Maplewood Deli & Coffeehouse — Restaurant in Maplewood

Man, I really want to like this place (used to love it when it was Foundation Grounds), I believe it's family owned now. Some of the family seems to be working together. It's a local place with pride, it would be GREAT for it to do well. But geeze, there were some major things wrong. It might explain why it was fairly dead on a Tuesday morning.

1. Food quality: I ordered the avocado toast with scrambled eggs. The toast was the best part, great bread! Avocado was fine...but insipid chopped tomatoes (if it's not tomato season, just don't use them), really pungent raw onion, that's about what I tasted. And the scrambled eggs...man, either they were cooked fresh and REALLY overdone or they're using powdered eggs (tasted like the latter for sure). Either way they were not good at all. Just not good. I give the benefit of the doubt though...maybe they didn't get a shipment of produce? Maybe they're in between eggs? IDK...just hope it's not like that all the time.

2. Service/atmosphere: this might be my bigger critique, for a couple of reasons. First, the man working the register was nice enough, but just extremely unprofessional. Was using chewing tobacco while working behind the counter which is, disgusting (and I would imagine some sort of health code violation?) At one point the woman behind the counter (whom I believe is the owner, and seems to be the "mom") asked the counter guy to make himself useful and maybe go wipe some tables/shelves. He jokingly responded, "ha, that's funny. Wipe down some shelves and tables, that's a good one." Cool if it was joking between family or whatever, but it was so loud...I was sitting in the dining room and heard it clearly. She was cussing it up and they were just being so flippant. At one point they were basically having a business meeting behind the counter, for all to hear. Talking about their struggles...talking about how the Living Room (down the street) was probably packed right now while they were not. Basically just setting a really unprofessional tone. It was kind of amazing.

Counter guy did go out and clean up a couple tables...he took dirty dishes from the trash can. But also walked by my table three or four times...not even offering to take my empty dish while he was taking the others. Now...it's a self-bussing type place...but my man, go the extra mile maybe?

Again, giving benefit of the doubt because of many other glowing reviews...maybe I hit them on a bad day/morning? Maybe they've had a bad week? If that's the case, I hope they start to find things looking up for them. I hope it can turn around.

Just a frustrating experience. It's such a great location and place...I just can't stand it when the employees of small places like this air their dirty laundry for all to hear. When there's little to no professionalism and care. It felt like a lack of care overall and therefore the customer doesn't feel cared for. I hope they can improve! I hope they...

For some companies to claim to have an undying devotion to high caliber espresso machines, fair trade beans and single sourced this and that there hasn't been enough action on the coffee scene for the a primary ingredient, milk. Milk is a huge part of coffee culture, so to overlook it is just asinine in my opinion. Foundation Grounds has all the above AND the milk covered in an exceptional way! I have been looking for a place that made espresso drinks with almond milk but they are very few and far between. Then comes this jewel; it was a light ordeal to park (that's Maplewood for you) but I'm so glad I found this spot and I'm proud to declare this is going to be a new coffee Mecca for me.

I went in and ordered a Mocha. Normally, I would get hazelnut or toffee-nut because a lot of places Mocha is rather bitter for my liking. Something told me to just go ahead and give it a try on its own (I was already getting almond milk - so I was winning). Before I could sit down and make a phone call my order was up. A lovingly, handcrafted drink with very beautiful artwork was piping hot and ready for me.

I go to stir my drink and I lick the stirrer to gauge how much sugar I'll need to add. In my mind "oh boy they have done it, I don't need any sugar - what in Sam Hill is going on"? It was so good I had to call my mom. It was so good that I called over the Barista and told him that the drink that he just hand crafted up for me was ri-damn-diculous (in a good way)!!! I told him I was frustrated with other places not serving almond milk and also about how taken aback I was at how delicious the Mocha was without any extra additives. This place truly uses premium ingredients and that was apparent straight away.

I can't wait to go back and try some of the awesome food items that are on the menu. The customer service here is impeccable. They were about to close and they told me they don't kick anybody out. It really felt homey and relaxed in this charming location; lots of comfy seating and distinctive seating arrangements so everyone wasn't corralled together.

Will I come here every day? Due to the vicinity issues, I can't. Will I go out of my way to come here when I'm in the area? I certainly will. Will I tell the world and tell friends about my newfound love? You know this man! In my book this is my number one coffee spot and it will take a whole lot for someone to change that (maybe Matthew McConaughey will open up a place here and serve coffee himself; heck he might, he is doing car...

I had a dream this morning when I woke up: ice coffee from Foundation Grounds. I fell in love with their ice coffee on Mother's Day this year when I discovered as I was drinking mine that it's made with ice cubes that are made of coffee! Now that Summer School was over for me (they open at 7am, when I have to be at work) I decided to kick my official vacation off right with some ice coffee. So, on a rare Thursday morning when both my wife and I are off and at home with our son, we hopped in the car and headed to Maplewood. Because our son is 2, and my wife and I both have a sweet tooth, we decided to grab some donuts from Strange Donuts just down the street. Once we had our allotment of sugar in hand, we headed to Foundation Grounds. I parked my son's stroller in the outdoor area with our donuts and my wife went in to procure our coffees. This is where things went wrong. Just a few minutes later, my wife came out with no coffees and said we had to leave. Apparently, we were not allowed to have another store's pastries in their patio area- even though we were buying our coffee there. My wife was simply going to buy our coffees there anyway, but the man who waited on her (Trent) was loud and rude about the whole situation and my wife was embarrassed. Plus, they seem to always take forever to make a coffee (which I never minded before, since I felt it was worth a little waiting). So, we left without the coffee I had been dreaming about for a month, never to return after such ridiculous and rude treatment. It should be noted here, that I saw no signs stating that Foundation Grounds did not allow such a practice. Not to mention, the rude treatment from Trent. We ended up back at Strange Donuts for coffee and when the guys there heard about the situation they were surprised. Apparently, Strange Donuts often shares product with Foundation Grounds. Also, there was a large party of people in the patio area right next to us who did not appear to have any food or drink to speak of and they were not asked to leave. Shame on you Foundation Grounds for ruining my dream. I don't plan...