Grounds Central Station — Restaurant in Manassas

I do not like giving bad reviews, its not my thing. But I do like giving honest reviews. I honestly was really disappointed in this shop especially after such rave reviews I had read online. I am a coffee connoisseur, I live breath and eat coffee. I had left a fantastic local coffee shop back home and have been carefully looking for something comparable. When I first stepped in the shop it had more of a gas station convenience store feel than a quaint coffee shop, but I wasn't going to let that shake me, I had high hopes. The menu had a lot of variety and kinda was all over the place. I ordered a caramel mocha and my husband ordered a reg mocha and a bacon egg and cheese panini. As we were sitting waiting the place did not appear to be kept up or really appear clean. There was a coating of dust on the AC vents and a nice thick coat of grease on panini press that I could see from behind the counter. I was a bit concerned at this point mainly because I did not see nor here the sound of an espresso machine at all, and had notices how coffee was being stored in small thermos's that you would find free samples being givin away in. Again brushed it off with some excuse. Our oder totaled to around $22 which kinda surprised me for what we ordered but I had hopes that my experience would be exceptional. The wait was not terrible and in fact I'm used to waiting longer for a great cup of coffee. Our panini's came out shortly first of all they were not on panini bread but a hoagie roll, which I am not apposed to but still. The food was good and hot, but it was NOT a $7 dollar panini. So I get my mocha and I don't know what made me want to open my coffee lid but I did, and I see froth on the top of a mocha....which if you know anything about coffee froth does not go on a mocha...that is a latte thing, but I like lattes so I think what the heck. It seriously was the worst coffee I have ever had. It did not taste like a mocha and it did not taste like a latte. It tasted like hot watered down milk with a drop of caramel syrup...I did not taste any coffee or espresso in it at all! I tasted my husbands mocha hoping that maybe mine was just mistake. Nope his had been frothed as well and tasted like a package of hot chocolate had been opened in some milk and a few table spoons of coffee. It was literally undrinkable. I had to throw it away. I don't know if the barista has had no formal training or if it is the lack of good equipment ( or possible that they don't have an espresso machine?) or if it truly is the fact that they know nothing about the art of coffee. Maybe if you went in and got a plain drip it would be fine, but me personally would rather brew my own drip/pour over/frenchpress/coldbrew at home If I just want a plain cup of coffee. Just very disappointed. Now on the positive note the people in the shop were great, kind and friendly, and the service was great, but what will keep me from coming back is the atmosphere and lack of quality coffee. It is such a shame because I feel like the idea behind this coffee shop is great and that it has so much potential but just lacks direction...

I love to support small business but this was not a good experience. First, the place does not feel clean nor did the workers look well kept. Second, the customer service sucked. We were waiting for someone to take our order and were talking to each other and I guess the female worker decided to just stand there by the register without saying anything waiting for us to realize she was standing there. We came there with an intention of getting coffee and sandwiches but while we were waiting we saw the grill. It was caked over with black crud from not being cleaned well daily. Then on top of that we realized the male worker was microwaving the eggs. Needless to say we passed on the sandwich. We ordered Cafe Mocha and a Caramel Macchiato. First thing we noticed when we got our coffee was that they were not hot. Fail. The second thing we noticed was that the coffee tasted watered down. The third thing my husband noticed was that his Cafe Mocha barely had any mocha in it. So we turned around and took the coffee back to the shop. We told the woman the issue of no mocha and that the coffee was not hot. She apologized and proceeded to put more mocha in his coffee. As we watched we saw why his coffee lacked mocha, the bottle of mocha was empty, it seems she just drizzled the last drop in his cup and was too lazy to open a new bottle. She opened the new bottle of mocha then proceeded to put his coffee in the microwave to heat it up. Fail. If it were McDonalds totally understandable but a high priced coffee shop, no bueno. We asked that she make a new cup of Cafe Mocha because we wanted the coffee made the right way. She proceeded to get an attitude at that point. We probably should have said "forget it" and ask for a refund but instead we watched her make a new cup. First thing we saw was that she poured water in the coffee cup....??? This explained the watered down taste. We stopped watching at that point and chalked it up as a loss for us, a total waste of $9. After she finished we took the new cup of Cafe Mocha and left. My husband sipped it, tasted the mocha but it seemed there was no actually coffee in the cup at all. He said it tasted like hot chocolate. We ended up throwing it away and went to McDonalds where we know to expect low quality but at least it was convenient. $11 for two meals with coffee that tasted like coffee at least. There is one more coffee place in Manassas I hope to try out, hopefully it wont be the same type of experience but more than likely we will just go to Starbucks, this place gives small...

I usually enjoy their Bubble Iced Tea on a weekday early evening. However today’s visit was not a great experience. It was my first time going on a weekend. I got to the register behind a gentleman and when it was my turn no one told me to give them a moment or anything. I was ignored for almost 5 whole minutes until the panini guy finally asked me if my order had been taken. He finally took my order and then I waited only for my order to be put behind the person who ordered a good few minutes after me. My panini was great. But the chai was the worst I’ve ever tasted. Made only after I walked over to another side of the cafe for them to see that I’m waiting for an order. This whole time I was wearing my baby who couldn’t wear a mask being so small. My order took longer than it should have. The two ladies had no excuse to provide better customer service. On weekdays when I come and only one person is working i get better service than I did today when 3 people were working and it was the same level of busy.

Thank you. This used to be my favorite cafe, but now I must find comfort elsewhere. I was going to give only one start but I added a star only because my bubble teas are usually great on a weekday and the panini guy today was the one who noticed me waiting and took my order when he wasn’t even the main register person. Thank you...