Ground Coffee Society — Restaurant in London

tldr; Very highly recommended for good coffee and relaxation.

Excellent coffee which is taken seriously: a medium-roast espresso blend (Caveman) but it's the slightly lighter-roast single-origin Yirgacheffe natural which works best as an espresso in my opinion. Other single origins available as pourover/filter which change every so often. 250g bags on sale of decaf and Caveman and sometimes others. Decent dairy alternatives available (soy, almond). Also serves tea; matcha latte, turmeric latte; nice decaf (CO2 process). Some emphasis on ethical sourcing/fairtrade.

A wide selection of pastries and cakes, not quite as highbrow as Prufrock or as varied as Gails but very impressive. The big food strength is the menu which takes smashed-avo-on-toast cuisine to a whole new level. The corn fritters are excellent. In general I'd say you can trust the food in a place which can poach eggs well and GCS can poach eggs well.

Appealing vibe, focussed and busy but relaxed. Layout includes perching space near the door, a larger seating area down a few steps, and extra space at the back which is open-roofed in summer and warmed by radiant top-heaters in winter. The decor is kind of 'stripped-back urban cosy' with bare brick, plenty of light, wooden tables and benches with cushions, lots of plants around, a bit of upcoming art on the walls, a chilled playlist which occasionally wanders just far enough off the beaten track, and an atmosphere of mutual respect ie staff are friendly, accommodating, eager to provide great service and get the job done but you feel like their rights are stood up for as people too and customers who do step over the line into behaving like jerks are politely explained to that it won't do. (There should be more of this in the world. Particular kudos to Vanessa for keeping it real.)

Family-friendly. The staff are good with children (as well as with 7-am sporting crowds, harried freelancers, glamorous couples etc). There's one long staircase down by the till in the middle that you'd want to watch with toddlers and otherwise it's a pretty safe environment. The loo is a huge room with a large door; it's on street level (no steps).

I live locally and regularly use Ground Coffee Society as an office to get me through dull working-from-home days. Over a couple of years I have become very impressed by the consistency of the quality of the coffee, food, service and atmosphere. It's popular for a reason.

Highly...

I had a terrible experience with 79 this week. I usually order on the app and depending on the affluence I wait 5 to 10mn to get my order. On Monday, I ordered 2 coffees on the app and on arrival informed the barista working that day, he told me (off) just to wait. Today, I ordered 2 coffees again and on arrival joined the long queue waiting outside. After 20mn, I enquired about my order and have been told it has not been processed and that next time when ordering via the app I have to let them know when I arrive. This is not written anywhere. When I complained about the lack of clear instructions the same barista that served me on Monday told me rudely to just take my coffee. I explained the full story to - who I believe - is the manager. He didn’t apologise and told me I have to deal with the long wait and just let the staff know about my order. When complaining about the barista, he became rude and told me to leave the place. I was not in the coffee premises to be told to leave. The coffee at 79 is definitely good, but a coffee shop must be a customer service centric. If the barista is not happy about serving coffees, it’s about time he changes job. I would recommend to the barista and manager to follow some basic customer service courses (and probably diversity course - they know what I am talking about). I got better service from high street coffee. You ruined my...

Shame to have to give this review. On the positive, the coffee is great and about half the staff are really friendly. However, the rest are disinterested and one or two are extremely surly. The most recent experience was today when a waitress spilled a coffee on my girlfriend's lap covering her jeans, jumper and coat with flat white - of course this was an accident and she did apologise, but later, when we asked another waitress for the bill, we were charged the whole amount! I pointed out to her what had happened and after a good 5 minutes internal consultation, she said 'well here's what we can do, we've knocked off the coffee...' like it was some negotiation or I'd cheekily asked for a discount! She then begrudgingly suggested they could pay for the dry cleaning. Totally appalling attitude. If it was my business, I'd have waived the bill in favour of customer goodwill. As it stands, that's the last we'll see of a place we probably spend £60 per week at. Great coffee but dreadful attitude towards customers (though I've noticed antipodeans tend to get a warmer...