The Counter Santana Row
| Address: | 3055 Olin Ave #1035, San Jose, CA 95128, USA |
| Phone: | +1 408-423-9200 |
| Site: | thecounterburger.com |
| Rating: | 4.1 |
| Working: | 11AM–10PM 11AM–10PM 11AM–10PM 11AM–10PM 11AM–11PM 11AM–11PM 11AM–9PM |
Location
Photos 100
Reviews 7
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Rangaprabhu Parthasarathy
Counter Burger is a chain of burger eateries spanning much of California and a few other locations around the world. My first trip was to the Counter Burger in Santana Row in San Jose, CA three years ago. I stumbled upon the place as a new place to try out and walked out wanting to come back at the next possible opportunity. I continue to consider them one of the best places to get a great veggie burger. Counter Burger has an interesting menu/ordering system. You can order from their set of store conceived burger selections or much better still build your own burger. Unlike most other “build-your-own” setups, here you really build it. You pick from three sizes of burger (1/3lb, 2/3lb and 1lb). You can have the burger in one of many types of buns they offer or have it without a bun kind of like a naked burrito. You then get to choose a sauce, 4 toppings that range from pepperoncini’s to sauteed onions, and one type of cheese from an interesting variety. You can also add more cheese and/or premium toppings like guacamole for an extra charge. But here is the best part about the burger- it is made to order. Where else do you get a veggie burger made to order?. Most times, the restaurant version of a veggie burger is the frozen Gardenburger from Costco’s that is then grilled in the kitchen. Here the burger is made to order and the taste shows. It just rocks. With the right cheese, sauce and toppings, the burger just is out of the world. And here is where it gets even better. The appetizers offered in this place consist of a bunch of different types of fries. But paired with the right sauce, the thinly sliced onion rings and sweet potato fries, not to mention parmesan fries are just awesome. It is hard to put it down. If you want to watch your consumption and still get a feel for all the varieties of fries, you can order them as a combo plate of 2 or 3 selections. This is what I do all the time. Finally, if you want to know if there is anything bad about the place, here it is. The wait is pretty bad during weekends. Weekday lunches can also be a long wait and there is just no way around it. Seating indoors is limited and in the winter, chances are you will sit outside. There are those heating poles next to the tables outside but only helps to a certain extent. Otherwise, Counter Burger is a very highly recommended place to get your veggie burger and fries fix. Did I mention that they also carry great shakes?
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Dominic Flores
My friend and I came in on Saturday for a to go order. We did 2 custom burgers- pretty basic and 2 fries. My burger was the basic meat with cheddar cheese on a pretzel bun with mustard and some garlic aioli, red onions, the baby lettuce mix, and I added avocado. She ordered a plain burger with cheese and fries with a side of ranch. My burger came out with no sauces, no avocado (which is an up charge) literally one piece of lettuce and 2 slices of onion...also I didnt get my sweet potato fries and she didnt get her ranch. When I brought it back in, one of the workers looked back in the computer and saw that it was input correctly and apologized and took care of what was missing. The burger wasnt even warm by the time I bit into it. I was totally underwhelmed and will not be returning to eat a mediocre and over priced burger when apparently the kitchen staff cant read the order printed out. Something should have been done that day, like offered me a free fountain soda or something while I wait. If one thing was missing that would have been one thing, but literally no sauce, no avocado and did you really try to put lettuce and onion on? With one piece of lettuce and 2 onions? Seriously disappointed.
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Melissa Chege
If I was just rating the food itself it would be a 5 but the service/experience was horrible. we came to eat after the santana row mommy and me event. we were seated pretty fast and greeted but then when I asked for a high chair it was never brought i ended up grabbing it myself then the food took over 45 minutes to come it was taking so long the kids got cranky and tired so I asked for it to go they gave us one order right but the second was completely wrong the manager said he would take a little off for us but all he did was give us 25% off the least he could have done was comp one of the burgers. the server was not nice at all she was completely unapologetic when we told her it was taking too long...it was just the worst service I have experienced in a long time. I am a former server so I know what its like maybe she just wasnt in a good mood but they did not do all they could to keep the customer happy.
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Pamela Howell
We gave them a 2nd chance. No more chances. Never again. Last time we ordered 75 sliders they brought us 25 full size burgers. No one got to try new things, have a little of different items, revel in the variety. This time we ordered 75 sliders they brought us 25 sliders. People were mad. People were hungry. Some had to make last minute plans and left the office. The Counter me look like crap at my job where I order for 25-30 people 4x/week plus breakfast 5x/week. I know what Im doing! Yeah, The Counter sent over more food but people were back at their desks working. They ruined our lunch respite. Fool me once..... I gave them a 2nd chance. This is hundreds of dollars worth of food. You cant KEEP screwing up!
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Chanden Sidhu
Really looked forward to visiting as Im in CA from the UK and made a special trip to eat here. We were told it was a 30 minute wait and after 45 minutes we had to gently remind the hostess that we hadnt been seated. The tall slim lady with curly hair, in the green tee (Friday night) who "seated" us was so miserable and rude that I just wanted to leave. I can understand someone having an off day but I dont expect to be made to feel like a total inconvenience for asking a question (could we carry the drinks tab from the bar to the table- to which the answer was simply....no..) Food was great. Service was laughably poor.
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James Tanner
outside and food took 45 minutes. When we asked for our food, they said they accidentally made it to go and it had been setting on the counter for 30 minutes. Then they gave us the to-go boxes. I then proceeded to ask for forks. The food was cold and in a box. I did enjoy that those who worked there seemed to think it was not a problem (just funny). I think it may have management issues. It was dinner on a Sunday. Also, hostess could not get anyone to clean our table and so she cleaned it herself.
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meme SJ
I was there on Sunday night 2/16/14 around 7pm, and they took my name and my phone down and would text me when the table would be ready and told me that the wait was about 40 minutes, At 7:40pm I was checking back the hostess told me that their system was down and I had to wait for another 40 minutes. no sorry , nor texting to inform customers. hostess with bad attitude. I will not come back to the Counter in Santana Row again.
