It’s A Grind Coffee House

Cute place but when I went there yesterday I found out they are closing today! Business wasn’t doing so good so they were forced to close.

Just bad… the girl behind the counter knew nothing about the coffees
The coffee I DID receive was cold and watery… just unpleasant

I can not comment on the coffee or the struggles of parking a car, the latter of which would definitely fall into that «First World Problems» category. Instead, I can provide a suggestion for how to have an enjoyable experience in hell, also known as Blue Back Square.
Ride your bicycle. This allows you to lock up steps from the front door.
From there, opt for an espresso drink. I recommend that iced mocha. Get whipped cream on it. A good snack to go along is the snickerdoodle cookie, warmed up.
If you say «please» and «thank you» the cashiers and baristas will actually be nice to you. This has been my experience 100% of the time here.
Once you have received your goodies, ride your bicycle down to the trail along Trout Brook and have a picnic. Get out of that sterile environment and stop worrying about wifi. The duckings and chipmunks are much better scenery than anything going on in that glorified strip mall.

Compared to Starbucks to me just a different name.

It’s a Grind is okay. It’s the coffee house equivalent of a flashy department store holiday display. It immediately catches your eye and draws you in, but upon closer examination you find you aren’t nearly as impressed as you were 60 feet away. The prices are higher than they should be, the service not as warm as you expected and overall experience lackluster.
Unlike other reviewers I don’t have any complaints about the coffee. My criticism is with regard to the atmosphere. It’s a Grind feels like a darker (and I literally mean dimly lit) and more sterile version of Starbucks.
If you are popping in for coffee and don’t mind the prices this a good stop on your way somewhere else. If you are looking to linger over your latte or finish (or get started) on the grad paper you put off, this isn’t the spot.
«It’s a grind» is exactly how I would describe finding a parking space on the weekend. Yeesh!

Why is this place getting three stars? Only one reason: the digs. It’s a small place, but there’s a good amount of comfy seating, pleasant music from acoustic guitarists and struggling artists you’ve never heard of, and WiFi. Can’t ask for much more from that standpoint… it’s a good place to relax.
But IAG needs to clean up its act everywhere else. First of all, the beverage prices are just out of this universe. $ 3.50 and up for small beverages alone. $ 1.75 got me a small coffee, which is no bargain either.
And the coffee? Not great. I’m admittedly a coffee junkie, and not a coffee connoisseur, but nothing about this coffee made me go «wow, gotta have another hit of that!»
I also got a yogurt parfait, and soon after discovered the problems with their refrigeration system… half of it was ice. And no, stagnant freezing does not turn it into «frozen yogurt,» it turns it into an unpleasant and borderline inedible mess.
So, –2 stars for the underwhelming food and beverage experience, but a solid 3 for the place itself.

Did not have available the prominently advertised pumpkin pecan spice latte. Me and a friend instead opted for a vanilla latte and a caramel latte. Both were absolutely terrible, almost no coffee and very excessively sweetened. For the price we paid it was a waste. Sticking to Starbucks next time.

Pricey food. Inconsistent wifi. Horrible service. Limited seating. Been here four times and every time the service has been awful. Shame because one of few shops open late with wifi, décor cozy, and good location. Just transplant the staff and improve the experience 80%.

I’m surprised that this place gets anything above two stars. I imagine that 95% of the reviews above two are people just passing through. I have given this place chance after chance to redeem itself and it has failed every single time.
I will start by saying that the only redeeming quality of this place is their staff and even that’s a stretch because only three of them are truly friendly enough to just spark a conversation with you and one, maybe two, that are seasonal.
Their pastries, cookies, and bagels are all prepared off-​sight by a different bakery and delivered in the middle of the night. Not fresh and not something I’m about to spend $ 2-​$ 3 on. At least the Dunkin’ Donut’s makes their own donuts, not sure about bagels, but they actually look fresh. The snacks offered here look a week old and like they haven’t been cooked thoroughly. Their one breakfast sandwich they can make is microwaved and is about as appetizing as a McDonald’s b-​fast sandwich for double the price.
I’m not a fan of the «pump-​your-​own-​coffee» business model. I’ll pour my own milk and sweetener all day. But when I’m pay almost $ 2 for a small coffee I want the staff doing something. If I’m pouring the coffee I better getting a weekly paycheck.
The wi-​fi is horrible. Go in there if you don’t want distractions from the internet or want to meet with friends. Make sure to find a different bathroom if you’re a male, because it doesn’t lock and it’s been broken for at least a month now. It’s really too bad that I have to write a review like this because I believe the franchise has huge potential, but they are definitely doing something wrong in this store.

The favorite BBS stop for me and my son when we’re just chillin’. Specialty drinks are priced high but its the cost of doing business with hand made drinks and great service.

The cookies are heavenly. They appear to be two scoops of stacked batter that are baked into almost a miniature cookie pie. Take them up on their offer to warm one up too, and don’t be shy about splitting it. I can neither confirm nor deny that I ate a whole one by myself as an afternoon snack. Rumors that I skipped dinner later are hearsay.

Fun little hang out but they don’t have lemons. WTF?

50 cents extra for a splash — splash! — of soymilk for my coffee? Not cool.
Here’s the thing — best iced coffee in wh center/​blue back. It’s cold brewed and delicious. It’s the only thing that would get me in the door.
But…BYOSM (soy milk). I do. For realz.

I should have guessed that only a pre-​fab chain coffee establishment could afford this block of West Hartford. Any hope I had for good espresso was, upon entering, dashed when I saw the canned experience laid out before me. Alas, the espresso was undrinkable.
From their corporate web site: «It’s A Grind Coffee House is emerging as one of the world’s foremost coffee and lifestyle brands.»
All I want is good espresso, and I appreciate fine baked goods. Keep the carnival. (And it’s not even a carnival unless I can see a fetus in a jar.) Focus less on your brand and more on making espresso that doesn’t have to be hidden under 8 ounces of milk to be drinkable.
An army of coffee flavors, baked goods, prepared food and Numi tea await you. Nothing particularly special. Hopefully a Starbucks will open in the area. (Ugh, did I just say that?)

The coffee is poor quality super watery and gross. They have prepared food that looks ok. If you have to go to a chain just go to Starbucks.

I enjoy good coffee, and It’s A Grind does have good coffee.
Maybe I am partial to the Starbucks foreign language menu, or the simplicity of Dunkin Donuts «light and sweet», but I do find it a little more confusing to order from here if you don’t have a super specific drink. The menu lists only their basic lattes, and then they have an entire menu explaining the different coffees. I just want to look up quickly, find something that sounds good, and no more reading.
Plus, I think it is strange that their winter featured beverage is a blended frozen drink. Don’t they know its New England? It’s too cold for a frosty in the morning when I need my caffeine fix.
The baristas are friendly enough, and they bring your drink out from around the counter for you instead of just screaming your drink order. Thats nice too. However, the pastries in the display counter seem like they are super chock full of sugar. Blah.
But it is the closest coffee shop around in the area, and the Starbucks a few blocks away is always so busy, this place is a super time saver. Easier to find parking, too!

I enjoyed my recent trip to it’s a Grind, I had lots of work to do and needed somewhere other than my home office to do it. The free wi-​fi lured me in. The barista’s were helpful with my grueling decision of which tea to select. One such barista was however unbelievably loud, I found myself listening to her non-​stop story telling and think that I might have spent more time eavesdropping than doing constructive work. Will I go back… most likely I guess I can’t complain… after all it’s not a library.

Another cookie-​cutter chain coffee shop. The sweets are large and rich, the coffee is, well, just coffee and the specialty drinks are average to good. I do like the stickers they put on the to-​go lids, but that isn’t really a reason to pick this place. My partner often uses The Grind place to work from as the Wi-​Fi is free. The staff is young, but very enthusiastic.

This is a relatively new place. When I got there the place was empty… probably due to the fact that half of Blue Back Square is incomplete. There was more than enough staff and they recommended the Aztec Café Mocha. I opted for the regular Café Mocha and it was decent. I like froth in my espresso drinks and there was froth but it wasn’t the best froth I’ve ever seen. To make a long story short the drink was not bad but not great.
The service was pretty top notch (probably due to the fact that there weren’t other customers). The drink was actually brought to me at my table (something that doesn’t really happen in chain-​type cafes). I noticed that this service was repeated for other customers as well so my initial theory was wrong.
I gave this place three stars because it has yet to become a real café. To me a café is not only about what they serve but also about environment and until this place starts getting busy it can only be a three start place.
If you’re longing for something other than Starbucks then check it out.

I’ve always loved the It’s a Grind coffee shops. They’re clean, relatively swank, make a decent cuppa joe (slash latte, slash cappucino), and carry a morsel of local flavor.
There’s one nearby in San Francisco where the local neighborhood council holds meetings. Although this location, in the chic new Blue Back Square mall, is a bit smaller, I’m hoping it develops a niche of its own in West Hartford.