The Counter
2901 Ocean Park Blvd
Santa Monica, CA
(310) 399-8383
Cuisine:
Hamburgers, American, Burgers
February 21, 2007
Good & hearty burgers, plus they're customizable
This restaurant is unique because you can build your own burger. Meaning you have full control of how large your burger is and what goes on it. When you walk into the restaurant each person picks up a clip board with an order form on it. You can specify the kind of bun you want, the size of your burger, the cheese, and toppings.
The order form is not simple and there are a lot of toppings to choose from. For cheeses you can get gruyere, blue cheese, basic cheddar, and more. Toppings you can get grilled onions, bacon, salsa, cranberries, and even a fried egg. The sauces are really great here and there is a variety to choose from: horseradish mayo or peanut sauce! Check out their site for all the toppings (thecounterburger.com) The hardest part is deciding whether you’re even creating a good tasting burger! But if you’re nervous about that there are some suggestions you can choose from, they have a burger called Old School and they always have a Burger of the Month.
This restaurant is super crowded, we went at 3pm and it was packed, plus you need to find your own table. The service was friendly but getting our burgers took awhile. Good thing we got our fries first to munch on.
Considering other burger places in LA, the price of this burger is reasonable. It costs around $7 depending on what size of burger you get and the extra toppings you order. That’s not bad since I know other places in LA where burgers costs twice as much. Plus waaay better value than a six dollar Carl’s Jr burger. :)
Dishes I tried:
Hamburger
The diameter of the burger is small, but the meat is very thick. It’s very juicy and tasty. The construction of the burger needs some work since the burger falls apart easily and gets messy. But forks help with that just fine
Turkey burger
The turkey came out a bit dry. I ordered this with a fried egg, and the egg was cooked perfectly – a bit runny in the center
Onion strings and fries
This comes half and half in a bowl with two awesome sauces. Very good fries and nice thin onion rings
Sweet fries
Sweet potato fries that were very crispy and really good with horseradish mayo
stef321anie
05/05/2007The Counter is one of my favorite places to get a burger. Even though it’s often very crowded, if you are there with just a friend or two, you can get a seat pretty quickly at the bar.
The sweet potato fries are amaaaazing, so definitely try those. And the burger in a bowl is pretty convenient if you are in the mood for that…less mess…easier to share…same great toppings.
All in all…it’s a fun place and you won’t go away hungry.
www.thecounterburger.com