Well Grounded

Awesome lil neighborhood café. Well grounded serves up a piping hot cup a joe and a mean bagel.
I love the coffee, but come back for the bagel-​wiches. They have everything from the healthy hummus and veg, to the egg cheese and bacon. Delicious bagels and happy people always greet me when I walk in the door. Local peeps and an ideal location!

Love it! Absolutely amazing!!! They have the best bagels and Panini’s and coffee. I really recommend trying the Caputo or the prima vera panini. The staff is always friendly and customer service is great. Very cute and lowkey! Perfect place to relax after a hard day :)

Love their bagels and so happy they use larrupin sauce!
Service can be a bit slow but they’re very friendly and work hard so can’t be too rough on them.

I hope this review will help the owners to maintain highest quality of their sandwiches. It is very convenient to have tasty food nearby. Usually I buy a bagel with salmon, I appreciate you use the wild salmon, not a farmed. Today I was with my family, and I took the Caputo bagel $ 8.45 despite you were out of fresh bagels at 1pm on Sunday. I also ordered Traditional Bocadillo $ 8.20 + $ 2 cheese. Both were ready after all other people in the line after me already got their orders. The Bocadillo was ready first, it looked really disappointing. I thought it comes with tomatos, my mistake, only with tomato rub. One tiny piece of jamon was provided though. When the author of this sandwich came with my bagel and saw me photographing the Bocadillo I was provided with a substitution. I really wanted a sandwich you were getting 5 stars early in the café’s history and the second one was done much better. I added both Bocadillo, and the Caputo bagel (which was good as always) to help you maintain the good fame of your sandwiches.

This is my favorite spot in El Cerrito! It’s very small, so I never plan to stay long, but their coffee drinks are delicious and their bagels are very fresh, dense, and chewy — the asiago one is a personal favorite. Seasonal flavors for coffee drinks are a nice touch, service is fast and very friendly, and they have a rewards program for frequent coffee purchases (albeit not very fast-​rewarding — it would be great if it rewarded dollars spent on food would count toward rewards too!)
Definitely check this spot out!

Still the best coffee in the area, with the freshest bagels! I also noticed they serve beer now, maybe I’ll stop in during the evening sometime when in the area.

I love the location and the service. I need to go back again and try more of the coffee.

Fast wifi, but too small, lousy tables and like 25 minutes + for a breakfast bagel, and the coffee was so-​so. You can do better than this hole in the wall

Small, probably privately owned coffee shop that we stopped into for a quick eat and morning pick-​me-​up. They employ mostly college students I feel, but our barista looked like he was fresh out of high school. Ok. I won’t judge, because he was brimming full of generosity and many apologies after forgetting to make my latte I had ordered before two or three other patrons who received their orders first. He also forgot that I had ordered a croissant but thankfully the workers there were courteous after I inquired about my forgotten pastry.
The reason why I’m giving this place 3-​stars is because of the above faults which really indicate how disorganized the place is. I also feel like they are understaffed for the amount of customers they receive. I witnessed many of the workers scrambling to make a panini sandwich and yelling anxiously for ingredients to their fellow co-​works. Also, their food items (as a matter of opinion) are a tad overpriced for what you get especially since most are made in a rush.
Either way, it’s nice how it’s nestled within a neighborhood and I’m sure most find it very convenient for what it is. But, unless I lived nearby (which I most definitely do not), I wouldn’t travel out of my way to visit this shop.

It’s a little pricing for the food but when you can walk 50 feet from your door to get it then it’s definitely worth it! I only gave 4 stars for the food because I don’t drink coffee so I can’t rate it sorry

I live really close to this coffee shop. I was so glad that there is a local little coffee shop so close to us when we moved here. But the two-​time experience that I had wasn’t good. The sitting area is very small, cramped and dark. There’s no restroom in the coffee shop so I won’t say it’s a perfect place to spend a while there. The second time I went there, bringing my own cup to get a coffee to go, (my cup is about 13 ounce). and when I order a small coffee, I only got half of my cup filled. I was shocked to see that volume. I always carry my cup whenever I go to coffee shops, and I never seen so little coffee. So little that I feel quite offended.
I really hope they can improve their customer service and don’t be so stingy with their customers.
Regarding the taste, coffee is mediocre. The bagel sandwich is nice.

Great bagels and decent coffee. A little pricey but the service has always been good. They take cash and card which is great since having that much cash in hand to buy 3 bagel sandwiches and 3 coffees can be a little much. But it’s worth it for the convenience

Sandwich was too bready. Not a lot of flavor. Coffee was ok (basically machine made espresso). Nice location and good price.

Ick.
I thought, since they serve hot sandwiches, they’d have a grill or griddle for frying eggs. But not so. They use a microwave for eggs… AND bacon. The eggs are odd — they’re that strange hyper-​yellow-​from-​a-​box color, flavorless, and extra spongy. The bacon comes frozen in little soggy circles (ew??). Like many other Unilocalers, my order was messed up — no cheese, spinach and onions served cold instead of cooked. The inside of my sando was so gross I ended up throwing it away and just eating the bread. And why $ 8.50 for a nuked bagel??? The one thing they’ve got going for them is friendly customer service.
Cute concept, gross food.

The service wasn’t great and the food was quite over priced, plus the store seems to be completely run by high school students

I found Well Grounded via Unilocal for my group of friends. We needed a quick bite before hiking Muir Woods but were looking for something local and not fast food.
It’s a very tiny establishment seemingly run by a mother and her son (at least the morning we went). The young man was in charge of taking orders and making beverages while the mother was making sandwiches. It was pretty busy for such a small place, with the seats full and the line 3 – 5 people long.
I ordered a custom bagel — poppy seed with spring greens, avocado, and ham. I love that they didn’t skimp on the vegetables with me! It was fresh and filling.
However, I can’t say my friends had the same positive experience as me. The vanilla lattes were alright — nothing special. One of my friends ordered ham but it was missing from his sandwich. My other friend ordered a bagel WITHOUT cheese. It took a long time to made (so long we though they forgot to make the order) and it turned up WITH cheese… Not the happiest moment for a person who can’t handle their lactose very well.
All in all a cute neighborhood place. Delicious and well-​priced items but mistakes are common and the wait can be long.

This is the worst experience ever in coffee shops. The barista was fine but the cashier had no customer service at all. I have doubts on how they brew coffee with their equipment. Their mocha tastes horrible.

Quality coffee, AWESOME bagel breakfast sandwich, courteous, witty, well-​informed and respectful staff.
I will definitely return when I work in the area.

So this is an $ 8.20 sandwich… Are you kidding me? Is this some kind of Lilliputian sandwich, or what? No matter how delicious it is, I definitely would not go to this place again.

I give 5 stars based on the friendly neighborhood service. Always feel at home here, definitely a go to.

The lattes this place makes are really good and love the bagel sandwiches. The teens and 20 somethings working here are all really nice and efficient. I’m in and out of there quickly even where there are long lines. There is one guy who works there and is sooooo nice. I once met his mom there and had to compliment her on raising such a nice man, his service and attitude were so outstanding. I do think their prices are a little high for El Cerrito considering the location and size of the place… ie lower overhead than larger well appointed places.

Nice, quiet café with helpful staff. I come here often to get work done.

This place made me happy. Definitely small business love here, and the customer benefits. Organic coffee carefully prepared — even just decaf coffee (regarded as worthless by snobs) was smooth, tasty, and had their characteristic foamy white crema of well-​pulled coffee. They say they use some Swiss method and it’s really noticeably different.
I also got a the Humboldt sandwich topping on a garlic bagel (no prob) and swapped out cream cheese for hummus. Deeelicious. Only reason I knocked off a star is because they forgot my sprouts. I didn’t notice til near the end though, so that is partly my bad for not saying something. And they were already out of some bagel types before noon. But hey, maybe I missed a rush.
Building is a lil awkwardly shaped bc you have to go up stairs for sugar and cream, but they make up for it by having cute seating outside and… wait for it… COMFY CUSHIONED RECLINER SEATS OUTSIDE yesssss
I’m definitely returning for the coffee. They know what they’re doing here and it is worth going a lil out of my way.

Friendly neighborhood coffee shop with Semifreddi’s pastries and Boogie Woogie Bagel Boy bagels that features fresh coffee and specializes in bagel sandwiches.

Prices in this open-​early closed-​early café in the suburbs are rather nice! Reasonably sized sandwiches and everything under $ 9 (some under $ 6) on the menu. Plus, a lot of vegetarian choices.
Not a lot of seats here, but in the ‘burbs you probably don’t need that many anyway. Three tables are in the room off to the right. Nice and clean space and they don’t mind kids.
I got to try the Grilled Turkey Pesto Panini and the vegetarian Humboldt sandwich. Both pretty good and you get a good sized sandwich for your money, especially if you are comparing to what you can get at some breakfast places for $ 10. A light breakfast and lunch can come in at under $ 10 without drinks.
They also have soda and a wide variety of flavour shots to choose from.
On the menu there’s a «50÷50 Bar» soda using mandarin orange flavour and whipped cream (i.e., referencing an orange flavoured creamsicle); but depending on who you get at the counter, they may have experimented with their soda flavours, sometimes using things other than strictly flavour shots (like almond milk). Ask what they’ve come up with, and if it interests you, maybe see if they’d be willing to mix one for you. I got one that was meant to taste like Almond Joy.
Staff are easy going and friendly!

Had breakfast with hubz, before heading to Costco. Perfect place for a simple breakfast & coffee. We had a turkey sandwich (can’t remember what it was called) & a toasted bagel with avocado and tomatoes on it… that was SUPER YUM. Simple, yet delicious! :)

I drive out of my way to go to this coffee shop. One day I’ll calculate the mileage but at least 5 miles in an opposite direction of where I work and live. Now why would I do that when I have a Starbucks .5 miles away from me?
I’m not a coffee expert, in fact don’t know anything about coffee beans, espresso machines, and coffee makers.
What I do know is that the flavor of the coffee is by far the best around and no comparison to Starbucks.
They also have a rewards program like starbucks. Give them your telephone #, and collect points which I think works in combination with their gift shop next door?
Bottomline, again don’t know anything about coffee, just love to drink it and theirs is excellent in my humble opinion. I also love their fresh bagels!

We are usually here in the morning but today we went looking for birthday preens nets around noon and needed up getting lunch. Turkey Pesto Panini is so yummy. Grab one with your choice of Italian soda, can’t go wrong.

Never coming back again.
Tried to give them another chance but I regretted it at once.
I was called «Sir» while standing in line, even though I’m clearly a woman (apparently my gender is defined by my haircut).
Paid over $ 2.00 for a gluten-​free pastry (Udi’s chocolate muffin). Went outside to sit and eat it but saw the pastry was covered in mold! I went in, told them I wasn’t going to eat that and left in total disgust.
I’ll go anywhere but here.

Extremely glad to have found Well Grounded. This is the quintessence of a local neighborhood coffee shop operated by a local business owner who cares and demonstrates that care by the product served, the way it is served, and the engagement in life with a sincere «how was your day?»
Coffee is great and bagels are fresh. Can’t wait to try some other things in the future. Traffic in and out of the store is constant in the mornings but service is efficient enough that it is never a long wait. Great find!

Loved the Unilocal deal offer where I bought a pastry and they also gave me a small coffee (12oz). I definitely came here specifically for that as I waited for my car to get some repairs done on it at a local shop.
The sitting area could definitely be improved, it seemed kind of old and very minimalist.