options for building a burger, including gluten free buns or a no-​bun burger bowl option (which I selected). Pick a meat, a cheese, unlimited cool toppings (I went with things like jicama, grilled onions, cucumbers, pickles and jalapeños) and a sauce. I also added a side of sweet potato fries. Both the burger bowl and the fries were very tasty.
After eating, I decided to have an adult milkshake. Again, you can pick one of their options or build your own, so I went with chocolate sauce, peanut butter and chocolate chips with Kahlua (good choices, me!). I appreciated that I could get a not-​so-​huge 12 ounce shake, too (16 ounces would have been more than I needed, though it was an option).
I sat at the bar, in part so I could watch a football game, and the bartender /​server was super friendly and helpful the whole time. Keep in mind that I was there at 5:30 on a Thursday, so it wasn’t crowded at all, but still, their service was great.
Big thumbs up from me! Burgers and boozy shakes… yum.

Walk into The Counter in downtown Phoenix, and you’ll immediately feel welcomed. The restaurant has an upscale diner feel, with a sports television-​filled bar, comfy booths and lots of tables for both one-​on-​one encounters and family outings. I loved the lighting, which was just right at not-​too-​bright, not-​too-​dim, and despite the construction currently surrounding the restaurant’s streets, it’s nice to have a downtown Phoenix view while you nosh.
My pal and I recently dined there and tried a ton of menu items, a great variety for both fans of the build-​your-​own-​burger concept, as well as vegans and vegetarians. We started with fried dill pickle chips ($ 5), which came with a sweet apricot sauce. I liked the sweet and salty combination, and the pickles were fried to a great consistency, light and not greasy.
We also split a big caprese salad ($ 7.50), which came with marinated red and green tomatoes, red onion and thick slices of mozzarella. These two items alone would have filled us both up. I loved the green tomatoes, which is a unique touch to the tomatoes you usually get in a caprese salad.
The build your own burger process is the really fun part. Grab a sheet of paper outlining all your burger options, and fill it out, sushi-​style. There’s a housemade vegan option, as well as bison, turkey, chicken and tuna burgers. Get it with a bun (options include a vegan ciabatta and pretzel bun), or go bowl-​style and forgo carbs. There are a dozen cheeses to choose from, 26 sauces to add, and nearly 50 toppings to pile on, including dried cranberries, quinoa and marinated artichokes. Premium toppings include an egg, bacon and chili. Add a side for $ 3, from shoestring or sweet potato fries, to seasonal grilled corn, and you’ve got a very filling meal — I couldn’t finish a quarter of my burger and crispy onion strings combo after the appetizers.
For my burger, I ordered the vegan patty on a vegan ciabatta bun, with herbed goat cheese spread, house mustard, a lettuce blend, alfalfa sprouts, tomatoes, red onion and dill pickles. Although I added a ton to my burger, everything was portioned well-​enough so I could hold it without a problem and cut it in half cleanly. The vegan patty was delicious, and I’d highly recommend my flavor combination if you’re looking for a great veggie option. If you’re vegan, there is also a vegan cheddar, which really made me appreciate how well The Counter is mindful of all its customers.
You can also build your own salad, or order a burger on their menu in a combination the restaurant has concocted. Besides a full bar, one of the other cool aspects to The Counter is that you can order an adult shake, a sweet treat with your choice of spirit or liqueur.
Besides the tasty food and welcoming ambiance, my pal and I thought our service was stellar, especially considering all the things we ordered. We received everything promptly and were checked on diligently, which we were really thankful for.

Awesome place! Make your own burger. Make your own grilled cheese. Make your own shake. Have it your way for real! The medium-​well burger we ordered was cooked to perfection! The vanilla shake was fabulous! The grilled cheese was wonderful! We were greeted as soon as we walked in and multiple employees stopped by to check on is while we were there. A real team environment. A real inciting environment. A real comfortable environment. As I said at the beginning… an awesome place!

Just stopped back here and had the Ahi Tuna burger that was fantastic! By far the best tuna burger I’ve ever had.
Can’t recommend this place enough.

This place is amazing! Not sure why it’s gotten some negative reviews!!!
This is an established concept hailing from Northern Cali.
Best burgers in Phoenix!!! Great service and great concept. Build your burger with a zillion choices… onion strings are the best as are the deep fried pickle chips!
Ate here today and it was stellar!
Such a great location!!!
Amazing burger with the Cabernet Dijon!

I can’t believe all of the negative reviews on this place. THEY’VE BEEN OPEN A WEEK, PEOPLE! CHILL! Yes, there is a bit of a wait. Give these guys some time and I’m sure they’ll run a tighter ship before long. I have been here twice and have been happy both times. The people that work here are all very friend and nice. I take onboard that it’s pricey, but for $ 16 I got a ¹⁄₃ patty cooked medium rare, the way I like it, with cheddar, bleu cheese, bacon, spinach, grilled onions and sautéed mushrooms with a side of onion strings. The patty was SOLID: fresh and cooked to perfection; all of the extras were of high quality and the onion strings were DELICIOUS.
I thought that they give you plenty of food. Yes, you pay more, but we’re talking high quality ingredients, not pre-​cooked McDonald’s. I can’t afford to do this every day but I deserve something like this once or twice a month. I’m really eager to try their milkshakes… and then there’s the bar. Again, don’t let the negative reviews deter you, this is right up my alley. If you’re short on time, give them a few weeks to settle in or go later in the day, not during the lunch rush.

My coworker and I checked out The Counter for lunch yesterday. We liked it, but we didn’t love it. Mario’s the type of person who can eat a moderate sized meal and be full for hours; I, however, am hungry within an hour of eating. So while he was content with the portions well into the afternoon, I couldn’t wait to eat something more (which lead to another afternoon burying my face in a bucket of fro-​yo).
The food itself was good. We started with the Sweet Sriracha fries. They were pretty good and we devoured them before our burgers arrived. While many of the specialty burgers sounded great, we opted to build our own burgers. My bacon (of course) and jalapeño cheese burger, with dill pickles and spinach was perfectly cooked to medium. It wasn’t greasy, which was pleasant.
Service was attentive without being suffocating. Yeah, it felt like we waited a while to get our food. But it was also incredibly fresh, so compromise. I understand we all have limited time for our lunches downtown, so when we go back we may call ahead to have an order ready for dining in.