The Counter — Restaurant in Virginia

OK. So to Explain this rating despite all the other good reviews this place have hear me out. When we got in we were seated and we got our drinks, so that was fine, two of us built our own burgers using the spreadsheet given to us and two of us got pre-designed burgers, at that point we were still OK, but that's where things began to derail. From that point it took literal ages to get our food out, and when we finally DO get our food out there are SEVERAL problems with the burgers, some of which I WISH I had spoken up about. The First problem was obvious, the waiter had gotten both of the Custom-Burgers at our table mixed up, but we hadn't realized until we had actually taken a bite because one of us had ordered their burger Medium-Well and one of us had ordered Medium-Rare, though at that point we had already bitten into the burgers and we couldn't bring ourselves to complain when we probably should have because the burgers were still OK, just not to our preferences. The Second problem was that one of the burgers were missing bacon, and both of them had Applewood Smoked Bacon written on the actual order sheets, so the waiter brings us the order sheets he SAID we used and THEY DIDN'T EVEN HAVE OUR HANDWRITING!!! Again, we probably should have said something but we didn't want to cause a scene in a crowded and claustrophobic restaurant so we roll with it and the waiter gets bacon for the person without it, saying that it was OUR error of all things. Finally, the last bit of bad service that I feel worthwhile to mention (there are several things I could complain about, like how my Fries got out late and apparently "I didn't" get them on the sign-up sheet, which is BS we should have gotten that whole meal free.....) would be the fact that when were paying for the final check for everyone in our group individually, THEY GOT OUR FLIPPING CHANGE WRONG!!! At that point we just felt it best to just get the hell out of there and tell our friends about the experience and understand something about the place. For the Quality of the Service and the total Quality of their smallest Burger (which is a total of a 1/3 lb.) even with custom toppings from their "Deluxe Toppings" menu the price (which came out personally to me for $19.88 which is worth WAY more than that trouble was worth) was just too much for something of such mediocre quality and haphazard experience, and while I don't exactly blame the owner I do question the functionality of running his restaurant with so few waiters and other employees. I don't know, maybe my group came on a bad day but I honestly can't give a review higher than a 2, hopefully you guys can use this review for your own advantage. _ _ Regards, ...

I have to be 100% honest the begining of our experience here was AWFUL. We came into the restaurant around 530pm. They were a little busy and we got seated in the corner. We sat down and started going through the menus. We had enought time to choose our food and talk for a few min. To be fair it was probably between 5 and 10 min before I started to wonder if anyone would come greet us at the table. So I started my timer on my phone. During this time 2 other tables were seated. We hit 12 min on the timer and I said "Ok lets see if they get served...maybe its just bc they are a little busy" 2 more min went buy and both tables were served.

At this point my family had been waiting over 20 min for someone to even come ask us for our drink order. We decided to call it. Super frustrated and hungry we got up and I went to ask for the mgr. Tasha came out and I was explaining the issue to the waiter who was at the counter. I greeted her and explained what happned and showed her the timer and told her that while we understand busy and customer service mistakes at some point you have to call it and its not ok we waited over 20 min for ANY service and other people were being served around us.

Fully prepared to leave( with my family already out the door) and not come back ever.....Tasha immediately apologized and told us it was completely unacceptable that we waited and asked for another chance ...we were not going to take her up on that offer but she said the meal would be on her and we would be taken care of.

Well we got out meal, Tasha personally served us and even gave us a appetizer while we waited. The waitress who had forgotten about us came and apologized as well. Our meal was great and we didnt have to pay.

As a manager of a food establishment customer service is paramount. And I truly appreciated her correcting the situation in a big way and making sure we were happy in the end.

GREAT GREAT RECOVERY. We will go back just necause Tasha did a great job.

So even though it started really bad...they deserve 5 stars for really making the moment right.

Thank you we...

I write this review only after our third visit to The Counter. At first, we enjoyed eating here and felt it was a great addition. The food was promising, the decor was fine, and the concept of a burger place that let's you tweak every detail could delight the picky eater in any of us.

Unfortunately, our first visit was our best. And by our third, we just can't eat here any more. On our second trip, we noticed the portions had shrunk on our appetizers. We ordered Tater Tots, specifically, and received a whopping 14 tots for our $9. If you're not a math wizz, feel free to whip out the calculator and size up that deal for yourself. It was a joke, and a poor one at that.

On our most recent visit, I ordered what could only be described as the easiest order a burger-centric joint could get. A bacon cheeseburger. Nothing on it. Meat and cheese and bun. Medium well. Upon delivery, I was excited. It looked great. Exactly what I had hoped for and had brought new friends to taste for themselves. But after a few bites, we all realized our burgers were an undercooked mess.

I can handle anything from medium rare to well done. But I could not bring myself to eat this raw patty. We brought it to our waitress's attention and she apologized, stating the cooking staff was new. But they weren't willing to remake the burgers. And they weren't willing to take the burgers off our check.

We spent $100 between the three of us on what was supposed to be an awesome night out eating amazing burgers. Instead, we left the majority of our food on our plates and took a loss on the evening. We are aggressively loyal to places that treat us well, regularly coordinating our companies to reward our favorite local places with as much business as we can bring. But this will be the last time I interact with The...