Urban Grounds — Restaurant in Ozark

Best coffee in Ozark and some of the best coffee in the Ozarks.

This place is an interesting concept: a full-fledged third-wave coffee shop that does business in plants, too. But the focus on the latter doesn’t compromise its excellence in the former—make no mistake, they do an amazing job with their coffee.

Unlike the new Mudhouse location across the street, the focus here isn’t on sweet flavorings that serve to hide bitter, over-roasted second-wave beans. These guys source excellent lighter-roasted coffee (last I checked, I believe they were using beans from Ozark Coffee Co in Sedalia) and focus on bringing the best possible extraction from those beans.

The simple milk-based espresso drinks (lattes, cappuccinos, and cortados) are beautifully smooth, with nutty undertones and beautifully textured milk (made with velvety microfoam, unlike the bitter coffee found under a dry foam cap like the place across the street). My personal preference tends to err on the side of cappuccinos, but if you’d like a little bit of a stronger coffee note, the cortado is made with a little higher coffee to milk ratio, while the latte has a bit more milk.

Despite my preference for not adulterating the flavor of coffee with other flavorings, every now and then, if I drop by in the afternoon, I will find myself in the mood for something a little sweeter, and I will order one of their specialty or seasonal drinks. I find that they do a great job of using subtle flavorings that do not overshadow the taste of the coffee itself but rather balance and complement it. The lavender vanilla latte I had today featured lavender syrup from well-known craft syrup maker Pink House Alchemy out of Fayetteville. Delicious!

I have not yet had the opportunity to try any of their food products, but some of the toasts that they put out look absolutely delectable.

Also worth noting that this is one of the few third-wave coffee shops in the area that has a drive-through, and the wait is never long. (They have an app linked to Clover that you can use to shave even more time off if you’re pressed for time or impatient!)

Very much worth a stop and very much Wirth becoming a regular patron and helping to keep a wonderful small business around instead of sending profits to the shareholders on Wall Street of a giant...

I have been going to this place since it first opened, but I will no longer give them my business after an impenitent experience I received last week. The young lady in the drive thru, Lydia, mistakenly placed an ingredient I requested be left off due to a food allergy. She was unapologetic when I brought to her attention that the food was made with the item, and later admitted to picking off the ingredient instead of remaking it. Her haughty attitude prompted me to send an email to their owner/manager. A week later, I was disappointed to not have received any sort of response from this establishment. I stopped in and spoke with a lady about my past experience and she stated the owner received my email because she remembers it being 'mentioned', which means the owner intentionally chose to disregard my email; knowing this I decided to walk out. The owner called me a few minutes later and apologized, but not before mentioning a few excuses as to why her response was delayed. This whole experience tells me that there is a disregard to unsatisfied customers, and there seems to be a lack in willingness to appease their customer's. A simple apology and acknowledgement of their error, from the worker, as well as the owner would have been enough, but this didn't seem worth their time. Maybe next time if someone has a reaction, due to their careless mistake, and is hospitalized and goes after them legally will they realize the urgency of addressing...

I will be 100% honest in my review. It wasn't a terrible experience, just not what I was hoping for. First time ever at Urban grounds, so I was going in not knowing anything about the menu. They had a much different drinks then I've ever seen it any coffee shop I've visited, which is great, but I had no idea what to order. So I wanted to ask the employee at the counter what they recommended. She just didn't seem like she really even cared to help, she said she really didn't know or having recommendations. Told me (insert coffee name) might be good. She just didn't really seem enthused at all that I was there or trying it for the first time. Seemed more like "Just hurry up and order what you want". At least that's how I felt. So I just chose something I thought sounded good, and it was actually very good. No complaints on the coffee at all. But I just wish the service was more friendly and they even acted enthused about their job lol. But, overall not a terrible experience by any means, just wish they were a little more friendly. But I will definitely try to visit back and hopefully have a much more welcoming...