These pics are from *years* ago, atleast 4 since theyve been at that location, and Counter has changed so much in experience/service since then the pics almost arent even relevant
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Descriptions please!
NoodleThings
Counter- is a Charlotte restaurant by Alinea alum Sam Hart that horns in on a theme for a few weeks before switching to another. The restaurant tries to take conceptual approaches to food and takes pride in being a more relaxed, casual experience than similar types of restaurants. One should note that while Sam worked at Alinea, it was for a very short period and everyone I’ve spoken to does not remember him particularly well – nothing negative, just don’t remember the guy.
While I was in Charlotte for business, I ended up going here twice since the menus luckily changed during my stay alongside Kappo En, Omakase by Prime Fish and a few other spots around town like Aqua e Vino (first meal bad, second meal very good). Of these, I think I would probably do Aqua e Vino again
My meals at Counter were fairly disappointing – I went back after the first meal because I was trying to really nail down why I didn’t like it and because it was honestly pretty cheap at the time I went. I think my biggest thing was that the dishes were pretty flat – nothing really leapt out to me and asserted its self throughout the whole meal. My experiences here gave off a kind of high school play vibe and during the second meal I genuinely remember falling asleep in between some courses as the tone kinda bored the hell out of me. Now I worked at Alinea nearly a decade and a half ago at this point so my tenure didn’t overlap with Sam but I’ve seen a lot of alums open up similar kind of spots like this so while it was disappointing it wasn’t like crazy surprising either. Iirc the team he would have been working under was also, in my personal opinion, one of the weakest that’s ever helmed the restaurant so there’s some knock on effects to that as well. Creative food like stuff at old Alinea, old Osteria Francescana, Dani Garcia, wd-50 and Tickets can give off the vibe that it’s more style over substance – and I freely admit some courses are like that, but a LOT of technique, work and a firm grounding in traditional cookery backed up these inventive dishes and taste & texture were largely at the forefront of what many of these restaurants were doing. I don’t think Counter- and a similar restaurants like it have that real solid base and it shows in the food and experience.
This is a pretty old meal like ~2 years I wanna say so things could have definitely improved – the issues I felt the restaurant had certainly aren’t forever issues. I mostly just posted this as I need practice writing things like this since it’s difficult to write about places I don’t like. Everything’s easy when stuff is good and I like it but restaurants like Counter- are a little harder to digest and say much about.
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These pics are from *years* ago, atleast 4 since theyve been at that location, and Counter has changed so much in experience/service since then the pics almost arent even relevant
Descriptions please!
Counter- is a Charlotte restaurant by Alinea alum Sam Hart that horns in on a theme for a few weeks before switching to another. The restaurant tries to take conceptual approaches to food and takes pride in being a more relaxed, casual experience than similar types of restaurants. One should note that while Sam worked at Alinea, it was for a very short period and everyone I’ve spoken to does not remember him particularly well – nothing negative, just don’t remember the guy.
While I was in Charlotte for business, I ended up going here twice since the menus luckily changed during my stay alongside Kappo En, Omakase by Prime Fish and a few other spots around town like Aqua e Vino (first meal bad, second meal very good). Of these, I think I would probably do Aqua e Vino again
My meals at Counter were fairly disappointing – I went back after the first meal because I was trying to really nail down why I didn’t like it and because it was honestly pretty cheap at the time I went. I think my biggest thing was that the dishes were pretty flat – nothing really leapt out to me and asserted its self throughout the whole meal. My experiences here gave off a kind of high school play vibe and during the second meal I genuinely remember falling asleep in between some courses as the tone kinda bored the hell out of me. Now I worked at Alinea nearly a decade and a half ago at this point so my tenure didn’t overlap with Sam but I’ve seen a lot of alums open up similar kind of spots like this so while it was disappointing it wasn’t like crazy surprising either. Iirc the team he would have been working under was also, in my personal opinion, one of the weakest that’s ever helmed the restaurant so there’s some knock on effects to that as well. Creative food like stuff at old Alinea, old Osteria Francescana, Dani Garcia, wd-50 and Tickets can give off the vibe that it’s more style over substance – and I freely admit some courses are like that, but a LOT of technique, work and a firm grounding in traditional cookery backed up these inventive dishes and taste & texture were largely at the forefront of what many of these restaurants were doing. I don’t think Counter- and a similar restaurants like it have that real solid base and it shows in the food and experience.
This is a pretty old meal like ~2 years I wanna say so things could have definitely improved – the issues I felt the restaurant had certainly aren’t forever issues. I mostly just posted this as I need practice writing things like this since it’s difficult to write about places I don’t like. Everything’s easy when stuff is good and I like it but restaurants like Counter- are a little harder to digest and say much about.