The Counter Cupertino

I like it! The outdoor seating by Stevens Creek is cool and they fine tuned the menu I saw at Santana row several months back. The biggest problem i see with this place is the sheer amount of calories you burn up comprising your order based on the options and method of taking the order. If you are really hungry this will add extra fatigue to your quest. Otherwise the combinations are good and most are tasty for sure.

Disappointed by my visit there today. They’ve redone the menu and now the pre-​built burger options are quite lackluster, with most of the menu taken up by drinks and sandwiches instead.
I know the whole build-​your-​own thing is their claim to fame but I’m lazy and liked all the pre-​built options on their old menu saving me the trouble of coming up with combinations that work. And Unilocalers, you’ve disappointed me, too. Every restaurant I’ve ever looked up has had tons of pictures of the menu, but there are no pictures of the old menu here. What gives?!
So I’m docking a star for making me work harder for my food, but said food is still good and the service I received was perfectly fine. And boo for backing down on the fixed gratuity, so much for progress.

I came here with a party of 12 split into two tables. It took about 30 min before someone finally took our orders (even though we were the only party at the restaurant!) One of our tables got their food at least 20 min before the other. I ordered the 3 mini burgers/​sliders hoping it would be faster since I needed to leave early for an errand. The rest of my table eventually got their orders and the server kept reassuring us that the sliders were on their way.
Soon, both tables had finished eating their food and we asked for our check. I asked once again for my sliders, this time going in to ask for a manager or someone in the kitchen. Oops! They’d forgotten to cook them.

Having gone to the Santana Row location, I expected the Cupertino location to be as good as I remembered my last experience to be. However, I was pretty disappointed. We placed a pick up order on the website, which was very convenient. When we got there and they handed us the bag, we double checked everything and noticed the order was wrong and incomplete. We were missing one major item plus I had asked for the cheese for my salad to be on the side and it was missing entirely. Good thing we double checked!
As for the food, it was more mediocre and didn’t really satisfy our cravings for good burgers. The burger patty was pretty plain and I felt like it needed a little more salt. The fried chicken sandwich looked delicious, but it tasted really dry. I also can’t believe a milkshake is $ 6.50 and doesn’t even fill the to-​go cup all the way (maybe ¾) and their main course salads are tiny for the price. All and all a big disappointment. I may go back for the $ 2 happy hour beer, but that’s about it.

Sat at the outside counter. First bartender was great; friendly and attentive. I ordered a build-​your-​own burger, and it was amazing. My fiancée ordered the BLT, and she liked it. Beer selection was pretty good, and they offer proper pints and larger.
My burger was fantastic. I asked for medium rare, but it came out very rare, and I’m okay with that. Better than being too well done. I feel the kitchen was on point.
Sadly though, that’s where it went downhill. I don’t know if the bartender went on lunch or what, but he was replaced by another guy who didn’t even look our way. We sat with empty glasses for at least 20m before getting his attention to grab another pint.
When we were good to leave, there was nobody to pay. One server was running around inside, and that’s all we saw for a very long time. Another 30m goes by before I finally walk inside to wait at the hostess desk to ask for the check. Even that took a couple minutes, and I could see the newer guy in the back having a talk with another employee. He eventually comes out front and hands me the wrong check.
The thought of just walking off crossed our minds a number of times. Who would have known? Happily, we’re honest people, but nobody looked our way (or was even at the bar) for a good half an hour.
TL;DR Good sandwich and burger, good pints, very inattentive service. Would try again, because the kitchen made the experience.

Had high hopes but was disappointed. I’ve been to other Counter locations, and have enjoyed the burgers there, but I was sorely disappointed by this location.
The service here is, as other reviewers mentioned, often absent. We had to flag down waiters to even order our food. This wouldn’t be a dealbreaker if the food were good, but the food was average at best. I ordered the HD Chicken sandwich, and the chicken was so dry, and honestly, the burger tasted bad. The best part was the sauce and the bread — I ended up pouring the sauce over the burger buns and eating those at the end.
Most likely, won’t be back.

I was very disappointed with this place. I ordered a medium rare burger and it was medium cooked and did not have any flavor. I eat at the counter burger in the LA area all the time but this place needs improvement.

Very nice place with a modern feel, I loved the counter itself, but it was already full when we got there for late lunch. Still, they freed up the table inside by the window when we asked to be seated there. The waiter was extremely nice and pleasant, and the burgers were good. I recommend their lamburger, juicy and perfect when done medium. The sweet potato fries were good, I wish there were more per serving. This is a really nice place and we plan to come often, keep up the good work, guys!

I used Order Ahead in hopes of quickly picking up some milkshakes.
1. When I arrived there was no clear person to talk to about my order. It took about 5 minutes before the hostess helped me. Typically at other restaurants aren’t your normally greeted by the host/​hostess almost immediately?
2. When I mentioned my order, they tried to charge me for it. You pre-​pay with Order Ahead.
3. After I mentioned my order, they told the bartender to start making the shakes. What is the point of ordering ahead if you’re not going to make my order until I arrive at the pickup time? I understand shakes are better when fresh and wouldn’t have really minded if it took 1 – 2 minutes to whip them up, but this took probably around 10 minutes as the bartender was backed up. If a pickup time is 8:40, start making the shakes at 8:35 and throw them in the freezer.
I really like the food and shakes at The Counter. Please just get your act together.

Let me start by saying, the fastest thing they do, is taking your check.
The 1 star given is for the decent burgers and the Parmesan fries. Don’t make the same mistake as my boyfriend and I did, by getting the bland coleslaw.
So why the 1 star? Service, as many others have noted, is horrendous. I understand if it’s busy, I don’t mind waiting. However, there were not even that many full tables, and I was ignored not once, but twice, when I called for their attention. I wanted to be polite, and as usual, I always leave a restaurant saying my appreciation. Well what do you know? Even a «thank you» was ignored.
Also, for all y’all drinkers out there, which bar runs out of mint?!
Anyway, if you come here, prepare to take a while sitting in here, hopefully staring at your attractive partner, like I did. Or have fun staring into space.
¹⁰⁄₁₀ would NOT recommend.

I had a bad experience at SR location so decided to give Cupertino location a try.
Super disappointed with this location as well!
My family of four came here at 11am. We were the first guests. The hostess told us to go sit anywhere we liked; yep he didn’t even walk us to table. Once we sat down, our server came to took our drink order. We asked for water, chili cheese fries w/​onions on the side and a side of regular fries. Our chili cheese fries came with onion on it so we sent it back. Our regular fries tasted old — like it was refried. Our new chili cheese fries was luke warm at best; we didn’t send it back (we should have).
At this point, a couple came in do now there are two tables. We proceeded to order our burgers. Our burgers came out wrong (one was missing tomatoes and other one was missing jalapenos).
There were two tables!!! How in the world did you mess up an order when it’s soo slow?!!
I think the service and consistency of this chain have degraded so much… This is second location with shitty quality and service.

When we first walked in, there were two employees at the registers. Neither of them could be bothered to look up to greet us or even smile.
15 – 20 mins before we were asked if we wanted water/​to order.
Another 15 – 20 mins before getting water.
They forgot our appetizer.
They forgot to put the toppings on my burger; it came out with only the patty on the bun.
Burger was pretty good but not better than Five Guys, In N Out, or Armadillo Willy’s, and it’s not as easy to make immature jokes with the name of this place. Boooo.

Every time I drop by now the serve has been phenomenal. And have got to known the bartenders.
GREAT JOB GUYS!!!
Great job on the improvement staff wise & hospitality wise.
Proud of you.
As you can see, I’ve been back at least 4 times already.
I ToTALLY RECOMMEND THIS PLACE
especially if you want some peace and you juSt to relax

Picture perfect, but underwhelming burger!
The concept of Build/​Customizing your burger seems like a winner. On two occasions, I have each ordered their b-​y-​o burger as well as their «expert build» burgers; both were very disappointing. The meat was very bland and I even found an eggshell on top of my burger. Quality control? Fail! The only saving grace for me was their sides — onion strings and sweet potato fries were quite yummy!
Service was slow, our waiter seems to be in a rush and was all over the place; clearly understaffed! They are also not as efficient in turning the tables as compared to the other locations (saw a couple of unused tables on a busy dinner night). I don’t think we would be coming back, since the burger nor the service impressed us.

Average tasting food at this location but mediocre service that is worse than Olive Garden.
Almost paid $ 2.75 for a glass of soda, but managed to sneak in a refill from the guy who served us our food. The difference between good service, average service, and mediocre service for me is the number of times I get my soda refilled. Soda is such a high profit item that no amount of refills can cause an establishment to lose money charging $ 2.75 for a glass of 20oz of soda. It’s a good judge of how attuned the waiter/​waitress is to their customer.
Our waitress passed by our tables several times to help new customers take their order. She came by once after our food was served to check in but managed to ignore us the other 80% of the time. That was the only time she stopped by to check in. Another person dropped off the check after we waited around for what seemed like an eternity at 8:30pm. At least at Olive Garden I get in 3 to 4 soda refills during the course of my meal by the same waiter/​waitress and they act like they care somewhat for us.
There must have only been one cook in the kitchen tonight because the cook didn’t know the difference between medium and well done. Both my wife and I ordered medium ¹⁄₃ lb burger with grilled pineapple and we both received well done burger with a thin layer of wilted, over grilled pineapple with blackened grill marks all over. We’ve ordered this same burger at the Fremont location and it was cooked and presented like someone cared and took pride in their work.
Two stars because even though my burger was overdone, it still tasted decent and they managed to leave my sunny side up egg intact.
Even with a BOGO coupon remaining, we won’t be returning back to this location. The weird thing about this location is that there are a few people rushing around like they are in a hurry, dropping off drinks, checks, meals, or cleaning up. This is a good indication that there are others not doing their jobs and letting the few that care do the bulk of the work.

I am pleased to say that I now found the PERFECT burger combination at Counter:
I’m vegan, and here it is:
Toppings:
~ Alfalfa Sprouts
~ Carrot Strings
~ Corn and Black Bean Salsa
~ Dell Pickle Chips
~ Crushed Peanuts
~ Organic Mixed Greens
~ Olives
~ Scallions
~ Sliced Cucumbers
~ Sliced Red Onions
~ Sliced Avocado
Dressings:
~ Sesame Ginger Dressing
~ Sweet Sriracha
Side:
~Sweet Potato Fries

What a bunch of haters! So many people are upset by this location’s wage policy. They include a service charge and they employees are paid more per hour. I’ve been seeing this in Germany for decades.
I would prefer it if they pooled the service charge and divide it up amongst the employees, but it’s NOT THAT BAD.

Just down the street from the Counter in Santana Row, this one gives you the same quality but without the hassle of Santana Row. So, that’s a winner for me! The doors open up on nice days to a cool outside seating area. Interior seems small, but big enough for most nights!
Typical Counter burger food which never disappoints. It’s a slightly pricey burger as burgers go, but you know this coming in so that shouldn’t change your opinion of it.
I see that there are a lot of gripes about them including in the tip, but I think it’s great. They don’t try to get a double tip out of you by leaving the line on the credit card slip and they are truly trying to pay their wait staff a living wage. For those that think the service will lack if they don’t need your tip, I didn’t see that at all — service was excellent.
A great addition to Cupertino!

I’m not a huge fan of this place. I feel like the burgers are quite overpriced and the quality isn’t worth what you pay. I wasn’t particularly hungry when I came here for lunch so I ordered their most basic burger (medium rare with lettuce, tomato, and cheese). Burger came out relatively fast, but I found it to be really oily… I had to set the burger down after every few bites to wipe the dripping oil from my hands. The meat was good – perfectly medium rare, but besides that, at ~$ 11, it was pretty meh for a basic burger.
I did really like the milkshake that I had got, though! I got the banana split milkshake and it was delicious (and very very heavy, lol). I think I enjoyed the shake more than the burger.
Overall, I’ve definitely had better burgers for a cheaper price. Not sure if I’ll be back, unless it’s for their shakes! Service is good, though, and they have a really cute outdoor bar seating area. The seating arrangements inside are nice as well – the décor is very modern and clean.

finally have one closer to school! i had an hour before work and needed to eat before work, SO i went to the counter. I’ve been to the one in santana row years ago, but i don’t remember how that one was. the one big thing i noticed is the AUTOMATIC GRADITUITY added to the bill so the servers have better pay. well shit, isn’t 18% gradituity a bit much especially since your food is already a little expensive, but worth the menu price? the people and our server were super nice. we did the build your own burger which is always nice to explore.
bison burger: $ 4 extra. never had bison before until today. thought it tasted like holiday ham… what?
veggie burger: doesn’t taste like cardboard. it’s actually good. doesn’t even taste like a veggie burger.
sweet potato fries: nothing special. $ 3 extra.
restrooms clean, but smells like that chinese medicinal oil my grandma used. idk if santana row also does that automatic gradituity thing, but I’d come back here if they didn’t do that 18% gradituity.