Pearl’s Grill

Don’t go here. This place is closed now. No fault of the staff who seemed to be working really hard. And no fault of the stupid reviewers below who were so fixated on their 1^st world problems they couldn’t stop crying about their favorite burger chain gone long enough to give a new restaurant a chance. Rather, it was because the oblivious owners’ horrendous karma came back around to finally smack them hard, and unfortunately it splashed upon the rest of the team who all lost their jobs.

Oh, no Pearl’s, what have you done?! We used to be fans of The Counter so when we found ourselves in Hartford this afternoon decided to head over to Blue Back Square to try out the new joint. Sadly, we should have read these reviews first.
Our staples were a split veggie burger with an order of half regular fries/​half sweet potato fries. Simple but consistent and delicious. The burger-​always fresh tasting and flavorful, the fries, hot & crispy. Today we had a similar order: veggie burger with order of Asiago fries. I found the burger to be fine but nothing noteworthy. Hubby said the bun tasted stale. More disappointedly the fries were soggy and covered in a weirdly pungent tasting garlic (?) half melted cheesy concoction. I tried to like them but frankly they were just gross. Were they trying to be a grown-​up version of late night diner cheese fries that used to taste great after a night of drinking but taste downright gross in the light of day? I’m not sure but they just didn’t work. Server was pleasant. Beer was cold. Not many people in the place but it was that weird after lunch hour/​before dinner time.
I hope Pearl’s finds it’s niche and owners are able to make it work. I know it takes a lot of blood, sweat, & tears (not to mention money) to run your own joint and hope that it succeeds. However, I doubt that we will be back.

I really hope the decision to drop The Counter was out of the owner’s hands, if not I’d probably classify this as one of the worst local business decisions in recent history. While Pearl’s Grill is not bad, it is certainly not worth a visit with so much local competition and nothing to differentiate it anymore.

My friend and I were looking for a nice, casual meal this past Saturday night in West Hartford. Living in town, I know that there are so many excellent choices and was very excited to go to Pear’ls Grill. To say that it was disappointing would be an understatement.
My friend ordered a rare burger and was very clear in wanting it RARE. The waitress confirmed it with him as well. I ordered chicken satay. It took nearly 45 minutes for us to get our food and there were only two other tables of customers there at the time. If that was the only problem I wouldn’t complain. The food itself was simply awful. The burger was basically well done, dry and on a stale roll. My chicken was extremely dry, tough and difficult to eat.
Just to be clear, it wasn’t bad compared to The Counter, it was bad by any comparison. I will never eat there again and I would not recommend it to anyone. We let our waitress know how disappointed we were and she came back saying the manager took the cost of the food off our bill. We didn’t ask for that but didn’t argue it either. We were surprised that our food was given to us for free without apology or explanation. It was almost like they were admitting that it was substandard.
If I had read the reviews before going I would not have been so shocked by how bad it is. Pearl’s Grill left a bad taste in my mouth but gladly West Hartford has so many EXCELLENT places to eat and drink.

Wanted to try a new place with my boyfriend. Went in on a Saturday at 9, the place was empty. The menu was very limited and over priced. More importantly, the food was nothing near worth eating. I can enjoy a frozen dinner at home at more than half the cost and it would still taste better than this. Idk how you can mess up burger sliders… but they did. The rice bowls were as if it had come undercooked from the freezer. All disappointing.

We came here when it was the counter and loved it. Decided to give the new place a chance but we’re very disappointed with the food. The burger rolls could have been from McDonald. Do have to say the service was very good but would not come back. Altogether it is a below average place for food which charges above average prices since it looks kinda fancy. There is thousands of choices out there with better Burgers and cheaper prices. This was a one time experience. Sorry!

I really wanted to like Pearl’s Grill. I live locally, and you always want local businesses to succeed. But quite literally, from beginning to end, our experience was awful. We were a group of four adults and three kids. That’s a larger group and a tough group to accommodate in a smaller place like this. When we arrived, the host said that they only had one booth (one?!) that could accommodate us and that it would be a 15 – 20 minute wait. 45 minutes later, no booth, although they were able to squeeze us into a smaller booth, which we appreciated. Kudos to the host who was candid in saying that group at the megabooth had ordered another round of drinks and wanted to problem solve. That was classy.
First the little things: the water had no ice and was warm. The kids drinks (plastic cups and caps) came without straws. Other drink orders were forgotten. Food came before silverware came. None of this would have been a huge deal, except there was such a lengthy wait in between visits from our well-​intentioned server, that these little problems quickly became difficult to move past. (Hard to eat food without silverware.)
I tried the Santa Fe burger, which looked appealing by description and at first sight! But what should have been a delicious tex-​mex burger was terribly lacking in seasoning, not hot enough, and very sloppy to eat. (Burgers can be a messy food, but a place specializing in burgers should know how to keep the patty from sliding out from between the bread. Literally. It fell out on my plate.) My wife had the steak sandwich, which tasted good but was plagued with tough meat and was even harder to eat than my own messy meal. One friend tried the turkey sandwich, and while the sliced deli meat had nice grill marks, the total lack of heat made me wonder if the kitchen just colored it in with a Sharpie instead. My other friend had a different burger and complained that, too, was cold. Perhaps the food had once been hot, but maybe then kitchen tossed it in the fridge to prevent bacteria growth while it waited for an eternity before it got brought out to us. I suppose the health inspector would have been glad…
There were some positives: The fries were fine. Yes, «just» fine, but given the otherwise mess of a meal, I could settle for «adequate» fries. The mac and cheese was tasty, if salty. Their dipping sauces for the burgers and fries were flavorful and were clearly homemade (as sadly evidenced by the poorly mixed ingredients that left me alternating between dipping fries in plain mayo and overly potent sauce base).
After waiting 10 minutes for the friendly sever to process our credit card, we left confident that we wouldn’t be returning. On our way out, I jokingly asked my wife if she wanted me to grab a «Pearl’s To Go» menu. She said that she just wanted «To Go» (to leave), definitely without Pearls.
It’s sad that a new restaurant has started out on such as disappointing note. I hoped the other negative reviews were isolated problems, but clearly, Pearl’s Grill is not the pearl of Blue Back Square. I hope the management makes some necessary changes before this new incarnation of the business becomes more of Blue Back’s history.
Oh, as I write this an hour after finishing my meal, I have an upset stomach to boot. Great…

We were fans of The Counter and were hoping that the new reincarnation — same owner, same staff, still some burgers — would be a new favorite. Boy, were we disappointed. If I could sum it up three words, it would be these: save your money.
We were one of only three parties in the whole place, which seemed like a bad sign. We used to have to wait for a table at The Counter, sometimes even at 5:30 pm. Somehow with only our table to serve, the waiter was slow, inattentive, and even unfriendly.
We ordered the Gorgonzola stater salad. The salad is supposed to be made with arugula, of which there was none. Instead, I had a mix of mescalin and baby spinach with a couple of clearly rotten leaves floating right on top for good measure. If the waiter had looked down, or the chef for that matter, they would have noticed the rotten, slimy leaves immediately. The arugula would have also made the salad so much better and balanced out the cranberries and tangy Gorgonzola.
We also ordered the Nacho Fries as an app, although we asked them to hold the beef chili. We were excited when we saw that the fries looked to be the same fries that The Counter served, one of our favorite parts of eating there, but were disappointed when we tasted them. They were barely luke warm, soggy, and under seasoned. There were a couple handfuls of shredded cheese, which wasn’t even melted, and some mild pico de gallo on top. Underwhelming is an understatement for this app.
We ordered the Chicken Pesto pasta to share, but asked for veggies instead of chicken. The pasta was very good, with the addition of broccoli working well with the dish. It was seasoned well and was good heated up for lunch the next day. For $ 12 it was a decent pasta, but like the other food we ordered, it was all overpriced for the quality and quantity of food.
I’m not sure why the owners closed The Counter, but I’m guessing they’re asking the same question right about now.

Hesitant to come back after the counter. They hired back their old staff, kudos in my book, gave the bar a new backsplash which looks terrific, added booth seating and some sleeker furniture. I order the buffalo chicken flatbread. Super tasty and HUGE for $ 11. I immediately packed half of it away in a doggie bag before even trying it. (And believe me, I can put food away). It was delicious. The flatbread is so pastry like and the buffalo sauce is just spicy enough. My bartender was super charming and the three members of the waitstaff I met were friendly and terrific. I will most certainly be back to try something different!

Well, zero stars is not an option so I’ll have to go with 1. First of all, I walked into this restaurant thinking it was «The Counter» which as some people may know used to be a pretty solid burger place. They had good burgers at good prices and you could order them made however you wanted. The counter had a good premise, this place has no premise.
TLDR:
Bad food
Slow Service
I guess I should have known the night was going to go poorly when there was a SCREAMING 8 yr old on the curb outside Pearls before my party ever walked in. Bad omen (strike 1)
The second clue, they had no hostess there. Had to catch one of the waitresses to even get my name down. Cue one of the longest most unnecessary waits for a table with only 2 parties (of 4) in front of us. If there was 1 person busing tables this person must have been asleep in the back. (Strike 2)
Before we were even seated, I had to run out to my car to feed the meter, because yes, they were taking that long. Unfortunately for us, we didn’t notice it was no longer the counter until we were handed menus that sadly read «Pearls Grill» (the counter closed a few weeks ago). Even worse, their burger selection has no customization options like size which was previously offered at the counter. Even after requesting a larger burger, the waitress simply said that it was not possible. (strike 3)
Before even being seated I had to run out to put more time on my meter so I didn’t get a parking ticket.
When our food did finally arrive, all 3 of our burgers were overcooked. Also, when you order a fried egg on top of a burger you expect the yolk to still be intact, not leaking all over my plate before I even get it. (Strike 4)
Dessert was offered and we stupidly accepted a shake (hoping that at least they couldn’t mess that up). I’m not sure how long it takes to make a milkshake in other places or if Pearl’s has some special way to do it, but it took close to 20 minutes for the waitress to come back with it (strike 5… How many do you get?)
I wish I never went, I will never be going back.

I never came here back when it was «The Counter», but, I assume that back then it was strictly a burger place. This is a classic example of a restaurant trying to do too much. They started out as burgers, but added all this other stuff that they don’t specialize in. When that happens, everything is just mediocre. That’s exactly the experience I had. The place is very small for a West Hartford «hot spot». Although, I don’t exactly know how much of a hot spot it is anymore now that they changed everything. The menu has burgers, and salads, as well as Asian and Mexican (which is completely random if you ask me) inspired dishes and a few «American style» entrees. I decided to give one of the noddle bowls a try that had shrimp and vegetables in it. It was the most ordinary thing I’ve ever had. Anyone who knows how to boil water could have made it at home themselves instead of paying $ 11 for a not-​so-​big portion. It was very lacking in flavor. The only thing that made it edible was adding siracha sauce to it. My boyfriend got one of the rice bowls and he said that it tasted exactly like a TV dinner he once had… he even wondered for a second if that’s really what it was. Very over-​priced and lacking in originality or flavor. They should have stuck to their burgers.