Queen City Grounds — Restaurant in Charlotte

Order: Cappuccino, Drip Coffee, Grits Bowl, Fall Toast Price: $19 Positives: Seating, espresso, they roast their own coffee Negatives: No pour overs (WHY DOES THIS CITY HATE POUR OVERS)? tldr: Queen City Grounds has fantastic coffee and one for the best interior spaces I’ve ever had the pleasure of drinking coffee in. Dispute their lack of a pour over I’d highly recommend Queen City and an exceptional cafe.

Thoughts: So if you read my reviews in order you know that I drove to this coffee shop from another coffee shop. Yes, we have a problem. Queen City Coffee was our second stop that day and a location we had planned to spend some time at working. It was actually very busy when we came in but we still managed to find some seating upstairs, and since I mentioned it, I definitely want to talk about their seating.

They don’t have a massive amount of seating, but you could definitely get 30 to 50 people in this place without it feeling overly crowded. I think what really makes it feel less cramped is that the different places to sit are divided up around the shop. They have an upstairs area, a downstairs area, and several out of the way “nooks” around the shop.. It really makes it feel like you’re not in a crown even if there are a lot of people there. This would be a fantastic place to work or read while drinking your coffee

Now that we’ve talked about the space, let’s move onto their coffee. They roast their own beans, which is a huge plus because it lets them control exactly what they want in their coffee. Once again I found myself unable to order a pour over which was even more bizarre at this cafe because they are a full blown coffee shop. It sort of left me wondering if Charlotte just hates pout overs. Anyway we got drip coffee, and one of their seasonal fall lattes. The flavors for both were excellent. The latte was very well crafted, it wasn’t overly sweet and you definitely got that taste of espresso. The drip coffee was good, but it almost left me wanting a pour over because I think that would’ve pulled out the flavor more.

Since we knew we would be there for a while we also ordered one of their toasts, and a grit bowl. Both of them were killer! The grit bowl was very warm, hearty, and filling without feeling overly greasy or cheesy. The toast was one of the few toast I’ve ever seen my wife order that I also would have ordered. Most of the time toast is this weird artsy slice of toast and a little bit of something-or-other on top. Most of the time it kind of just annoys me that someone is charging eight dollars for toast and half an avocado. At Queen City Grounds this wasn’t the case. It was a thick, flavorful piece of toast that tasted fantastic, had good body, and tasted homemade. You could really taste what was going on in the bread itself. Then it had this balsamic glaze on top with goat cheese and was really just out of this world. That’s a very rare thing for me to say about toast so great job Queen City!

Clearly I haven’t visited even a fraction of the coffee shops that Charlotte has to offer but of the three that I went to I think this is the winner. The seating and space is fantastic, their food is great, and their coffee was really good, reagardles of the fact that for some insane reason they don’t do pour overs. I know that my wife and I would both find ourselves here on multiple occasions to get work done or just hang out drink...

I am leaving 1 star because I have to. Worst experience in all my history of coffee shops. The guy (who I thought was maybe a female...no name tag) at the register stood there pushing buttons on the register when I arrived appearing to be very busy despite the fact I was the only customer in line or waiting. He didn't say "one moment" "I will be right with you" or "can I help you". I am a nice guy, so I did not interrupt. I stood there waiting for him to finish and after about 5 minutes, I assumed the machine was broke. So, I spoke up and politely asked, "can I place the order and pay in cash (no change needed). He then looked up and very smugly said, "I'm waiting on you to order, what do you want". I was instantly annoyed but, like I said, I'm a nice guy and let it go. I politely apologized for the confusion and ordered my drink. He was very rude. Didn't tell me a total, flipped the screen around and walked away. He whispered several times to the female making the drinks and they just kept looking at me laughing. When it was done, he grabbed the drink and sat it on the pick up counter and walked away without saying anything. The drink was horrible having purposely been sabotaged by the female under the man's instruction. It wasn't an innocent mistake where it was not hot enough or too sweet. It was not drinkable AT ALL. I threw the drink away, looked at both of them, and walked out. I sent two white coworkers there immediately after I left and they did not have the same experience and much better cups of coffee. In that regard, clearly an isolated incident of racism. Just a heads up to Management who may or may not be condoning this despicable behavior....this does not stop at my review. I will be reporting this establishment and incident to the BBB, Chamber, CA, and any other platform to ensure everyone knows what to expect when visiting Queen...

UPDATE: My experience here has changed and now I've rated Queen City Grounds a 5! I've recently gotten the Impossible burger and the chicken sand-which and both are amazing. I recommend the ranch on both. The service has been much better and the food comes out in a timely manner. The staff is very friendly. Definitely give this place a try!

My experiences have been really bad. The first time I ordered a breakfast burrito, it took 45 minutes. They had given food to everyone else that ordered after me. I asked for a status update. Instead of telling me they lost my order or forgot, they just said they were still working on it. How? The second time I went, I ordered online, because I had a little puppy with me. I was working outside, since they had signs on their window saying they can’t allow dogs inside. When I ordered online I asked in the comments for them to bring it outside since I can’t come in. I waited 30 minutes, before realizing that they must not be bringing it outside. When I went in my order was sitting at the pick up window and they just ignored the note I wrote even though it was printed on the receipt. The sandwich was cold and soggy by the time I got it. Customer service is not their forte. I wanted to support their partnership with Summit Seltzer and new opening at night hours, but they need to work on...