East Dallas Middle Ground — Restaurant in Dallas

I live about twenty minutes away. I pass several Starbucks and other coffee shops, but I am a big supporter of small businesses. Recently, I have started using the Too Good to Go app, more so to discover small businesses to support than to get inexpensive foods. It is, however, an inexpensive convenient way to try several items from a restaurant's menu. From looking them up, I saw they had study rooms. Great - I like to read and study. I walked in; someone said hello. I told her I was there to pick up my order. Once the transaction was finished, I inquired about the study rooms, asking all of the necessary questions about days, hours, time limits, etc. The questions were answered, and all seemed okay until I requested to see one. It's like the tone of the conversation shifted as if she wondered why I would want to see a study room. However, she pointed to a room. I went in (one 50+ year old woman, carrying one book, a small purse, and my purchase). I stayed about 5-10 minutes texting a friend to say perhaps, we have found a new coffee shop with study rooms. When I came out, the employee had "remembered' now to tell me that the study rooms were only available if you made a purchase. I reminded her that I had - at which point she told me it could not be a "Too Good to Go" purchase which I found strange since their business does benefit from those purchases, even if it it not full price. They are not participating only to save food; the app benefits them, as well. However, that is irrelevant since my point in trying the products was to see if I wanted to become a customer. I do not; I felt unwelcome; frankly, it felt like a racist moment. I shopped in the area for another couple of hours because I wanted to process to see if I would feel differently once I thought about it; I do not. I will not be back, and if the "policy" that I suspect was made up for me is really a policy, it should probably have been mentioned when I (initially) asked quite a few questions about the room. As for the products, I went home and sampled each one; all of them, except for the pop tart, were decent. I did not find them as good as the bookstore in Half Price Books or Starbucks, but they were okay. So, the two stars are ONLY because the products were okay. Google does not have a star that represents zero, so I have to give ones for service...

Good morning, and a good Monday morning it was when I stepped foot into a welcoming and wholesome atmosphere at Middle Ground coffee. It felt other worldly for a moment. Like we finally had a truly East Dallas vibe culminating a true slice of character for our neighborhood. The thought I had was, “I instantly feel better now that I’m here.” And I hadn’t even tried to coffee yet. As I do with any new shop we try, it’s a drip coffee and a croissant to get the feel for it. And joyous feelings did I feel upon sipping that godly grind juice. The food and drinks popped out in a flash. The music put me in the right mindset for the day. We were in and out in less than 10 minutes and my mouth hasn’t stopped rejoicing since. We will be back.

To the lovely folks behind the counter, thank you. Thank you for being bold enough to bring some flavor to the perfect corner of our neighborhood. May you grind on. We will seek to find the Middle Ground among all we do...

Great coffee shop that expresses a desire to be part of the East Dallas community. The interior of the shop is large with a variety of tables with power outlet access and comfortable chair seating, inviting you to stay awhile. There are also closed off meeting rooms avalable to be reserved for private groups.

Lots of food and drink options and all appear to be reasonably priced. I ordered a cappuccino and an americano to-go to try out some of their basic coffee drink offerings. The coffee has a distinct flavor, but both my wife and I enjoyed it.

I stopped by for the morning of their soft opening and was delighted to see several people already at this new coffee shop. Staff was friendly and efficient on the morning of their first day which is a good sign for the future. I look forward to updating this review over time as this...