Groundswell Coffee Roasters

Coffee is good but the employees are the least friendly people ever. They especially are unkind to children. Considering the neighborhood, they would be wise to have a little more patience. The last straw for me was an employee scolding my 3 year old for touching a piece of plastic designating the pickup spot, and he wasn't even hurting anything or getting in anyone's way. My son cried the whole way home asking why they weren't nice there. I'll be taking my business elsewhere from now on.

The baristas are skilled and know how to assemble a good beverage. My cappuccino was the perfect balance between espresso and foamy milk. It also helps that they use the right quantity of high quality coffee that makes their espresso shot strong and perfectly acidic.

Apart from great coffee the shop is really cute and peaceful. They have outdoor seating underneath the sidewalk trees.

Generic cafe atmosphere, coffee is decent, food is decent. There’s nothing wrong with this place, just not much to write home about either. I had a cappuccino and a breakfast wrap with ham. The coffee was on the sour side and smaller than average with a pretty but usual foam design. The wrap had a nice wheat wrap, and was handmade, but took a long time, wasn’t very warm, and the egg chunks were pre-cooked. There was also too much sriracha sauce on it. It overwhelmed the flavor on several bites. I will go back to try other menu items but not soon.

One of the worst experiences as a customer I’ve ever had.
The coffee shop I wanted to go to was unfortunately closed :( So my roommate and I headed down the street to another one we found. We walked inside, the baristas seemed interested in something else so whatever. We walked up to the register and I ordered an espresso and then (a bit of a complicated request I guess) asked for an iced espresso with vanilla and oat milk. I’ve been in the industry for 3+ years and have made drinks like this many times. It is not an iced latte.
I guess this lead to an argument, the barista corrected me and said that I was ordering an iced latte which I was not. You can charge for syrup and the additional milk I do not care. But he proceeded to charge me for an iced latte without my consent. We picked up the drinks and my roommates iced espresso barely had any oat milk so she asked for more. He said “next time just order an iced latte” like he literally didn’t just charge us for one? Every interaction with this barista was passive- aggressive. I left the cafe crying as i felt so attacked by this interaction, just so incredibly rude.

To my point. There are several reviews calling out this coffee shop for having rude baristas and a passive-aggressive environment. Yet, the owner has done NOTHING. No, I don’t want to hurt small businesses but I want them to know that it isnt okay to be MEAN to customers and to make them feel awful. So please, for the sake of your feelings and happiness DO NOT go to Groundswell Coffee Roasters on Damen. Jason, we see your incompetence with creating a healthy culture at your shop and encourage you to fix it.
Have a good day.

Groundswell has a great balance between a neighborhood coffee shop and a carefully designed place that takes its drinks seriously. Excellent coffee, lots of natural light, strong wi-fi, and friendly baristas. It can get noisy (the downside of concrete floors), but in my experience never for long. A good addition to the neighborhood!

I’ve been coming here for years and love the coffee, but really wish they would bring back the paninis or other food options.

Chai lattes are mediocre but what keeps me coming back are the delicious apple fritters. So, so good.

Their kolaches are meh and their tea is meh. A barista asked to take my half-full glass to clean it more than a half hour before closing time, which felt unnecessary. Cold inside in March.

Great coffee, but staff is not friendly. They made the fact that we were out of coffee an awful experience today.

Very nice place to stop in for your morning top off!