Groundswell Coffee Roasters

Groundswell has improved since I last lived in the neighborhood. The employees are no longer downright rude. Instead, they are just unfriendly. Coffee is average, pastries are average, food offerings are average.The place always smells a little of egg (gassy). There are better coffee shops in the area for service, drink quality, and food quality.

I avoided this shop due to negative reviews but decided to venture in today and work a couple hours. The staff was friendly to me and everyone who came in after me. The vibe was very chill. WiFi was good. My latte was perfect. Looks like they’ve worked to improve. If you had a bad experience there, I’d give them another chance.

I usually really enjoy this place, it has a good atmosphere, quality coffee, and friendly baristas. But recently they took the only item I could eat off their menu. There aren't any dairy-free options except one of their kolaches (and if it had dairy it was so little that it never bothered my stomach), but last time I went in the barista told me the owner stopped stocking that kind. I’d love to keep coming in here, but if I can’t order food it doesn’t really make it worth it.

I ordered tea for almost $6 and received this tea in this beat up cup with the worst customer service ever! They didn't even apologize when I told them about it! Terrible place!

| TLDR | Pumpkin Pie latte is a solid choice, great work space, and chill vibes. Now here's the inside scoop: | Pros | ☕ Coffee: they got a lot of seasonal and run-of-the-mill lattes (ex: avg. prices are around $5.35 w/o tax for a 12oz) Seating: ample seating (granted my brother and I came in around 7:30am); ports kinda scarce if you want to get work done (they have a back room for seating where there are more ports) Great WiFi: could be just me but I had some fluctuations in Wifi speeds, clocking in at an average of 83 Mbps. Password can be found where you add sugar and other stuff to your drink. | Things to Consider | Customer Service: from the 30+ Chi coffeeshops I visited, it's very rare to come across a coffeeshop known for rude baristas. Although we didn't experience this ourselves (both dudes were great), I did sense a lack of social awkwardness from them. This is just my observation, so take it with a grain of salt . Overall, chill place to get some work done and get some hot coffee or apple cider. If you ever wondered which coffeeshop is sandwhiched between Edgewater and Lincoln Square, check out Groundswell (where the ground is always greener on the other side...of Lawrence)!

I guess not picking up your order within 30 seconds of the barista calling it warrants them to scream loudly and obnoxiously again about the order and have another point the order out to me. Yes, I was coming to get it after meeting my friend at the front of the store. There was barely anybody else in the shop so the whole ordeal felt extra and unnecessary. The coffee was good but the service won't have me returning.

Spent $10 on 2 iced drinks. For a matcha latte, dry matcha was dropped into cold milk. For an iced tea, I got water with a tint of tea. No time spent to steep and didn’t even leave the tea in the cup. Please teach your barista how to handle iced drinks…

I was just reading some reviews of this spot that mentioned rude baristas and I was shocked— frankly, I’ve had nothing but stellar experiences with the exceptionally friendly and down to earth staff. I’ve been going to Groundswell on a weekly basis since I moved to the neighborhood a couple months ago— the coffee and matcha are great, the Wi-Fi is strong, and the vibes are relaxed. I will sometimes do my whole work day from the shop when I’m feeling cooped up at home and it’s been a great way to get some focused work done. Would highly recommend stopping by!