Daily Grind

The breakfast here was superb. The waitresses and waiters were their toes helping out with the customers. The smoothie was fabulous. The prices are reasonable. I rate the daily grind a 10.

I spent an entire day here. The basement is an upbeat, hip, sex-positive cafe with the world's cutest bathroom. Not too many vegetarian options, but the mozzarella and basil sammy was solid. If I could have gotten it warm, I would have. But upstairs, oh upstairs. Look at that photo. Feel the ambiance of this quiet, peaceful, wifi-laden haven. This location is one of my fondest stops on a trip that went through Boston and Washington D.C. as well, so it competes with the best.

BE WARNED. I ordered the hash with two eggs and toast as well as coffee with Irish cream. The coffee was some of the most watery stuff I ever had. Incredibly weak and you could not taste any flavoring.
The eggs were over spiced and the hash was unedible because of it. A strange lime/peppery taste stuck in my mouth. The only good thing was the rye toast which is hard to screw up.

Would never reccomend and will never return. Worst money spent at Albany coffee shops. Would recommend going to the shop on Hudson instead.

I wa picking up my order they told me another 15 mins so that went by after another 10 mins I finally got it. Employees wa very rude to me!

I haven't tried their food but their coffee is excellent and extremely flavorful. That in itself make them worth a visit or ten.

The Daily Grind has such charm! Great location in downtown Albany and the great food makes it that much better. The wait can be a little long sometimes, but is worthwhile.

I got an egg plate the eggs were cooked totally wrong, home fries were just potatoes with no seasoning and bacon wasn't cooked all the way... Yuck

10 for a breakfast sandwich ??? Still high for a bagel, egg, cheese and a split "Banger"
However - The Coffee is always on point and moves .
Local Café - employees are hard workers , busy to moderate traffic- A visiting must for a coffeehouse enthusiasts.

This place is eclectic and pretty cute. Grabbed a quick coffee and breakfast sandwich on my way leaving the city and wasn't disappointed. Counter service, grungy (and extremely polite) staff, a really fun vibe.

I really wanted to give Daily Grind place 5 stars. I drove out of my way to get here, as they are WAMC underwriters and looked like just the kind of coffee place I love. I really don't like giving independent business low ratings. So I will try to be fair.

First, the good: wonderful beans, perfectly roasted and ground, delicious coffee. My wife ordered a regular coffee to go and it was fantastic. Four stars because if you just want a decent cup of coffee, there probably isn't a better place in Albany.

Now, the bad: I ordered a medium latte to go. Everything started out well, with the barrista throwing out the first shot as not perfect and then pulling a great-looking double shot of espresso. Then came the disaster. Just to remind everyone, a latte is made with steamed milk. Ideally, a bit of microfoam is gently created ("stretching" the milk) and then the milk is brought up to temperature without foaming ("shaping" the milk), preferably about 60-70C. Instead, the barrista let the steam run on full in the milk, heating it well above the desired temperature (I saw no sign of a thermometer), then dipped the steam wand in and out a few times in the hot milk, creating enormous, stiff, foamy bubbles in the now scalded milk. This mess was then dumped in the cup with the aforementioned perfect coffee. The result was hot enough to burn my tongue, and tasted of scalded milk.

Now, I understand there are some people who order coffee to go who complain about it not being hot enough when they get to their office half an hour later, but I would be surprised if they ordered lattes. But if this is a common request at the Daily Grind, maybe ask your customers whether they want their coffee overheated? It took my mouth days to recover from this assault, and I will assuredly not be back to the Daily Grind.