The Counter San Mateo

Counter, Counter, Counter… why do you keep disappointing me?
I feel like The Counter is an awesome set up, great idea and fun easy night out place to go. But at some point its time to step up the service and quality of your $ 15 burgers.
Be aware when ordering your burgers they have their OWN standards of med-​rare, medium, medium well and well. Like when your medium well burger comes out bleeding still and red juice is coming out is actually «how they do it» says the server.
SO disappointing. I made one mistake of ordering medium rare (how I love my burgers) once on a to go order and got home to a ice cold super rare burger that was not safe to eat. The last time I went safe with medium and it came a hockey puck and this past time our friend ordered the medium well and their burger was the rarest at the table.
No constancy in cooking temps.
Their sweet potatoe fries are a killer! Also highly recommend getting the sauce sampler when building your own in the back (3 choices, .75 cents!)
Just over their «never know what you’re going to get» cooked patties, which is clearly the most important part.

We came twice over the course of a weekend. The food is yummy without a doubt and the stars would be so much higher if it were just about the food. The service is beyond bad – frustratingly bad and definitely not-​worth-​the-​money bad… almost to the point where you start to wonder if it’s on purpose. Note the bacon in the picture below – that was after I requested it extra crispy. When I asked the server about it, he unapologetically said, «the kitchen insists that is as crispy as we can go.» Um, ok. The bartender overheard and brought out extra crispy no problem within seconds. There is so much more I could write, but I’m too tired and too frustrated to do so. Over 90 minutes for an expensive meal in an empty restaurant. No utensils or napkins in our incomplete take-​out order. With the exception of the sweet bartender, the entire staff here doesn’t have a care in the world and just plain and simply doesn’t give a rat’s behind. Beyond irritating.

It’s a good burger, but it’s also $ 15 (no fries, only water to drink). That’s a ridiculous price.

I have been wanting to try the Counter for a while now. I love burgers and fries and it is something we treat ourselves to every so often to indulge in a heart-​attack waiting to happen meal. The first time I tried to go, it was busy and crowded and the hostess was terrible and rude so I just left. This time we got there early and had much better service.
BUT, the burgers were SOOO dry. I’m reading the reviews now and it seems everyone loved their burgers so I’m not sure what went wrong. I do order well done usually, and Five Guys and Red Robin manage to do well done and still be moist and juicy. I ordered my Counter burger medium well and it was so hard and dry. Very disappointing! No juice at all. So it really didn’t taste good and I drenched my burger in ketchup. My poor kids got well done and theirs were even worse! I also wish the cheese was thicker but I was impressed by the amount of bacon stuffed into the burger. The brioche bun was perfect — soft and easy to bite through. The ability to customize is just wonderful for our family so I really wish the meat was better. Oh — and I wish they had whole lettuce leaves. Terrible trying to not drop chunks of lettuce while biting.
Their fries were very good, but portions seem tiny when adding it as a $ 3 side. I kept seeing these large plates of fries come out but I have no idea how that was ordered. Ours were TINY. The service was really excellent. I was thrilled with Manny and another lady that checked on me and brought me lettuce. Really, it was perfect service — and I was happy with it. They gave the kids little bendy things that kept them well occupied.
In all, it seems like my dry burger was a fluke. I’m willing to try again, but not for a while. I was looking forward to indulging in a 1500 calorie meal and this one really wasn’t worth it!

Very disappointed, The Counter is usually pretty consistent. I ordered for pick up a veggie burger which was basically their Korean burger but with a veggie patty add avocado and tomato. They totally f’d it up. There was no grilled onions or tomatoes but they added dried cranberries WTF??? I also asked for red relish on the side of my fires and the also forgot that too. Pretty disappointing.

I have since returned to The Counter as I promised I would, and have found out that there are good mixes and bad mixes of toppings. I went in hungry and on a mission: I wanted to make the perfect burger and think I made it. Don’t go in when starving because you will surely choose toppings that won’t necessarily work together and you’ll be let down. Be patient, ask to taste the dressings if you’re unsure what it’ll taste like. I have since added The Counter to my burger rotation. Well done!

UPDATE: This is an update for my last review. I previously rated The Counter 2 stars, but after the general manager kindly reached out to me asking the details of my experience and sincerely apologized, I added one more star. This showed me great customer service. I will give this Counter a second chance next time I crave a burger.

I checked in today but they still charged me for the premium topping. Why bother checking in or offering that perk if you are it going to honor it?

For a non-​burger we had the Veggie Club with grilled zucchini, roasted pepper, grilled carrot, sliced avocado, basil pesto & grilled sourdough. For a burger we had the house made vegan veggie. And of course we had sweet potato fries. All tasted fresh and delicious! Fun atmosphere, great for groups, families and friends. Do stairs booths, tables and bar seating.

Love it that I can pick whatever I want on a burger. Pine apple and bacon, best combination

Came here for lunch with some coworkers on a rainy Friday afternoon. Didn’t have trouble finding a parking spot!
The only other time I’ve been to The Counter was in San Jose on Santana Row, so I had expected all of them to be that small (yes, the San Jose one is tiny compared to this one!)
The Counter San Mateo had two stories (second story is more like a loft) and also an awesome, spacious bar on the ground level. Open atmosphere and we were immediately seated for a group of 5 at lunch.
Unilocal CHECK-​IN for a free premium topping! (1 per table)
The thing I like about The Counter is you can pick however many toppings you want on your burger! It’s like picking as many toppings as you want on your pizza, who can say no? Pick 3 sauces for only $ 0.75 (these come on the side) and you can order any of the other toppings on the side too if you don’t want them on your burger.
Food came out kind of slow, but the burger was filling! Half of the burger was enough to fill me up. You can ask them to cut the burger in half for you if you’re sharing.

Service was not up to expectation! The restaurant was less than half full but we waited over 30 minutes for our food and the order was wrong!
Overall service was below average — slow on our drinks and food + incorrect order! Our waters were empty, no refill!
Overall atmosphere — nice décor and great location
Overall quality — 5 Guys is still better
Overall value — below average since I can get a better burger at 5 Guys with free peanuts

This place is very hip and friendly! I had the best server who was more then helpful and the food was delicious! The upstairs seemed to be for adults with children but I still sat up there. Also I highly recommend the Parmesan fries, they are so good!

Well got there 40 minutes early! Meeting my family, thought I could finish up a few emails and a bit of work prior to dinner!
Asked for WIFI password, I was rudely told we don’t share it with customers!
Ok then!
Last visit for me! No WIFI no more visits from me!

So I’m sitting here 30 minutes after ordering my meal and they told me it will be out in 3 minutes. I am a super slow typer so let’s find out if I have time to post this before my burger comes out.
This place has decent food, but the wait staff is slower than my idiot nephew trying to pass algebra. If you have an extra two hours to kill before eating, by all means get out here. If you want good food at a reasonable time frame, Jack’s Prime is right down the street.
Hurry your asses up, guys! There was nobody else here when we ordered!
UPDATE: We got our burgers, 20 minutes later. Buns burned to shit, my medium turned out to be undercooked, and at least 2 other groups who are complaining about the same thing. Get it together you idiots.

So, picking The Counter in San Mateo for my 100^th review… Woot woot! It just is how the cookie crumbles, yanno?
Been here a couple of times before, and can compare it with the one in San Rafael — see my review for that one. All in all it was a solid lunch performance. The burgers are juicy and really really good. They actually have a decent beer selection, both on draft and by the bottle, and a few wines in their menu.
There were a couple of oops in the delivery — late glass of wince, salad was asked with dressing on the side, instead it was drenched in it — but the waitstaff was über pleasant and fixed all issues. The manager stopped by a couple of times and was helpful too.
When going to the Hillsdale Shopping Center, The Counter will always be our lunch spot.

This is not you typical fast-​food burger joint. It’s a chill sit down restaurant with waiter service, bar and quality burgers.
Their burgers are cooked to order with antibiotic-​free, naturally raised, humanely handled, no added hormones angus beef! All those buzz words got me excited! Everything is highly customize-​able. The price you pay is based on how heavy you want your patty (¹⁄₃ — 1 lb; $ 9.50 — $ 18.50) and if you want to add premium toppings its an extra $ 1 each. Sides are an extra $ 3 each.
I got the ¹⁄₃ pounder and it a really thick patty! I ordered it on a brioche bun, so yummy. Got my standard toppings: spicy jalapeño jack cheese, organic mixed greens, alfalfa sprouts, tomatoes, sliced red onions, and dill pickles. I think there isn’t a limit on regular toppings as it did not specify on the menu how many you can have. I added a premium topping of sliced avocados and opted for the roasted garlic aioli as my burger sauce which also tastes really good with fries.
Here’s the downside: I asked for medium-​rare but my burger was under-​cooked and had a cold red center, the meat was rare. I ended up eating it anyway. I also ordered a strawberry shake with whipped marshmallow, but it came out really thin and runny.
Overall the experience was okay, I think I would have a better experience if my burger was cooked a little more and my milkshake thicker. The burgers are of good quality and presented really beautifully though. They also have 100% natural chicken, Organic Bison, ground turkey, vegan veggie, and ahi tuna. Oh the combinations are endless! I’ll be back to try it again.

The counter is usually my go to when it comes to burgers. My cousin and I walked in and were seated right away. We got a couple waters and ordered the ⁵⁰⁄₅₀ of garlic parmesan fries and sweet potato fries. We also ordered a couple malts, I got a strawberry, banana, nutella malt and he got a birthday cake shake. We got our burgers a little after that and they were so delicious! I ordered a 1/​3lb beef burger medium rare with pineapple, avocado, jicama, daikon and carrots, olives, peanuts, quinoa, mushrooms, and salsa on a telera bun and it came out perfect. We were DEFINITELY stuffed after that meal. I highly reccommended going to the counter especially if you’re into the whole build it yourself thing.

I have come back to my burger place and I can now give this review a more objective review. I will admit, my first review was very subjective and now I am writing another. But let’s get on with it.
First, the the ambiance and the environment of this place is solid. It gives off a great clean feel, with all the silver surroundings, it reminds you of an Apple Store. Where it falters in the biggest place is the service here. The service is actually pretty average. There doesn’t seem to be any strict dress code or anything like that, and the waiters, waitresses and the hostess don’t look that professional. When I was there, there was a waitress waiting on another table and I couldn’t tell she was a waitress until she asked how their meal was. When our waitress came by, she came with 2 plates of food that weren’t ours! Normally it isn’t such a big deal, but during that time we were in a little bit of a rush and all of us were really hungry. We all go our hopes up when we saw it and it brought our hopes down even further when the food wasn’t ours.
Food time:
The food here is the thing that holds this place up over everything. The fries here are awesome… The fries here are pricey, like everything else here, but it is worth it. The fries here are well fried, thin, the way I like them, and crispy. I could just keep eating and eating the fries over and over again.
The burgers here are awesome as well. How can you have a burger place without some great burgers. I had the Korean style burger, and it was excellent. It holds a lot of meat in there, but is expensive. The sauces work well with the burger. It adds an extra layer of flavor that is needed.
I wish Unilocal would let us give half stars, because this is better than a 3 star, but not quite a 4 star. If I could, I would give this place a 3 ½ star but hey that’s life. «You know what else sucks? The world, and you know what they say, it the world didn’t suck we would all fall off.»
–Abraham Lincoln (Really a Youtuber)
XD

My girl and I came here for their (apparently seasonal) Churro Milkshake with Hennessy as advertised on their sidewalk sign outside.
We came, we sat at The Counter’s counter, were given menus by a most unfriendly bartender and then immediately asked for the advertised milkshakes to which she replied, ‘We don’t have that any more. It’s seasonal.‘
Really? Because I have two questions…
#1. What season is churro season?
#2. Why is still being enticingly advertised on the sign outside?
Whatta bust.
We were ready to haul ass outta there since my gal had trekked all the way down from the city with no car on her day off specifically for that milkshake that I’d seen advertised for weeks on that damn sign, but we stayed because we were tired and hungry and were still able to order a consolation milkshakes in the Nutella and Salted Pretzel flavor and we, of course, added rum to both.
The Nutella and Salted Caramel milkshakes with rum were freaking phenomenal and we were both surprised to be able to taste the rum and know they weren’t cheap with the booze.
Neither of us had ever been to the counter before and the menu was pretty exciting to us. She did a build your own grilled cheese and did a build your own burger with a side of couscous and we split an order of the fried dill pickle chips.
The grilled cheese looked a little chinzty on the plate, even with being extra stuffed with toppings but it wasn’t expensive so it’s fine. My BYO veggie burger monstrosity (with too many topping to mention) was huge and actually extended into 2.5 meals after the milkshake and dill pickle chips.
I liked all the food we got and I loved the milkshake even though I normally couldn’t care less about milkshakes, but the service certainly could have been more cordial and though when the manager (?) came to check on us he was friendly, I think his reaction to us asking about the churro milkshake and letting him know that it was still on the sidewalk board outside could have been a little less cocky with the convo as follows…
Me: The food is really good but we’re bummed there’s no more churro milkshake.
Manager: Yeah, that one’s seasonal.
Me: Because it’s still listed on the sign advertising specials out front.
Manager: No, it’s not.
Me and Friend: *staring and blinking with puzzled looks on our faces because it was most definitely still on the sign. We saw it like a minute earlier*
Manager: It’s poorly erased on the sign.
Me: I’ll say.
We weren’t offended but thought the rather unapologetic correction to our correct statement could have been done a little better.
I’d definitely go back… probably every 28 days for that milkshake. Ladies, I know you catch my drift.

Ich weiß nicht warum dieser Laden eine so schlechte Bewertungen bekommen hat.
Man kann sich hier seinen Bürger komplett selber zusammen stellen.
Erst einmal 3 verschiedene Gewichtsklassen an Fleisch. Dann natürlich verschiedene Fleischsorten.
Für jeden Bürger gibt es 4 Toppings, jedes zusätzliche kostet extra. Viele verschiedene Käsesorten, Soßen und Brötchenvarianten.
Unsere Bürger waren wahnsinnig lecker und am liebsten wären wir danach geplatzt. ;-)
Die Bedienung die uns zum Tisch geführt hat, war bissel, naja… Amerika Style würde ich mal sagen. ;-) Bedienung am Tisch wirklich top!
Alles in allem würde ich immer wieder hier essen gehen.