Your First Look at The Counter, Opening Monday

On Wednesday we gave away the chance to win a sneak preview of The Counter, the new build your own burger place opening on Broadway and 41st on Monday.  And yeesterday and today dozens of Midtown Lunchers are cashing in their prize.  One of them, Lunch’er “Matt”, got to go yesterday and sent in this account…

IMG_0392

The space! Very nice location, well lit inside and super clean.

IMG_0380

Chili cheese fry appetizer. The one thing I like about the Counter more than all the rest is their fries. They’re crispy and thin. This app is around $6, and would feed 3 people as an app, and two small people as a meal, and one very hungry person. Its insane the amount of food you get for the price of this thing. It was also good!

IMG_0382

Coworkers burger 2/3lb burger with cheese, onion rings, and sauteed onions. He enjoyed it a lot but said it was impossible to eat. I agree with him, 2/3 of beef on one burger is impossible. And they go up to 1lb!

IMG_0384

I tried to stay on the lighter side with one of their “bowls.” You have the same choices as the regular burgers but can get it on lettuce or organic greens.

IMG_0386

Burger cooked medium-medium rare

Overall writeup is I just don’t like their burgers unfortunately. I had them once in CT about a year ago and decided to give them another shot (bad day the first time around?). They’re all grass fed, free range, hormone/anti-biotic free which I can get behind, but I’m pretty sure they’re using something like 90/10 or 93/7 beef. For something that is that rare to come out dry is nearly impossible to do with anything other than an almost zero fat beef blend. There is very little seasoning on the burgers, with no sear at all either. The toppings, veggies, and cheeses can make for some interesting and well thought-out dishes (or complete travesties) but the star of the show, the reason why you’d eat there, is completely lifeless and bland. The counter will do well in the location though. It will get a lot of foot traffic and the food is just good enough to draw in a crowd. I will be sticking to Shake Shack. (by Lunch’er Matt)

I don’t know how much we can trust somebody who orders a burger bowl! But that’s the beauty of opinions… everybody has a different one. Did you win a slot at the preview lunch? Feel free to post your thoughts in the comments.

37 Comments

  • Less than 10% fat, light on the salt and no sear? Pass

  • Been to the one in West Hartford, CT and let me tell you, it’s nothing to write home about. The burgers are dry and just not tasty at all. Shake Shack has nothing to worry about. I just wish they would come to central Connecticut.

  • The place was fantastic.

    I had 1/3 lb beef patty with red onions, sauteed onions, jalapenos, and applewood smoked bacon. Cheese was jalapeno jack, and sauce was chilotle aioli. All this was on their ‘regular’ bun, which was good but got quickly soaked by the sauteed onion juices, I blame myself for the oversight.

    The 1/3 pounder was enormous, and supposed to be 1/3 after being cooked. They served it pink in the center, my favorite, with the sauce on the side.

    I devoured it, but had to use my fork and knife because of the onions, which were great, but messy.

    Goats and I split an order of Parmesan fries. These came in a huuuge bowl, and after the burger I could only put a few of these away. They were thin and crispy with the parm sprinkled throughout.

    The ‘bill’ came to 30 for two people (Soda’s were listed at 2.50 which was a ripoff, but also unnecessary) but I considered it an excellent burger and worth the extra expense.

    As an aside, their drinks menu has a great booze deal for being in Times Square. You can get a shot of Jack Daniels and a draft beer, Stella or Blue Moon, for 8 bucks.

  • And I got the bowl specifically because I had had the burger already and wanted to try it without the big bun getting in the way. Needless to say it didn’t change my opinion.

  • For all you shack worshippers, this place kicks the living sh*t out of it. BEST BURGER in the city for the buck. There. I said it. This place TRULY kicked ass!!!!! I am super impressed with the burgers, toppings, ciabatta roll (which held up VERY WELL) and sauce selection. It wasn’t dry at all. I can’t speak for the other locations but I would come here in a f’ing heartbeat. The Parm Fries were decent and HUMONGOUS, though I would have liked a bit more parm on them. They could easily satisfy a group of 4. This was the best free lunch ever! And I would be more than willing to pay full price (except for the 2.50 can of coke)….

    • goats is insane – I was just there today – the meat they used in the burger was horrid. Or am I just feeding a troll?

      BTW – Toppings were good. Fried dill pickles were good too. Bun was good. It’s just the main attraction: the beef was really bad

  • User has not uploaded an avatar

    I went with a friend last night for dinner. We loved the fries/onion rings combo appetizer. Seriously should have quit after that. I ordered my burger more well done than it usually comes (medium) and I was not happy even then as it was much too pink for my taste. I thought the burger was too salty, as well. Shack burger and HB burger much, much better. Do love the multitude of options for buns, toppings, sauces, but really just dressing up a mediocre burger. Shake was tasty and desserts on the menu looked good, though they were not available last night. Location is going to be a nightmare as it was much smaller than anticipated and will lead to long, long waits.

  • Who orders a Burger Bowl over salad, that just baffles me. Those fries do look amazing, the problem to me is the location. Its a high traffic area with alot of tourists I will most likely stay away… what was the price range i notice you didnt go into that.

  • 8.85 for the 1/3 lb., 10.95 for 2/3 lb and 13.95 for 1 lb. (ALL AFTER COOK WEIGHTS!)

    The place is small and I have no doubt this will be jammed to the gills at all hours…..It’s the best value inthe area by far!!!!!

  • WSLEE00–I’m insane??? uh, no, you have no palatte. Go away. If you don’t like this burger, you’re a f’ing idiot.

  • I only meant for the new Times Square location….but yes, if you had tried what I had today and hated it, I would have to force you to take down the site :-)

  • Wouldn’t say it kicked shack’s ass but it was damn good. Just different…in a good way, like how Peter Luger & Keen’s are both superb, but totally different.. in a good way.

    my Med-Rare burger was spot on, toppings excellent, nice ambiance, service outstanding (to be expected in a preview I suppose). Bang for the buck (if we were paying) was superb. Thought the fried pickles were executed well and pretty good. Vanilla shake (Breyers) was prepared nicely, whip cream on top a nice touch.

    Funniest part was how the menus had certain things crossed out, due no doubt to Midtown Lunchers raping and pillaging yesterday.

    2/3 pound burger option available yesterday, now blued out… you blew it up .. damn you.. damn you all to hell … i hope you fuckers at least tipped generously

  • Goats shouldn’t you be in /b/?

  • I agree with you, Wayne (though I am not a SS fan and will never see the appeal)… This place did a great job and the prices seem shockingly reasonable, especially for 41st and Bway. I saw the crossouts too, and before I saw how big the 1/3 lb was, I must admit I was a little dismayed that I couldn’t get the 2/3 lb. I’m still going back to do the 1 lber–possibly attempting to beat my 4 min 1 1/4 lb (pre-cooked) record…..

  • Formz—I am. Tell your mom to hurry up and get over here :0)

  • My two cents: liked the place, including most of the food. Also put me in the camp who thought the burger patty itself was not good.

    The chili fries were tasty and huge and worth getting if you want to do suicide through food. Def worth a reorder. The fired pickles were some of the better I’ve had in New York. Sort of Texas-standard, nothing fancy, which is a good thing. They gave some apricot dip with it that I’d sub out for the typical ranch-based dip option.

    As for the burger, Christmas blasphemy it may be, I might go for a turkey or chicken burger if I go back across the street there sometime. My co-diner constructed a pretty awesome looking chicken burger on ciabatta, while I thought the beef was gray, lacked fat, and had a packed texture like it’d been mixed too much. I was happy to eat it, and happy to return sometime, but I probably wouldn’t order the beef burger here again. The cook temp was good though.

  • The grease from the fried onions may have masked the lack of grease in the burger, but as a combo, amazing! LOTS of flavor!

    And I too prefer Filet Mignon most.

  • Maybe the NYC version is better than the one I had in CT, but it seems to me that most people that have been there so far aren’t real happy with the results. Sure the fries are good, but is that really why you went in there in the first place? I won’t be back to any of them.

  • Fact: People have different opinions about food.

  • I thought the 1/3lber I had was decent. Not horrible. Skip paying for the premium toppings though. Maybe not the fried egg whcih I did enjoy.

    Also, it won’t replace my SS craving but it was alright and not disappointing to devour. My issues were with the onion strings, too oily and not crispy enough, and they shake – needed to be more chocolately – since it was lacking in flavor.

  • Forgot to mention:

    Got mine on a regular bun and the bun was griddled

    mmmmm…griddled bun

    +10 internets

Leave a Reply

You must log in or register to post a comment.