Grounds for Celebration — Restaurant in Des Moines

Worked here for years. I've worked in coffee for nearly a decade and I'll tell you right now there is WAY better coffee being roasted/made elsewhere locally.

The food and soup are NOT HOMEMADE. It's Campbell's and it comes frozen. We would defrost it in the dish sanitizer lmao. Also the quiches are often delivered to us raw/extremely undercooked. The woman who makes them uses 2 Pillsbury pie crusts that she sandwiches together with water. I would get in trouble for throwing away raw quiche because "it finishes cooking in the microwave." Who wants raw dough that's been microwaved?? I would also get in trouble for throwing away moldy fruit (as long as it doesn't touch the other fruit it's "fine" apparently).

We were also encouraged to re-steam milk for hot drinks. This is a HUGE no-no in the coffee industry. Who wants milk that's been steamed multiple times over?? GROSS. Especially when you consider how easy it is to just measure the appropriate amount of milk each time so there's none left over to begin with.

Also the pastries are NOT HOMEMADE. Technically the scones are, but the filled pastries and cinnamon rolls would come frozen and our frosting is in these big white tubs. Also the owners would steal tips off the tables and keep them for themselves.

Zanzibar's, the Slow Down, Ritual Café, and Northern Vessel are all much better alternatives and they're run by more...

Coffee slay!!!

Grounds for Celebration is truly worth celebrating. They have a nice cozy, yet friendly and welcoming environment.

I ordered a seasonal blackberry lavender white Mocha iced coffee and it was PHENOMENAL. Very tasty and well made. Prices are reasonable as well. They also have a wide variety of food items and pastries to choose from.

From the moment you enter you smell sweet treats and fresh coffee. They have a calm vibe playlist in the background that keeps some white noise rolling.

There are plenty of tables and chairs as well as love seat type chairs along the fireplace. This sets a nice relaxing ambiance with the sunlight coming in and the stone fireplace as a center focus. Very cozy for the winter time as well.

Along the walls and on some shelves when you enter they have local art, cute earrings, some tshirts, coffee cups, and other novelty items.

I came here to read my book but they have magazines, newspapers, and other materials to skim through. There were a group of people there playing cards who seem to use this as a meeting spot. Honestly why not? It’s such a welcoming spot to be at.

Plenty of free parking outside. Seating is also outside if it wasn’t 100 degrees, but they keep it nice and...

We came in for coffee. While patiently waiting to be helped we got to listen to a very fun conversation between employees about people that got a restraining order. This was more important that acknowledging us. Finally we get helped with no apology or warm welcome. Go to the bathroom which looked dirty. Sat at our table and noticed the dirt and spider webbs under fixures. It hasn't been cleaned in what looks to be a long time, similar to the old drive-up window. So not only are they too busy talking to help but, too busy talking to clean. I wasn't planning to do a review but, I did notify the company. The response I got back from Jan was not great, once again no apology for our experience. Maybe this is why other locations have closed? Hopefully they will improve the cleanliness and their customer service. If this one closes, maybe we could get Smokey Row, Slow Down or one of the other coffee shops to come...