Gold Sprint — Restaurant in Huntsville

I stopped by Gold Sprint this morning after a doctor appointment for which I had to “fast”. Once I reached my car I knew that my day was not going to be worth anything unless I found coffee. Not just any coffee. Good coffee. So I whipped out my phone and searched for “coffee shop near me”. There were quite a few options that popped up, but one of them caught my eye; Gold Sprint. I demanded Google maps guide me there immediately, of course.

Gold Sprint is off the beaten path but not too far off. It’s about a block north of Bob Wallace avenue about a mile west of Memorial Parkway. The building itself is kind of odd for a coffee shop. It looks like it may have been a warehouse or even a car service station in some distant past. Naturally, the owners have done a lot to the outside to make it look much better, and it has a nice appeal in an “urban up-cycled” sense.

Park was a tad tricky because they were pretty crowded and I didn’t see all that many spaces. As I left I noticed there were more on the other side of the building. I’ll know better next time.

Inside I found a warm, welcoming place with a sort of tap-room meets bohemia vibe. Plenty of space, comfy seats and several tables.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that they also have food. I immediately zeroed-in on the breakfast burrito and a latte. In a couple of minutes I had everything. The latte was really good. I usually prefer darker roasts, but even though the roast was a bit “brighter” than I love, I still found it to be an excellent drink. The burrito was eggs, cheese, and bacon on a croissant (my go-to breakfast bread). It also was very tasty.

As I sat down to eat I took note of the décor and studied it in a little more detail. The shop logo hangs on the wall and features a black background with gold trim. Continuing with the gold theme, the place is bursting at the seams with gold sports trophies for marshal arts. I asked the barista about it and she said the owner found them at a bargain and thought they matched the “gold” styling he was going for, so he bought them. Lots of them. I also found a stuffed fox, a couple of bicycles, a (synthetic) polar bear rug, a small fireplace, a loads of plants. The sofa I claimed look like a mid-century design and was placed by an interesting glass coffee table with an eclectic mix of “artifacts” in it — including an animal skull (it didn’t seem as weird as it sounds here). All in all the décor added to the cool and welcoming environment and helped make the stop very memorable.

I look forward to taking my wife there and trying some of the other food items, too. Oh, and they also have beer on tap and wine there, too. That’s something I don’t find often in coffee shops. But, hey, they pull it all off pretty well.

If you’re looking for a nifty coffee shop that’s not a chain and is off the beaten path (a little), I highly recommend giving Gold...

Came here for a work function...The location seems very sketchy; several in our party discussed about moving cars to the back where we could watch them as the business is located in (how do I put this nicely) an economically depressed part of town. I got to the counter and noticed their cups that have the stylized face of a woman wearing sun glasses with a reflection that says Huntsville in the lenses and the words "Madison is not Huntsville." All I could think was thank God for that because a lot of Huntsville proper including were Gold Sprint is located, is a real dump. Condescending cups aside, I saw what appeared to be blueberry scones on the counter. I asked if they were blueberry scones and the the girl behind the counter confirmed that they were indeed blueberry scones.

They were NOT blueberry scones, they were rosemary scones that had some blueberries in them, emphasis on the rosemary. There was so much rosemary in the scone that the inside is green and stringy with fresh rosemary and they added more fresh rosemary sprigs on top hidden under the icing. Too cute by half and truly disgusting. I tried but could not choke down more than a bite. The business could have at least warned me of their strained effort to be edgy. I choked my bite down with what I estimate was about 4 ounces of orange juice @ $3 a cup.

Coworkers said the breakfast burritos tasted better than my scone but were disappointed they were made in advance and therefore could not be modified to leave out unwanted ingredients.

Bottom line, I'd go to any of the many coffee shops in Madison over Gold Sprint. They are cheaper, taste MUCH better, are located in far nicer neighborhoods where I don't have to worry about by car being broken into and don't have cups disparaging other parts of town.

I read some other reviews which commented on the bright lighting. When we went, I was actually surprised at how dark it was inside. I would have preferred a well lit place but did not factor that into my rating as it wasn't particularly important to me. In hindsight, had the lighting been better, I might have seen some of the rosemary embedded under the icing...oh well - win some lose some. As an alternative, I'd recommend Rocket City coffee located in Madison. It doesn't look like much from the outside and is much smaller than Gold Sprint but it is well lit, staffed by very pleasant workers and although I am sure their pastries were bought from a commercial factory bakery, they were delicious. Although the price was only about a dollar cheaper, the OJ...

TLDR: Here's my gripe: I really expected better customer service and care from a local small business. If your host doesn't put in someone's food, and they are asking for the food 30 min later, going to a defensive and punitive "well it's not on your ticket, do you want to order again" vs "well only one of you has food when you both ordered it" is not what I expected. I thought a small business meant you get customer service.

As a local, I was happy when this place opened. I've been supporting them ever since. There has always been decent food, and I appreciate the decaf choices as someone with V-Tach.

I'm sorry to say that today's experience was subtle but felt like I need to give some feedback for their own internal benefit.

My partner and I went to get lunch today, and waited in their lunch rush line. We ordered food and drinks each, a burrito and BEC.

After waiting 10 minutes for the drinks, we found a seat and waited for the food. After another 10, we received the burrito only. The burrito was mine, the bec was my partners.

I went to the counter to ask about the other food. When no one went to the kitchen, I realized something was off. I was shown where the food ticket didn't have the food on it. I assured that we ordered it, and my ticket being $25 I assumed I had paid for 2 meals and 2 drinks, but was shown where it wasn't.

They then asked if I wanted to order a BEC.

I said let me see if that's what my partner wants. They said they did not want to wait another 20+ minutes plus felt off about how they chose to handle that. I agreed, and when getting a to go box for my food at the counter, I noticed the person who took our order discussing the issue with the person who showed me the ticket without the food, and (after working in restaurants myself) I recognized the atmosphere of "oops!". There was another person in that room too. That person happened to be behind me and my partner as we walked to the car discussing how we had really expected better from there. We went there at 12:45pm and we are eating lunch now at 2pm after going elsewhere for my partners food.

I hope they do something good with this feedback.

I thought about not posting this, because I want to support local small businesses, but when I invite people to Huntsville and to go out, I would love to not pass the small business and say "it's not worth it." Accountability...