It’s a Grind Coffee House

Sadly It’s a Grind is closed.

When I found out It’s A Grind had shut down I was extremely disappointed. The whole, my heart sank, kind of disappointed.
It’s just a coffee shop, so I couldn’t quite wrap my head around why this was such a big deal. Yes, they had great coffee. Yes, the atmosphere was warm, inviting, eclectic and all around coffee house comfy. Yes, this was my office away from my home office. This was a place I could come and be around civilization away from the deafening silence or repeating songs on Pandora. All of these reasons are why I loved THIS coffee shop, but my disappointment seemed to be more deeply rooted.
This closure, along with another local used bookstore a few months back are examples of how we are slowly losing our individuality and culture. We are becoming a civilization (even if on a smaller note, a city or even smaller a suburb — Natomas) of chain restaurants, corporate owned grocery stores, gas stations and Walmarts. Think about it — can you recall the last time you shopped at a corporate owned store? Of course you can. Now, can you recall the last time you shopped at a locally owned store? Exactly.
Don’t get me wrong, I am just as guilty as anyone else. I dread my trips to Walmart. Based on their Unilocal rating (not only Natomas but every Walmart I have seen) everyone else seems to dread their trips to Walmart and yet, we all still go. We go because they are cheap, accessible, familiar and easy. One stop shop. Similarly with Starbucks. They are everywhere. We know what to expect from a Starbucks. An overpriced, underwhelming cup of caffeine. Do you know what to expect when you go to a locally owned coffee shop? Not really. However, just about every small coffee shop I have been to has had better quality coffee than Starbucks for either the same price or often times a less expensive price.
How do we stop this from happening? How do we stop the small used bookstore from going out of business while the huge Barnes & Noble cranks out overpriced books one after another. How do we help small coffee shops, restaurants, clothing stores, hardware stores — all of these locally owned places, keep their doors open? I would argue that we all have a role in the close of any local business. If we opt for local restaurant as opposed to our ever addicted fast food drive-​thru or a local coffee shop that might require us to park and order from someone in person rather than sit with the heard of cars waiting to be next up or maybe even venture into a small boutique and see what kind of clothes or accessories we may find. Every once in a while, make a different choice. Try something local. You might be surprised.
Money has the highest vote — this much is true.
I don’t know if anyone will read this considering my favorite office away from my office is now closed, but if you do; please reconsider buying, shopping, patronizing local next time you make a purchase. Your community thanks you!

My daughter loves this place and takes me there every time I come to visit. Nothing to blow my hair back, but nothing to complain about either. I’ll be back.

Best chai latte in town!
My go-​to place in the mornings and my go-​to place to do work. Lots of tables and they always have a radio on playing music. The people who work here are really nice too and they bring your coffee to you instead of just calling out your name. I’ve noticed that sometimes the price fluctuates even if I’m ordering the same thing but usually when that happens, it ends up being cheaper so no complaints :)

This is the review for April 14^th 2012. We used to live in Natomas back then and decided to check this place out. We were pretty much the only customers there. The coffee was ok, but we went there to celebrate a special day. So it was fun for us.

Not satisfied at all with this place. I was in a rush so I decided to stop here instead of going to either Peet’s or Starbucks. I ordered my small iced coffee with a plant based milk. Not only do they charge 50 cents more for coffee than other places, but they charge 50 cents extra for soy/​almond milk. Peets and Starbucks does not.
So anyways, fine, it was a dollar extra whatever. But the problem was that upon tasting it, it was literally the most disgusting thing I’ve had to drink… probably ever. I recall telling my friend it’s more enjoyable drinking NyQuil. I mean, the coffee was unbelievably bad. I don’t know what it was. I didn’t throw it away in the trash can in front of the store, I decided I’m a little more civil than that. A little.
This is the reason why I don’t like trying new places.

Started going here a couple of months ago. At first I liked it and thought it was going to be my go-​to coffee place in Natomas. In the last two weeks they’ve messed up or forgot my order several times. Something about their «tag system» being broken. The baristas were always very apologetic and gave out a free drink coupon. I would rather be able to get my coffee without having to sit there for 15 minutes and then remind them what I ordered. Only for them to get it wrong (at least I got anything I guess)
Coffee was good. Food/​pastries taste frozen and store bought.
Its also not very good customer service to not even greet me with a smile but then when one of your «usuals» come in to be friendly and nice.
Will not be coming back.

I’m already giving it more stars because it isn’t a god awful Starbucks. The coffee here is great and the seating is very nice and relaxed. Customer service was great and prompt. I did some studying there before a big exam. I’d definitely come back here.

Waaaay better than Starbucks. Don’t get me wrong. I still go to Starbucks often as it’s convenient but as far as quality and taste I prefer It’s a Grind. I love the iced white mocha and tuxedo from here. The roast of the beans sets them apart from their competitors.

Great choice of blends. I only drink plain coffee so it’s really important that it tastes awesome. I have always had friendly service, Although the wait is kinda crazy sometimes, Very clean, neat place. I have never stayed here long but I would.

Move over Starbucks and Peet’s! Met with a friend here while I was in Sacramento and instantly fell in love! They’ve got a massive list of drinks to choose from — it was really hard to make up my mind so too bad it’s not closer to my house because I would be here almost everyday to try out every single cool sounding beverage — White/​triple chocolate, caramel mocha, funky monkey iced or blended, nutty cow hazelnut latte, etc etc etc?! Good amount of seating — comfortable old fashioned arm chairs and couches, or outside seating for the nice warm summer days.
Fortunately, I did look up to see if there was one closer and looks like there’s a location in SF and another in Burlingame. So I will have to see how they fair against this Natomas location!

I have held many client consultations here and I love it. They have a decent amount of seating and when it is nice, you can sit outside. They offer free wi-​fi, slow but free.
I just tried their Hawaiian sea salt caramel latte. Uh bomb! I opted for less caramel and not whipped cream and it was perfect. Do yourself a favor and get a big one, tell your friends it is awful (I didn’t take this advice — and suffered) and enjoy every last sip :)

Most of the staff is friendly, many of them remember my name, drinks are made well, some of them can make a mean soy latte. Bathrooms and café is kept very clean.
Suggestion: Try to figure out how to set the thermostat, because the temperature is inconsistent either way too hot or freezing cold.
Consider inviting acoustic musical artists to perform and/​or local artists to display work.

This is one of my favorite places to get a delicious cup o’ joe when it’s rainy and I’m looking to splurge on calories. :-) Their service is top-​notch and they usually try to greet you by name.
I don’t come here as often as I used to but I get consistently good service and quality beverages when I do come. They even give the kiddo a little bit of whipped cream on the side if I ask them to BROWNIE POINTS from this mama!
I would definitely recommend their regular and peppermint white mochas. They’re devine!!!

First of all, I love the coffee at all of the its a Grind locations and this one is no exception but one of the things that I find that I don’t like about this location is the fact that hey NEVER unlock the chairs from the tables in their outside seating area. It make one feel like this is not a safe location. I understand the fact that the chairs might get stolen while the store is closed, but never unlocking them is just plain lazy and is not appreciated by any of the patrons who try to sit and find that they can’t pull the chairs out very far and usually leave in disbelief and disgust. I have been to this location many many times since it opened several years ago and each and every time the chairs are locked up. #epicfail

A nice, minimalist coffee house. Quiet, so a good place to study. Staff were friendly and accommodating, and they definitely had some cool gadgets and toys. I bought a loose leaf tea and a brewed coffee my first time there. The tea (gunpowder green) wasn’t great, but the star of the show was the mini french press/​paper cup I drank it out of. The brewed coffee met expectations. No complaints really — they have a nice thing going on here. I would probably need to try some of their other stuff before I have a better idea of the quality here. For all I know, their expresso drinks would deserve 5 stars.
Pros: Friendly staff, drinks generally meet expectations, nice atmosphere
Cons: Price a little higher than those of competitors

I never really paid attention to this place before, but I was lured in by the picture of the Pumpkin Caramel Pecan drink.
I ordered a Pumpkin Caramel Pecan blended iced drink, and it was over $ 4. Pretty pricey, but it was delicious! It was tasty and satisfying for anyone with a sweet tooth. It reminded me of the Starbucks Frappucino, but better — and I love Frappucinos. You can really taste the caramel and pecan, but I couldn’t taste much of the pumpkin.
This place has a pretty extensive/​decent menu for coffee. But I’m not a huge coffee person, so I can’t judge that too well.
I really liked how cozy this place was. The service was good too. I would come back here and maybe try the Funky Monkey, cus that sounded good.

This is one of my favorite coffee shops in town… when I’m up yonder in that there Natomas area, I always make sure to stop in.
It’s cozy & mellow. I get a little experimenty when I go and I’ve tried nearly every coffee drink they have and they have all been good. It seems like they have a really strong focus on customer service… the staff are always sweet, helpful, and fast.
The only complaint I have is that I wish they’d put a location downtown so I could go more often.

The nutty cow is definitely nuttly delicious.
Wifi’s great.
Would be even better if they had a bigger selection of snacks… all their current selection are pretty much sweets and deserts. Would love a sandwich in the mix.

I had heard alot about this place and have been wanting to check it out for quite some time, Now that I’m attending school near by I may be stopping here frequently– that is for the coffee not the pastries… Uhhh
As upon walking in to this little café, I was struck by the ever so appealing display of temtasiously, delicious looking cupcakes and pastries. Unfortunatly, these well displayed pretty, little cupcakes do not quite measure up to the delicious look they misleadingly present.
My first trying of these cupcakes was the Smores cupcake… mmmm looked and sounded delicious however, it was the exact opposite. This cupcake had to be literally the driest cupcake ever, not even the top part of the cupcake saved it the tastless dry bottom.
Upon my second visit and after pondering over the selection displayed this day, I asked the girl behind the desk if all the cupcakes are usually pretty dry like the one I had before, She said unfortunately they are, there more into display rather then taste… sad. Anyhow she said the Caramel de Luce cupcake was actually quite moist and worth trying, so I tried this one– still a little dry and the frosting seriously has got to be from some incredibly cheap stuff. So maybe I am overly picky and comparing to sprinkles, though I think not.
As for everything else, the atmosphere is really cute, lots of seating area with free WiFi the coffee is pretty good and It is worth checking out however, if you are picky and know good pastries and cupcakes, I would suggest skipping this place for the pastries and going to a café that know there sweet stuff.