The Grand — Restaurant in Phoenix

I’ll start by saying I have always loved this building, am a huge supporter of local businesses, and rarely leave negative reviews unless something is totally over the top.

When we need a change of scenery from our office, we’ll work from various coffee shops (Jobot, Lux & The Grand have been our top 3). It’s typically 3-5 of us, and we spend $$$.

Well apparently The Grand is under new management (ownership?) and it sucks! After purchasing a coffee drink & donut for $9, I was greeted with new signs about “laptop-free zones - please study upstairs” and “this table reserved for paying customers” (duh) and new signs on the large COMMUNITY tables saying they’re reserved for parties of 6 or more.

So we (begrudgingly) went to a table upstairs. Something is very obviously wrong with their HVAC unit/AC, as it sounded like we were working on a train, our table was literally shaking, and at one point it got so loud and clanky that I seriously thought something might explode or catch on fire, with debris and/or smoke coming out of the vent over us when it finally stopped.

So the 3 of us took our expensive coffee drinks and went downstairs, sitting at the large community table we often sat at pre unfriendly signs, and near a power source. At this point there were maybe 6 people tops hanging out downstairs, with numerous empty tables.

Then Mr. extremely rude, striped shirt Manager walks up to us and asks “Are you expecting more people? Did you read the sign? These tables are reserved for parties of 6 or more people.”

I told him we weren’t moving because there weren’t any parties of 6 to be seen anywhere, he should worry about his about to explode AC unit, that I think the signs and new community table rules are ridiculous, and that he should pass my thoughts on to the owner while I finished my $9 donut & coffee.

So dear owner, you are located a block away from an urban university campus. The area is also full of professionals such as myself who have plenty of expendable income, large networks, and may not want to “study upstairs.” This is both ridiculous and insulting when I’m buying your mediocre $5 coffee. This WAS a community and feeling like your new manager is babysitting me (as a 40 something woman business owner) is unacceptable.

We will be taking our business to the friendly establishments where we feel appreciated (or at minimum not harassed)...

Currently working graveyard shift and always looking for new 24 hour spots for coffee! I heard about their lavender white mocha... So my co-workers and I went and ordered drinks and food to give it a try!

The lavender white mocha (iced) was pretty good. It's a little strange at first and probably not for everyone but I enjoyed it. It comes with 4 shots of espresso so it's a great caffeinated choice! Their Italian sodas are bomb as well. We tried a vanilla cherry combo that was delicious!

On to the food... I'll say that the establishment lost a star for 2 reasons. First, it took over 30 mins to get our food to go. This isn't something that's conducive to our job. We need something a bit faster. So I'd definitely suggest calling your order in and then pick it up if you're not eating there. The second reason is the food itself. It seems to be hit or miss. The fries are really good but the aioli served with them is extremely potent and salty. The Caesar salad was nothing to write home about but it was decent. The plain mac and cheese was to DIE for. And the biscuits and gravy was a let down. They toasted the biscuits on the grill before adding a disappointing amount of gravy to them so they're hard to cut with a fork as well as being a bit stale. The gravy was bland and needed salt and pepper at the least. The chef also messed up my fried egg request but as far as taste, they were okay for scrambled. And the bacon was good (hard to mess that up...). The biggest plus is that they serve the whole menu all day long.

And lastly, the ambiance! This place is the coolest. I look forward to when I have time to just hang out here. I'll probably come to do homework or just to get away. For gamers, it has a very "Bioshock" feel to it. It's very vintage and not only do they serve food and coffee but they have a full bar as well!

All in all, it was a hit with my co-workers and I. I'm looking forward to trying more menu items during...

Review of the Ghost Ship

Last night my friends and I visited the Ghost ship for the first time as a birthday celebration. (we happened to have 5 of us celebrating birthdays together). We first showed up as a group of four meeting a group of 6 and I could tell they were stressed about seating us(largest table inside seats 6). We had thought it would be more of a mingling environment but it seemed they really preferred us in one spot. We had a couple others join and the host really wanted to have us sit at the large table outside but the decorations don't really branch out to the outside area so we really wanted to stay in. That's when the bartender suggested the upstairs which was really cool and much easier for us all to sit near one another.

Thank you guys for accommodating us and our shenanigans :D

The drinks appear expensive but are VERY strong, so rest assured you are getting your moneys worth. The rum drinks were definitely the strongest, and if you prefer something lighter I would lean toward the banana based ones, or the coconut drink, they really aren't overpoweringly sweet. All the drinks balance the flavors quite nicely. Notable comment from the bartender after a friend mentioned the drink strength "Well it's a pirate bar" haha.

There are a few food options, but we ate before knowing that it would be more appetizer focused. We tried the board and the stuffed figs, the board had a great spread but the stuffed figs were TO DIE FOR. I highly suggest at least trying the figs if you make your way there.

This is definitely an experience I would recommend, the staff was cool, the atmosphere carefully catered to create an interesting and stimulating environment. I also appreciated that the music was at a good volume so that it filled the space but it was still easy to conversate as well. Definitely scope out the art if...