The Local Grind — Restaurant in Franklin

Honestly, don't bother. I ordered a cortado, the barista had to find it on the menu because they didn't know if they carried it, then was asked "what size" I responded,how do you make it? usually a cortado is equal parts espresso and milk. To which I got the response, oh we can double it and make it 24 oz. First of all, that doesn't answer my question. Second of all, what??? How does that help. I asked what kind of hot tea they carry and was met with a blank stare and after a few moments, "we have a chai latte, is that what you mean?" If a coffee shop doesn't carry tea, that's fine. But it was a simple question. Then I ordered a breve and asked for Irish cream syrup in it. They had to go check if they even carry it, but which they don't. But it's on the menu. I then asked for brown sugar cinnamon flavoring, again they had to check but fortunately they had it.

I ordered the chai spiced french toast, and the barista had to go to the kitchen to ask about it. They have several flavors of French toast but only had plain.

I opted to not order any food after thinking about it for several reasons. 1: the cafe smelled like old wet wood, 2: it was cramped 3: there ews no wifi and I wanted to take a working lunch 4: cleanliness is an issue, the food menu had crud all over it and there was an overall lack of things being clean 5: the whole process was a hastle.

Once I received my beverage it was subpar. A breve is made with cream. This was not. It had a very thin mouth feel. The foam consisted of large bubbles only. The coffee flavor was incredibly weak. And the flavoring I ordered was seemingly no present. I poured it out.

I will not be returning. This visit was a waste of nearly $7 and a good chunk of time.

Side note: the beverage menu is off to the side and difficult to read. It's artistic, and maybe firs the vibe they're going for but using random objects (like gears) on nearly every item name makes it...

I swear to you, this was the worst coffee experience I've ever had in my life. I don't live in Franklin but visit family there often, and I was excited to try this local coffee shop. I chose to ignore the other negative reviews, but shoooo did I live to regret it. We walked up and it looked super dark inside. The open sign also wasn't on. But the google hours said open, so I gave the door a tug, and it did open. We were greeted by a quiet, sleepy "hello", along with a pretty funky scent. Despite my immediate urge to flee, I decided to stick it out. I ordered a hot latte but was told that the steam wand on the espresso machine was out of order so any order would need to be iced. No problem - I like iced lattes. My husband ordered an iced Americano. The employee pulled herself out of her half-sleep to make the drinks, we paid and stepped outside. It was so dark inside that we didn't notice that my husband's iced Americano was really light in color. It looked like iced tea. He was nervous to try it, and the grimace on his face said it all. He demanded I taste it, and I begrudgingly did. The best way I can describe it is....imagine you brew a hot pot of coffee, drink half, and forget about the rest. You go to your coffee pot several days later only to discover that leftover half pot. You think "hmmm...iced coffee sounds good, and I'm feeling lazy" and you decide to pour it over ice and call it a day.... So yeah, it was gross. My iced latte was also not great but not nearly as egregious as the Americano. Soooo anyways, I highly recommend that you believe the negative reviews and save your...

My boyfriend and I stopped in Sunday the 14th around 10-11a looking forward to eating there after looking at the menu online. When we walked in, despite it being completely empty the guy at the counter already seemed bothered. I didn’t see the food menu so I double checked they were serving food, and he gave an annoyed “yes.” No big deal, but the vibe was already awful. I looked at my boyfriend and we both knew this wasn’t going to work. I didn’t want to be rude, so I said, “Maybe we can just get drinks here.” I then asked the guy at the counter if they had cold foam. He chuckled at me and said, “That’s more of a Starbucks thing.” in the most condescending tone that you could hear his eyes rolling. For context, I’m a woman in my mid 20’s so his next comment seemed extra pointed. He said, “We have a pumpkin spice latte.” I couldn’t hold in my uncomfortable chuckle after being spoken to like an idiot who’s never ordered coffee. I looked at my boyfriend again who was equally as uncomfortable and we both just laughed awkwardly and I told the guy, “I can’t do this.” From the moment we walked in it felt we were trespassing. I’ve worked in customer service for a decade, I get we all have off days, but the condescension in this guys voice mixed with the drab atmosphere was enough to make us never want to even give it another chance. We took our business one block away to Main & Madison and had the yummiest brunch with some of the most incredible service I’ve had...