Gathering Grounds — Restaurant in Fairfax

Tl;dr: This review was a sad but not angry or rude summary of my regret over Gathering Grounds getting rid of its best feature, which has made it such that I can't go there anymore. The store's Maps account was in turn quite rude.

Having to change my review, but I'm far too attached to the memory of how GG used to be to remove the old version. I've been coming here for six years at this point. It's a highlight of my visits home from college. I'm a creature of habit, so I've been ordering the same drink for six years.

I suppose it's one of the tragedies of being a longtime regular customer anywhere that you have to watch it slowly change. The fairy lights, the seasonal decor, the scrabble tiles on the wall... they all went away. (Afraid to say that my photos now paint a very inaccurate picture.) I didn't mind all that much; those were just aesthetic changes, after all. The staff were still outgoing, and the drinks were still good.

For the unfamiliar, the best thing about Gathering Grounds to me was that if you liked a specialty latte, you could order it any time. They always had the syrups for it. Often, the staff member would know what you were ordering, no matter how out of season you were. As someone who really values routine, this meant that I was able to find my favorite drink and stick with it. No worry over menus or whether I would like something.

I won't go into how I was repeatedly assured that my drink would remain available despite the owner's decision to start cycling syrups based on season and to not teach new employees about the drink menu. Just know that I felt secure despite all the warning signs, which brought me to my current situation: sitting in Gathering Grounds trying not to cry over the understanding that I can't come to my favorite cafe anymore. (There will probably be those who view this as an overreaction, but please understand: I can't adjust. I can't "try something new." If I can't order anything when coming to a cafe, then there's no reason to go to said cafe.)

I spoke with the owner briefly before I left, and he was... less than kind about the whole thing. His coldness and dismissiveness, more than anything else, drilled home the fact that this will never be the place I love again.

I doubt that this altered review will garner any attention from GG's Maps account, but just in case it does: Thanks for the six years. I'll miss you guys.

Old review (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️): I absolutely ADORE this place :) Wonderful vibe, amazing coffee with lots of customization options, and super nice employees! The Halloween and fall specials are available all year round (which is great because their Vampire's Blood is to DIE for). I come here pretty much every Wednesday.

Photos attached are from fall/winter of last year; they're now decorated with flowers and completely...

My husband and i have gone here every weekend for the last month to pick up a frozen coffee and a breakfast croissant on our way to work (spend about $30 a time as we get an extra sandwich for lunch as well), and for the last four weekends we have had issues with our frozen coffees. I always order a frozen mocha with sugar free chocolate (as I am diabetic) with soy milk and an extra shot, my husband orders a frozen fancy latte with an extra shot. The first weekend we had no coffee in our frozen drinks this is probably because the 2 ladies working were arguing with each other behind the counter and must have forgotten to put shots in our coffee (which we didn't realize till we got to work), 2nd weekend we asked for an extra double shot of coffee, i got a double shot my husband didn't, 3rd week it wasn't blended properly and big chunks of ice still in the coffee and then this weekend, we had hardly any ice tasted more like a warm milkshake and they gave me regular chocolate so my blood sugar went through the roof, lucky i always have insulin which i had to take double what i usually take to get my blood sugar under control, took about an hour for my fast acting insulin to work. Today we were also kept waiting for our croissants, while they served 5 customers that came in after us. When I went up to ask where our croissants were i was pretty much blown off by the girl behind the counter who said there was a wait on the oven, however we had seen them serving the 5 that came after us and leaving our sandwiches on the side.So we finished off our warm disgusting so called frozen coffee's while waiting for the croissants which is the only reason we come to this place as they do the best ones in the area but their service and frozen coffee's suck!!!! We have decided to spend our $30 somewhere else maybe at Dunkin donuts next door, give...

Update: The very snarky response from the owner is not appreciated. The staff person was venomous with her response to my perfectly reasonable question. I have zero problem being told "No". I have a huge problem with being spoken to disrespectfully.

I also do not appreciate that the entire front of the cafe (yes, including the comfy seats🙄) was taken up by 1 person. I DONT think that's unreasonable, and I certainly wasn't asking for them to sit on the floor.

The only menu is hung in the air with tea options and a handful of food items.

I'm not sure why there's some defensiveness about serving to minors- i made no accusations in that regard. I did use the term "cool kids" but someone familiar with common idioms would know that I wasn't talking about actual children.

Hope that the snark and dismissiveness made this person feel good about themselves. Super kind👍

Super disappointed in some of the changes that have been made here. There is no longer a proper menu, and you need to guess what syrup option are available if you want to order something other than their seasonal specials. A breakfast sandwich that I've been ordering for literally years is no longer an option (though they still have all of the ingredients for it) i was rudely told "we don't do that" when I asked. For the record, it's just an egg and cheese sandwich on the cheddar and chive scone rather than a croissant or the bagel croissant hybrid. The utter rudeness of the cashier was deeply disappointing. There was also a strong mothball scent throughout the cafe, and one of the very few comfortable seats was taken up by a musician. They've clearly shifted away from being a cozy, friendly cafe and towards being a daytime bar for "cool kids". Super sad that this once beloved coffee shop is pivoting away from all that...