The Counter Honolulu

After being ignored and not greeted by 3 employees for about 10 minutes, we decided to leave. Horrible customer service.

3 occurrences to 2 stars
1) tried to take out 4 weeks ago at 7:50pm. was told entire kitchen staff walked out! so they were shutting the restaurant down for the evening bc the manager couldn’t pump out burgers fast enough.
2) successfully took out a few days ago and to much disappointment, no complimentary sauces to compliment the already pricey burger. phoned the manager and after much back and forth, she was able to comp the order. better than her first resolution which was to bring our burgers back! lol.
3) to the bar staff… excluding the «older» (over 30) ones, please would it be too much to crack a smile /​fake a smile to acknowledge a customer? what happened to service with a smile? oh thats right, not cool in the young adult scene. so sad.

When my family wants a good burger or salad, we come here. I love the fact that you can create your own burgers, salads, or bowls. Also, the fries, garlic parm fries, sweet potato fries and the onion strings are all really good!
My go to salad is: spinach, lettuce, quinoa, cranberries (I looove their cranberries here!), hard boiled egg, Brie cheese, avocado and a turkey burger patty. All with ranch dressing. Yum! :)
Service here can be slow, and they sometimes mess up my order (and I have to ask again for things), but since I love the fact you can create your own, I bumped it up to 4 stars.

Great lunch! I had wanted to order the bison Gouda bowl, because it featured an olive relish similar to the type one would find on a muffuletta sandwich. Unfortunately, they were out of the relish (boo), however our server did recommend the Greek burger bowl and I substituted with the bison burger. It was pretty awesome! My wife had the standard counter burger and enjoyed it. Good ambiance and excellent service, just a tad pricey, even for a gourmet burger.

Once again disappointed. My husband and I came here two weeks ago for our second time. (Our first time being two years ago when we lived on the island, which we loved. So when deciding where to go for date night, we chose The Counter since we remembered how delicious the burgers were. We sat outside and it was the worst experience I’ve ever had at a restaurant. I’m a server and I understand long ticket times, and being the only table out of our server’s section but after she took our order and brought our drinks we didn’t see her for a half hour until the food arrived. Meanwhile, the manager took my order for my second drink AND had to deliver it after it sat at the service bar for what I can only assume was five minutes or more. On top of that, the table next to us who arrived later than us and ordered after us (they also ordered their burgers medium when we ordered ours medium rare) got there food at least 5 – 8 minutes before us. Finally saw our server again once the food arrived. My husbands burger was cooked with a nice red center, mine was cooked medium well to well done. There was very little pink. At this point I was done so we asked for the manager to explain the situation and to let him know we’d be paying for our drinks and leaving. He was very apologetic and gave us the drinks on the house and a $ 20 comp card to come back in the future.
WELL, we decided to try again tonight hoping for a better outcome and let’s just say I was disappointed. We sat at the bar and although the service was slightly better it still took several minutes to get my wine; which I didn’t understand because the bartender was right there. It takes about 30 seconds to pour a glass. My husbands burger was cooked well done with char on it and everything. Mine was maybe a medium, more towards medium well. We both got guacamole which was brown like it had been sitting out for a while. We both requested jalapeños but after taking a few bites realized there was none on there. Asked the manager (different one from last time) who was standing there talking to another bar guest for a good 10 minutes. Finally she told us they were out and asked if we wanted anything else spicy to replace it with which we declined. Overall just a terrible, terrible experience both times. There was a lack of communication and just overall poor service. I will never waste money there again.

I have been going to The Counter since it opened. They have always had one of the best burgers in town and those sweet potatoe fries, well there are none better!
One of the things that made The Counter better then the others was they actually had the ability to cook your burger to order and I like mine Medium Rare which is something for whatever reason the other places can’t figure out. they always. always come back medium.bland.tasteless.which is fine if you like it that way. but I do not.
And for whatever reason in 2015 The Counter lost that ability to cook my burger Medium Rare. Of the 8 burgers I had here 7 were turned into hockey pucks and only one cooked the way it should have been which is too bad because the burgers here ain’t cheap and if they can’t get it right it will be time to move on.
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I was super excited to find out that they offer Vegan Burgers! I ordered it salad style with Quinoa, and I chose practically every vegan topping available. You can get as many toppings as you want! I ended up with a huge bowl of veggies on top of my Vegan patty. The patty itself was very bland, and very soggy.

So tonight I was really craving some burgers and milk shake. I am glad I came to this place. I must say you must try their adult milk shake. It is the winner!!! This place upgraded a bit. There is now outdoor seating. If you feel like waiting a bit then you may have to wait 15 – 20 min for a table. But the wait is worth it for the milk shake.
If you have an I.D. card then you get to pick a starter for free. This is so worth it. We ordered the loaded potato. I think that’s what’s its called. Its fries with bacon and cheese and sour cream. It was OK.
This is a place where you can make your own burger if you do not want certain things in your burger.

It was pretty good. I got the Sonoma bowl with 1/​3lb of burger and it was great. I didn’t like the green sauce on the side though. It tasted a little bitter to me. Thank goodness it was on the side. I also ordered the onion strings on the side, which came served with ranch and what seemed like a cross between bbq sauce and ketchup. It was really good as well, but kind of salty for my taste. My total was about $ 16, which I guess seems a little over priced but hey, it’s Hawaii!
My friend ordered the southwestern bowl and she said the jalapeños were overwhelming, but she still likes it. Overall, we had a good experience. The servers were very nice and the atmosphere was clean and pleasant. I would come here again if I’m in the area.

This is a popular hangout that draws all ages and different cultures. I can see why. It is a really nice, clean, hip burger place that’s fun to eat at bc they have a variety of different burger meats, toppings, options (loco moco; salads); sides (potato, sweet potato, or thin-​sliced onion strings); & beverages (non-​alcoholic — soda, shakes; alcoholic — craft beer, domestic on tap).
The turkey burger patty here is as great as their beef. This is the place responsible for teaching me what flavorful, properly-​prepared, and cooked turkey patties should be like: fluffy (definitely not like a hockey puck lol), tasty, seasoned perfectly, cooked moist to the point of almost-​would-​be juicy.
Don’t leave without trying their amazing turkey cranberry chili. It’s delightful. It might just remind you of your last Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, or first born roast turkey dinner rolled into one, savory bite.
All thanks to this place and Islands Burgers (located at Ala Moana Shopping Center across from Mai Tai’s and CPK), I now have not one but two places to rely on for a great turkey burger.
MY FAVS
— Cranberry Turkey Chili on rice or as a burger side
— Loco Moco w/​Turkey Patty, Turkey Chili sub for gravy, egg sunny side up, fried onions on top (the only extra charge should be if you add an extra egg)
— Build-​Your-​Burger Turkey Patty w/​lotsa fresh veggie toppings
— Sweet Potato Fries, extra crispy
— Fries, extra crispy
— Fried Onion strings, extra crispy
— Apple Pie Milkshake
Haven’t tried them all yet but they do serve other burger meats such as bison, chicken, & ahi.
I like that they have options and this place exuuudes options.
That said, do not let their ½″ deep menu binder pages overwhelm your burger choosing experience.
Instead, easily figure out your burger:
Step 1) Turn to the back of the inside cover and look for their build-​a-​burger-​menu. It’s a one-​page customization worksheet — kinda will remind you of being in school again hehe where you add X’s or check mark answers in pencil — except this is all based upon what you wanna eat: D
Step 2) Choose your burger patty weight (select from three different ounce weights), meat type, bun type (or veggie substitute =salad; they’ve even got a gluten-​free bun), cheese type, combination of toppings, dressing (the overall burger flavor; comes in a small metal sauce cup to pour onto the inside of your burger).
A word about choosing ingredients:
— If you know what you like and what goes together, flavors, textures, and tastes will not intimidate you.
— On the other hand, if you’re not sure or want some ideas about what goes well together, simply peruse the burger section of the binder pages to get your brainstorming juices flowing.
— When you see a combination close to your liking but want a taste added, subtracted, or substituted, you will be able to fill out the build-​your-​burger option in step 1 above.
Step 3) Choose your sides: french fries, sweet potato fries, or french fried onions. Can also choose their turkey chili as an additional side.
SEATING
Walk in and if they can’t immediately seat you, put your name on the list. Waitress will take your name. Seating choices are table, booth, bar counter, or table just outside front door.
RESTROOMS
Additional plus is they’ve got their own restrooms at the back of the restaurant which are large and clean. Check supplies before using the restroom! If anything needs refilling, let one of the staff know immediately.
SERVICE
Sometimes service is great; sometimes idk what’s going on. I just have to know to take the lead to be sure I get what I need on my table for water, straws, napkins, sauces, take out boxes, the bill, etc.
VALUE & STARS
It’s a busy burger joint; you’re paying mostly for product. Over the years I’ve eaten here many times and each and every time, taste and portions for value were pretty great but lately I have been missing the generous portions so –0.5 stars=4.5 stars.
Partitions now separate the main dining area to pieces. Idk why. I’d rather not have to pay for minor façade or interior improvements thru smaller burger or fries portions when they already had the perfect hip café set up. [Can you put it all back the way it was, please?! :) ]
LOCATION
In the Kahala Mall Shopping Center corner of the bldg left of Whole Foods across from Chili’s along the main drag.
PARKING
Plentiful and fairly easy to find even during busy times. This mall has done an excellent job selecting their tenants so the place has become quite a popular place for shopping, movies, casual dining, & hanging out with a Starbucks or Jamba Juice.
IN CONCLUSION
I know I can always count on The Counter to provide the turkey burger & turkey-​fix I’m looking for. Best thing about this place is that you can coordinate your favorite food tastes without having to get into your kitchen. Almost as good as pressing a button and out comes your creation!
Oh my. I may just have to stop by here on my way home for. guess what?! Hehe :)

Omg. New favorite place.
I made my own bison burger with blue cheese, bacon, tomatoes, and chipotle aioli. So. Good.

Their menu really expanded over the past few years. I was pleasantly surprised by that. But their service is still very iffy and you just have to cross your fingers and hope you get a good server or your experience really goes downhill. I’ve had terribly slow service here before, and one time my parents patiently waited (forever) for a take out order that took way too long. This past visit we had a good server which was fortunate.
Of course their primary lure is the burger worksheet where you can basically create your own burger or bowl. With any amount of toppings that you like… the possibilities are endless!
This most recent visit, I opted for an on-​the-​menu selection, the turkey burger with cranberry relish. It was very good. For a slight up-​charge I added quinoa salad as my side. The salad was just with cucumbers, tomatoes and feta… it was so simple yet so refreshing. We also split an order of half and half fries (regular/​sweet potato). The sweet potato ones are killer. When served hot and crispy they are probably my favorite ones I’ve had.
My husband enjoyed some of the bottled IPA beers that our server recommended, and we got to sit outside on a cool evening which was very nice. Overall, this time we had a very pleasant experience and hope to be back soon.

I’m a fan. And they recently built an enclosed outdoor area where we can have a meal with our doggie. I have been here about 6 or 7 times and every time I have really enjoyed the meal. And now the outdoor space is even bigger and classier.
I don’t eat (veggie) burgers enough to be adventurous so I always go for the traditional: veggie patty, vegan cheese, lettuce mix, fresh tomato, dill pickle slices, thousand island dressing. Great veggie burger. I also really love their shoestring fries. The onions rings I like a bit less.
The Hubs generally gets creative but I am trying to recreate the burgers of my youth. I was never a big fan of meat but I did love burgers. I now understand what I liked about them: the fixings. So, I pretty much get the same thing every time. The veggie patty is a bit crumbly and I have definitely had better but since all of the fixings are awesome it doesn’t really matter. Kinda like when I was a kid.
I also really like the format for ordering. You get a menu with a build-​a-​burger form to fill out OR you can order a burger from the menu. I always build my own. It’s fun.
Did you know there is a Counter in Times Square in New York City? It is all pretty much the same thing but GTK. Anyway, back to Honolulu… kudos for the new outdoor seating area and thanks for being cool with dogs!

I must say, the southern chicken sandwich was disappointing. The chicken was too fried. Instead of a nice golden color, it was more of a deep brown color. It was dry inside.
The chicken sandwich is quite different from the chicken salad. The southern chicken breast on the salad was fried to perfection and moist inside.
Do they use a different fryer for the same chicken breast? The quality is so different.
The Kale salad is eatable. It is not delicious because the chicken is dry, and the kale is tough. One might say, that is just the way Kale is, may be it is so, but I might not ever order it again, unless, it is truly good for me, and I that case, I can make it at home with baby Kale. Why come to a restaurant when I can make better at home?
Service was very slow today. Our fried southern chicken sandwich took 20 minutes, and the 2 halves deviled egg appetizer came after the the meal. We just don’t understand why the service became so poor.
Hubby got a stomach pain all afternoon after eating the fried southern chicken sandwich. Again, the color was dark brown instead of a golden brown. Something is off. Do they reuse their oil?

Located outside of Kahala mall and across from Chili’s restaurant.
I got there about 10 minutes before they open which was at 11:00am. So I waited patiently outside. Impatient lady came along and encourage me to barge in like a rude person so I gave her a go-​ahead so she gladly did. I’m not sure if I was upset at the impatient lady or at the restaurant staff for not opening and welcoming customers. No staff came to sat us. Eventually, I let few other parties walk in and then I follow after.
Anyhow, we ordered sweet potato and onion strings, Contradiction (vegan burger), bacon burger, and Caesar salad. The sweet potato fries were not too far from Burger King’s. However onion strings were thin and good. Both burgers were good. I didn’t care for their buns though. They were kind of dry. This place is known for healthy beef and you can customize your own burger. That’s all too complicated for me. Caesar salad is pretty fancy like fine dining. You get a half of lettuce so you have to do the cutting. But it’s nice to eat Caesar salad not soaked in dressing.
The restaurant was pretty clean. We had booth sitting which was very very TIGHT. I recommend table. I was sitting against the wall and I notice all sorts of left over food between the wall and booth and it was kind of smelly too. Maybe incidents and accidents? They do have Happy Hour so who knows.

I decided to visit The Counter because this was one of two burger shops highly recommended by my coworkers.
Arrived on a Sunday afternoon around 2:45pm. The wait was 15 minutes.
After being seated, the waiter explained the menu because we were first timers. He did an excellent job — front to back! The Build Your Own burger option was a little intimidating because I didn’t want to create something that would end up costing me $ 15 for a mediocre taste. So, I ended up ordering a regular menu item, «The Official Counter Burger,» from the Expert Builds menu.
For 2 burgers and an order of sweet potato fries, it was 30 minutes until we got the burgers (10mins earlier for the fries). At 1/​3lbs made Well Done, my Counter Burger looked mouthwatering delicious and was stacked to the ceiling! OMG. Felt like I was participating in a burger challenge for a minute. At first sight, I knew I wasn’t going to fit that thing in my mouth, but I still tried. FAIL. I even compressed it, but that didn’t work either. So, I ended up cutting it into small pieces. The beef patty was dry, so I used the sun-​dried vinaigrette that accompanied the burger to make it savory. Altogether it was good. Not great, which I thought it was going to be. At this point I’d probably head to Islands or Honolulu Burger for my next burger.
To finish the meal, we ordered a 20oz Chocolate shake split for two people. It was EXCELLENT!
Recommended improvements:
1) Sweep floor before seating customers at table (my feet were slipping and sliding on gritty substances)
2) After wiping the table, please dry the table before placing the napkins and menus on top (it’s just not sanitary)
3) Don’t let lemonade and tea sit in an iced container because you’ll end up watering the drinks down before they are served to customer
Customer service was great. Food was good. Ambiance was cool. I like that it’s right next door to Whole Foods and indoor mall. Parking can be a bit of a challenge because there are a lot of shoppers.

So tonight I came across a topic in Unilocal Talk that asked out of Tacos, Chicken Wings, Pizza, & Burgers, which one would I choose to never eat again. Well I chose Burgers because I don’t recall ever craving a juicy burger as i have the other 3 choices. It got me thinking of The Counter and the many times I was here.
So I took it as an opportunity to finish up my overdue draft review of this place.
The Counter, located at Kahala Shopping Center is conveniently situated on the corner right next to Whole Foods. Parking, although seems vast, could be very difficult to find.
During my recent visit, I learned that they now have outdoor seating along with their regular indoor seating. There are about 10 seats at the bar with 2 flat screen tv’s for your recreational viewing pleasure. Or you can opt to sit at their tables.
The staff here are great. You get a greeting right away. And during lunch, there’s almost no waiting. Free refills on fountain drinks and iced tea. The waiters and waitresses are so patient. Ordering a burger here can be a bit of a challenge, but they simplified it by giving you an order sheet to make your selection.
My hubby always gets the burgers. He’s a burger kinda guy. But me, I’m just like «meh, I’ll eat it but I can do without»
So why do I agree to eat here? … Bruh! Two words!!! Gobble gobble! Yup turkey! Turkey chili that is. I came across this delicious surprise when I was feeling under the weather and really didn’t wanna stuff a burger down my sore throat. I think it’s safe to say (of course in my opinion), the best turkey chili I’ve ever tasted. This is my regular order every time I come here. But I’m sure you already knew that based on my pictures of this place.
I will definitely return here for more chili when my hubby has a burger craving … Oh and also, the crispy onion rings with their BBQ sauce and the sweet potato fries makes perfect side dishes also.
Show your IDCard discount card, and you get s free starter in 2015. That’s awesome!

«Cheezborger! Cheezborger! Cheezborger! No Pepsi… Coke! «was ringing in my ears like the call from SNL’s The Olympia Café based upon Chicago’s The Billy Goat Tavern. Ahhh, for you younger folks, perhaps the hilarious banter from this 70’s SNL schtick will be lost on you. Fortunately, The Counter is more «forgiving» than Chicago’s tavern and DOES offer many more options to their menu.
While we were fast-​walking around our usual Diamond Head route, the subject of food came up. I think that my slim husband is trying to sabotage me or is perhaps trying to encourage me to «pick up my pace». So, as soon as we finished our walk and cleaned up with fresh clothes, we made a bee-​line down to The Counter.
We took advantage of our iDcard benefit (free appetizer) by ordering The Counter’s tasty onion strings while sipping, er, downing a couple of cold brews. In the meantime, our server had taken our order. I didn’t catch our server’s name but he was prompt, courteous and friendly. We have dined at The Counter several times over the past few years but have felt that service was spotty… NOT today! We received attentive and timely service.
THE FOOD:
–As usual, my husband ordered a ½-​pound burger that he customized by using one of those option sheets. He asked for a cheeseburger with specific «fixings» of: Gruyère cheese, sliced tomatoes, mesclun of greens, garlic aïoli and cucumbers all squeezed into a brioche bun. He said that this burger was delicious and juicy. It was perfectly cooked and had a nice grilled crust over the patty. He has repeated this order several times before so I know that he enjoys this burger.
–Whereas, I ordered the ½-​pound Un-​Brie-​lievable turkey burger. I don’t normally order turkey burgers out of «fear» that the patty would be dry or tasteless. But, I was soooo wrong. I asked for my turkey burger to served without its multigrain bun and to keep its vegetable garnishes served beneath it so I could really taste the natural turkey flavor. The turkey meat has a nice coarse ground texture and was not dry at all. The melted brie cheese and cranberries punctuated what would have been a bland turkey burger to a Thanksgiving Day hit (even though we’re sweltering in hot Summer). The burger was served with an apricot jam or glaze that I drizzled over the melted brie slices as I cut into the burger. I really liked this turkey burger and would be happy to order it again.
–We shared a Caramel Java Milkshake which was a great finish to our meal. It was a rich, creamy, ice-​cold perfect milkshake blend of caramel coffee. From my seat, I could see the bartender making the milkshakes by scooping out several full scoops of premium vanilla ice cream into a blender along pours of whole milk and the flavors. As the mixture whirred about, I found myself feeling giddy with excitement. Ok, it wasn’t as good or as decadent as what we’ve had at Shake Shack, NYC but this milkshake was brilliant.
For the quality and quantity of food, bright and clean ambiance and good service, we feel the prices are justified. We’ll be back!
#371

I really like the burgers here. You pretty much build your own burgers to your liking. There are hundreds of combinations that you can make. If you don’t eat red meat, you could choose chicken, ahi tuna or ground turkey instead. There are too many cheeses, sauces and toppings to list here. Please see my pictures below for more information.
I have the iDcard, so I got to choose a free starter. I selected the sweet potato fries and onion strings combo. As usual, I wish the fries were more crispy but the onion strings were really good. It came with three dipping sauces; bbq, ranch and horseradish aioli. I liked the horseradish aioli the best. It had a kick to it without being overly spicy. They also have a happy hour special, Sunday through Thursday from 4pm-​7pm. I ordered their deviled eggs, two halves for $ 2. It wasn’t bad. I liked that I could taste the cheddar cheese and bacon bits in the yolk. It was a little heavy on the mustard.
The hubby got the turkey burger with pineapple and greens with thousand island dressing. I got the beef burger with greens and boiled eggs with Thai peanut sauce. My burger was yummy! The Thai peanut sauce was killer. I wanted my burger medium well and it was cooked to medium well, yay!
I don’t like to mention names in my reviews but our server was wonderful. Nicole, pretty local girl, was on it. She was smiling at all her tables, getting people whatever they wanted. She came around a few times and asked if we needed more sauce and if everything was ok. She kept the glasses full. I eat out a lot and service is rarely this good.

Today we celebrate. We celebrate friendship. We celebrate Dads. We celebrate life, cause everyday is worth celebrating!
After a streak of burgers @ various places, my friends and I return today to one of our favorite places. Kind of funny, think we have even settled into our favorite meals here… and for my friends that have taken me to the «dark side» our favorite meals always include those delicious shakes. Depending on the mood I enjoy either the «Graceland» (peanut butter, banana, and bacon!) or their dulce de leche (kicked up with Bailey’s). A whole shake is just tooooo much for me so I get it and divide it in half.
When our favorite manager, Okulani, left we hadn’t been back for a while. Just seemed something was missing. Have no fear as today, not only were we taken care of by the best waiter (sorry forgot name)… Manager David made sure we were happy, satisfied, and left with happy faces and tummies. In fact, I could have sworn my friends were chanting under their breath, while rubbing their stomachs on the way out… «burger and shakes, burger and shakes, burger and shakes!»
Thank you David, we will be back soon… for burger and shakes… and fried pickles !! :)
If you have an iDcard, be sure to use it here for yummie treats. If you have a Counter card (formerly known as «The List») use it also for points towards great loyalty discounts!