The Counter

Reviews 4

A

A Private User

I decided to stop at this establishment last week with a group of friends and was thoroughly disappointed. While walking over to it from Jacksons right across the street at the RTC, I recalled how I had received some coupons in the mail from the Counter and thought this would be a perfect situation to try the place out. I’m not one to usually use coupons but with the way the economy is I think all of us on here are more apt now to try to save a few bucks here and there when we can right? Hey I’m not independently wealthy. After all this particular set of coupons came personally addressed to me with my name on them and all laminated to make a decent impression. I figured the least I could do was show them the cost of this masterpiece in marketing wouldn’t go unnoticed. So just after my friends and I were seated I ran to my car to retrieve them. But when I attempted to use the waitress declined them. She told me that they were expired by just a few days and would not be accepted. I attempted to ask if she would make an exception and she still sarcastically declined them. That was aggravating to say the least but then it got even more frustrating after I ordered. I ordered the basic burger, whatever the catchy name of it was on the menu but it was less than stellar compared to McDonald’s new Angus burger down the street. It was undercooked, came with nothing but a bun and cost me almost $9. If you include the pickles I asked for with it that were .50 cents additionally, that put me at almost $10 for basically nothing. $10 for an undercooked burger with a side of pickles? Does anyone else feel this is a tad overpriced? When I asked the waitress why the additional .50 cents for a small cup of pickles after the bill arrived, when the build your own burger has that option of adding at no extra cost she told me that was the charge and couldn’t do anything about it. She then attempted to ‘suggestive” sell me on adding a cookie to go or if I wanted a sundae or all these other items. I felt like I was at The Gap being asked if I wanted a belt with my jeans or a sweater to go with to complete the ensemble. Please, gimme a break people. So to sum it up not only did I receive an overpriced burger that was undercooked, that included nothing with it for that bloated price, a ¼ sized cup of pickles at .50 cents extra, but had to endure a sarcastic, suggestive selling Gap wanna-be waitress with bad customer service skills that wouldn’t allow me to utilize my “expired” coupons of a few days past to lessen the cost of the “meal” I had received. I was not the only one at my table that was disappointed as 3 of my friends including me for a total of 4 out of 6 people were also disappointed with their purchases. On a side note, I’ve attempted to contact the manager about this situation but so far he has been hard to reach.. This place definitely deserves its “1 Star” rating on here, nothing more. Save your $ folks and go to McDonalds and get the new Angus 1/3 pounder burger as its probably more edible and wont put a whole in your wallet too.

SJ

SJ Awhad

Have been to this place twice and both times I really enjoyed the food. What I love most about The Counter is its location. Reston town center is a pretty busy spot with lot of food options to choose from. And "The Counter" is located right in the middle of Reston Town Center; yet it is in a quietly tucked away corner in a piazza style street which you can only walk into, away from the busy streets. The first time I had the Veggie Club Sandwich. It was really well made and served with pesto sauce, which was perfect! The only thing I did not like was the grilled carrots were not grilled enough so they were a little raw and hard, so i had to take them out and eat them separately. Nonetheless, the club sandwich was really good. The second time I decided to build my own burger. The burger selection sheet looks quite intimidating and unfortunately reminded me of all the SAT tests where I had to circle the right option with a pencil..Lol! They have some wacky options for burger toppings like grilled pineapple. So I decided to give that a try and boy was I glad I did that! I got the grilled chicken burger with lettuce, tomatoes, onions, jalapenos and grilled pineapple and it was perfect! I was a little disappointed that amongst the wide variety of toppings, they did not have banana peppers :( So i had to substitute jalapenos. But the burger still turned out perfect! The only thing missing was a side; yes, you have to order the side separately. We ordered french fries and the quantity or quality of fries wasnt impressive either. For drinks, I ordered the Creamsicle cocktail which was not that great. May be next time I will try something different with the same burger!

SH

Shevonne Polastre

The kids and I went there to meet a dear friend. We sat there for about 15 minutes, and no one attended us. My friend got the waitress attention, and she seemed overly annoyed for some reason. After five minutes of waiting for her to return, we gave her our orders. She was half listening the entire time, so we had to repeat our orders like three times. My friend wanted a specific steak sauce, and he was asking if the one they have is the one he likes. She looked at him perplexed and rudely asked, "You dont know what steak sauce is?" I was amused that this girl, who obviously didnt want to be a waitress, was working there. The reason I gave it two out of five stars was because the food was pretty awesome. My burger with cheddar cheese, ailoli sauce, multigrain bun, and salsa was delicious. The crispy onions were good too. They forgot a spoon for my daughters applesauce twice. I asked another waitress to bring some, and we still didnt get it. We had to ask twice for refills, and the waitress responded, "Oh, I forgot the first time cause I was busy over there." Note to waiters cause this is like the third time this has happened to me: Sometimes honesty is NOT the best policy. I dont want to hear that you just didnt care to do your job and expect me to feel any sympathy for you. Another thing about this place we noticed is that there were no lights that came on when it got dark. We are eating outsie. The restaurant across from it did, but at The Counter, you were eating in the dark. This place has potential, but their wait staff and lack of lighting is killing it.

SC

Scott Rodgers

I have been going here for 2 years, and a lot! (I am the freakin Mayor on Foursquare). Anyway, went in for lunch today and right from the start it was a nightmare. They just switched the menu, our server didnt seem to know anything. She kept saying they were really busy, which they were, but it is busy everytime I eat there. There were 4 of us. Because of my food allergies, Gluten and Beef, I always write "Beef and Gluten Allergy" really big across the top of my order. - I order the Turkey Burger, even though they have gluten free buns, I tend to get no bun. When I handed her my order she looked at it and said "Beef allergy, you cant eat the Turkey?". After I explained that I could, she placed our orders which took am abnormally long time to get. When we asked her if they were almost ready, she said, "Oh, we are out of Ham" someone in my party got a ham and cheese sandwich. About 10 mins went by, and then the orders came out, mine of course on a NORMAL bun. Once I told her I couldnt eat that, she sent it back. Long story short, the rest of my party was done eating and I still didnt have my food. When she finally came back, still without my food, we asked for the check and I ended up going to Chipotle. VERY VERY VERY frustrating. I used to love that place.