Coffee Common Grounds — Restaurant in Virginia

Will the third time be a charm or a confirmation?

I can't answer how the food is because the service is pathetic.

Since they've opened, we've never been served.

The first time was their grand opening. Fine, we had waited 15 minutes, but we figured they were rushed and inexperienced so we'll come back another time.

Few months later, the second time we visited, they acknowledged us, but then went back to some 'team meeting' behind the counter with no further acknowledgement towards us. We waited another 7 minutes and then walked out. Perhaps a "CLOSED" sign would help so people's time is not wasted. We can understand Mom & Pop's have to get everyone on the same page with limited time and resources. Still, they need to acknowledge their customer base in a timely and professional manner.

Third time's a charm? Not even sure how long they've been opened now. First two times left a bad taste, so we can try again. Third time's a charm??? Fingers crossed.

We had no power in the community so we popped over for a coffees and pastries for our organization's "Power's out, we can't do anything else, so let's have an impromptu team meeting."

We walked in. Stood within 5 feet of the cash register waiting for another customer to finish their order. There were only three of us on this side of the counter. The other customer, me, and my colleague who was there to help carry our office order. Both staff were chatting with the other customer (turned out it was about anything but ordering food). The customer acknowledged us. The customer even said, "I should get going. I think they want to order."

From the person working the back of the house, "It'll be fine. Keep going [with her story]."

We didn't know if it was something important so we waited a little longer and had scooted to less than three feet from the register--the other customer moved over to the right a bit and that had allowed access to the register for us to order. But still, we were not acknowledged for our order. The customer looked over her shoulder and said, "I should really get going. They probably want to order." We made eye-contact and politely smiled at each other. I nodded my head in gratitude.

We did. We did want to order. We wanted to order coffee and breakfast treats for our office meeting. Our time is finite. We had to get back to the office. Our time was ticking down. I took a small step towards the register to have the cashier look back over her shoulder towards the person in the back of the house as if looking for permission.

The back of the house person have her a look and went back to talking with the other customer. The cashier looked back at us as if she were trapped. We walked out.

We ended up going elsewhere. Probably saved a bunch of our petty cash too--Common Grounds is a little pricey, but we like to support small local businesses. I digress.

So ya. Third strike no different than the last two. You know what they say about insanity...Going back to Common Grounds is insane if we expect a different outcome.

Apparently I'm not the only one who feels this way. Neighborhood rumor is they had to cancel their Monday morning reading group maybe due to this attitude towards folks who don't look like them (?) I guess. I mean maybe they're from the sundown town that's right near this location.

Regardless. Third time was not a charm. It was a confirmation.

When...

First, I want to say, I am from Arkansas. We have a lot of coffee shops in my state. We came down to visit family and decided to try this coffee shop out. First I just want to say, the prices, are outrageous. The first day I went with my sister-in-law, we both got a coffee, it was an average coffee. I ordered a java frap, we had no problems at all. The next day we went, I ordered a vanilla frap. I have never tasted such a horrible coffee.The “coffee” tasted like nothing, mind you, the two people I was with (my boyfriend and his sister) have worked with coffee, both at starbucks. I asked both of them to try this frap, which we paid $8.00 for. They both had the same reaction of disgust, and stated it tasted like absolutely nothing. They took the drink to the counter and told the employee that the coffee tasted like nothing. My boyfriend asked if she forgot to put a base in the coffee, she then said “our coffee’s are milk based.” That makes no sense. How are your drinks “milk based” but you’re a coffee shop? That would make all drinks taste like nothing. The employee that made our drinks, stated she would change my vanilla frap to a java frap (that’s what i changed my drink to) but she then said that they didn’t want to waste product, so she would add chocolate powder to my frap. It was still disgusting and did not taste like anything. I finished my drink anyway, as I do not like wasting. I have yet to find a coffee shop besides this one that charges an outrageous amount for a horrible coffee. I go to starbucks a lot, but I never compare other coffee shops to starbucks. Overall, this is a horrible place to go. I have also heard other horrible things about this business and the owner. I encourage those who think about taking the time out of your day to support this business, to not...

My husband and I, with our dog, were heading back to NOVA from Richmond when my husband found Coffee Common Grounds while searching for somewhere that had breakfast sandwiches and was close(ish) to the highway. We walked around outside with our dog while waiting for our food and smoothie. My husband got the ham, egg and cheese croissant and a blueberry muffin and I got the egg and cheese croissant. The muffin was tasty. I couldn't eat much more than a small taste because it had cinnamon in it but my husband enjoyed it. Both sandwiches were pretty good. The croissant tasted fresh and was very light and buttery. The egg was fluffy and topped with a slice of cheddar. My husband was kind of bummed that his sandwich only had one slice of ham on it, especially since it wasn't a thick slice. I was very tempted to order a coffee of some sort but already had my share of caffeine that morning so instead I ordered a peach creme smoothie and it was absolutely delicious, like a peach milkshake. The staff was very friendly and even came out to give our dog a little pup cup, which she enjoyed greatly (we could tell by all the drools), and some head pets. It was such a sweet encounter. If we're ever in the area again, we will definitely be stopping so I can try some of the...