Aug.19.2009 at 2:38 pm | joshua
Search For Best Coffee Shop in Toledo – Ground Level
The Facts:
Location: The Ground Level Coffee House is located on Central, near Douglas
Hours: Monday – Saturday: 10am – 10pm, Sunday: Closed
Initial Price: $1.60
Refill Cost: $0.50
WiFi: Free
Fair Trade Options: None
Organic Options: None
Twitter-sized Review:
Open, large and inviting seating area. Not expensive. Free WiFi. Cheap Refills. No Fair Trade/Organic options. Locally roasted. Score: 6.5/10
Completely Opinionated Review:
The Ground Level is a VAST improvement over what used to occupy this space. Recently this coffee shop changed owners, and what was once Brewed Awakenings became The Ground Level. Personally, I have a lot of memories wrapped up in Brewed Awakenings, as it is where I spent most of my high school evenings. However in the last few years Brewed Awakenings (Brewed, as we called it) really went down hill. The shop resembled a hippy wonderland, reeked of foul smells and was almost always a mess. I finally stopped coming in after a while. So upon seeing the change in ownership and remodel, I decided it was time to give the new place a shot.
I was happy to come in and see that Ground Level occupied both spaces Brewed did, so the coffee shop is very large. This allows it to be used for a wide variety of special events and performances during the evening, and during the day a very open feel welcomed me. Unfortunately when I arrived (2pm, Wednesday), there wasn’t a single other soul to be found, other than the employee of course. In such a high traffic area, and so close to the University, this fact troubles me to some degree. It makes me wonder if I am missing something? Regardless, an empty coffee shop screams to me “no community.”
Again I was given a porcelain mug from a friendly employee when I asked for my house coffee, and I was pointed to the self-serve air pots. Ground Level uses beans from a local Toledo roaster called Flying Rhino, which after looking up on the internet I am sad to say they don’t appear to offer any Fair Trade or Organic options. The coffee is good, nonetheless, and refills are a manageable $0.50.
The location of this shop is the best I’ve been in yet. Very easy to get to and ample parking. I would feel very comfortable holding client meetings here. Additionally, while I have a tough time purchasing anything but Fair Trade coffee these days, the fact that the beans are locally roasted is almost enough to make me look this over.
Final Grade:
6.5/10 – I have a hard time rating Ground Level only one higher than Caffeini’s, and yet I also have a hard time tying it with The Flying Bean, hence my first fractional score. The Ground Level is a nice coffee shop, and will continue to get better as a community grows around it. However the lack of Fair Trade and/or Organic options, combined with $0.50 refills and a lack of people keep it out of the same league as The Flying Bean and Georgette’s.
Thanks for posting these reviews. I am really enjoying them. I stopped at The Ground Level a few weeks ago to find they are closed on Sundays. In your "Facts" section, any way you might be able to note the hours? Thanks again.
ooo That's a good idea. Wish I would have thought of that in the beginning, ha! I'll go back through and attempt to list them by what I can find on their respective websites.
Thanks for reading!
What is "Fair Trade" Can I trade an old baseball card for a cup of joe?
Hey thanks for stopping by. I look forward to making improvements per your review. We really value your opinion. Flying Rhino does have a couple of very good fair trade/organic options that are very nice. Building our "community" has definitely been an uphill battle. Mainly our hours of operation has been the stickler. We have started opening at 8 but we know that 6/7 would be optimal. Due to limited resources we haven't opened on Sundays yet but I'd say that would be another valuable change. Don't know how often "review-ees" comment on their review but i got a little excited. Thanks.