Village Grounds

Tried to study here and found it closed and out of business.

The internet here is driving me nuts.
As I sit here in this café it continually cuts in and out, making my work nearly impossible. Funny that I would actually need to use the free internet, right?
I wanted to like this place, its bright and sunny, the hot chocolate I ordered wasn’t half bad (though the barista put sprinkles in it, which I found kind of odd. It also tasted strangely reminiscent of a Dunkin Donuts hot chocolate, which trust me, is not that pleasant).
Plus the aforementioned barista also seems to have a strange inability to stay behind the counter to take orders. She keeps coming out from behind the bar and playing with her daughter and talking with her friends.
I agree with some of the earlier comments, how can this possibly be a green business? Why are there no glass or ceramic glasses for sit in customers? Plus I have a hard time believing that the waxy sleeves with the advertisements on them are really that compostable…
It does have plenty of wall outlets though, which is definitely a slightly redeeming quality.
Will I come here again? Probably not.

My coworker and I decided to stop in after we’d had a lovely lunch at Cheese Board.
Its quite spacious inside, and has a very mellow vibe. Most everyone in there was armed with their macbooks and headphones in ears.
We were checkin’ out the menu for a while and just lingering around because the barista was on the phone. A few minutes later, she half listened and took our order. She whipped up the drinks pretty quickly, and I have to say my white mocha was darn good. The coffee was present and bold, and wasn’t overpowered by the white chocolate, like it can be at many other places. We sat down and chatted for a bit, but soon realized that this was not the type of place you relax and chit-​chat at.
I’d like to try the sammies one day, and when I do, I’ll be sure to bring my macbook!

The white mocha doesn’t have the usual bitter flavor I’ve grown accustomed to while sipping my mochas… good job Village Ground’s barista.
This place is super quiet– perfect for a student to study, a writer to get into their «writing space», or just to sit around and play with your itouch like the guy in front of me.
Wi-​Fi is strong. Instant bonus points for me when I don’t have to struggle or ask the person next to me how to connect to the coffee shop’s internet.
Not the cutest joint I’ve ever been in, but it’s clean, and the drinks are good.

Not a lot of people talk, so It’s a good place to study. There is also a lot of space.
However:
It’s not that clean. Not disgusting, but definitely not a place I’d want to hang out for too long.
Their coffee is bad. It has zero strength and the milk (I ordered a cappuccino) tastes like it’s about to expire. a stronger coffee might have covered it.
SO, NO.

Great place to get work or homework done, good coffee, free wifi, friendly staff. I like that it’s open, quiet and relaxed — and has good-​sized tables and plenty of outlets, which is key for me.
The only thing I’d change would be adding more food and snack options. Aside from a few cookies and pastries there wasn’t much left by the time we arrived in the late morning.
Still, I’m totally pleased overall.

Ok, so I’m changing my original 4 stars to 3 because last time I went there the barista was playing a huge game of solitaire behind the counter, and wearing nasty sweats. I mean, I get that it’s a laid back place, but a little professionalism, please!
This is one of my favorite places to get work done in Berkeley. Not only do they serve fair trade coffee (yay!) but they also have free wifi and tons of power outlets. The vibe in this coffee shop is great, pretty quiet but not library-​esque silent, and they usually play good mellow music.
The only downside to VG is that all the parking around is either metered or 2 hour parking.

Village Grounds is a cool looking, spacious café on the North side of the campus where lots of graduate students hangout with their laptops. I was here yesterday early in the morning intending to get some work done by taking advantage of their free wifi. With so many 4 and 5 star reviews, I told myself that a visit is a must before I eventually return to Westwood. Initially I ordered a turkey sandwich on ciabatta and was later told that they had ran out of bread. During that time, they told me that I could choose either chips or cookies and when I mentioned cookies, they told me to pick one when there was only one option to choose from. Once I brought that to their attention, they brought it out from the refrigerated section and handed me a frozen cookie in a bag.
I was then told that they were out of turkey too. Wanting to return the cookie in the worst way possible, I proceeded to change my order to a bagel with peanut butter and jelly. To my surprise, the bagel arrived with too much peanut butter but with only one small jelly packet on the side. At the moment it felt like I had just ordered a cheeseburger that had my cheese left on the side of the plate. The overwhelming peanut butter led me to wipe my face constantly like wiping a baby’s butt, and the smear of jelly was not enough for me to fully enjoy the bagel. To her credit, my soy latte was very good. The espresso beans they use were excellent so my drink was rich and potent. It was one of the better lattes I’ve had in a while.
As an advice to café owners: Please schedule a staff that cares and can be cheerful and pleasant in the morning. Although the café has a very cool ambiance and my latte was outstanding, the human dimension is still the major factor that defines the experience. 2 stars due to their careless attitude, shortage of sandwich options, poorly made bagel, and frozen cookie.

After my first rather rude experience the first time and a so-​so mocha, I decided to try another take at this place… and I am sure glad I did.
Spent a blissful afternoon here, the barista was a sweetheart. made fabulous drinks. great ambient music. nice quiet atmosphere (a bit too quiet for me at times) should you need to concentrate.. and overall very very cozy. Free wi-​fi and multitudes of power outlets, a major plus.
I think I found my new café hangout spot… me likes a lot!

Just went to Village Grounds for the second time this year. I think since Cal is mostly finished for the semester I didn’t have a problem finding a seat.
There is a lot of seating, plenty of outlet space and free wi-​fi, which make this place great. However they are having a severe nat problem, they were all over the place, on my drink, in my face, and everywhere else. I think this problem could be easily eliminated by putting lids on the trash cans.
My drink was okay, not great, but not bad either. The bathroom was dirty and kind of gross. Overall if they eliminate the bugs and clean the bathroom I would change my review to 4 stars.

Great, I find my ideal studying spot a week before I graduate. But as a gift to everyone else who has more years of school, I’m going to share with you how great this place is:
+free unlimited wi-​fi
+lots of power outlets
+quiet space. people come here to study, not chat with their friends
+non-​distracting music
+outdoor seating
+tables for two
The location is pretty far from me, but obviously not their fault. The food selection wasn’t huge. I bought a cookie that was reasonably tasty. No idea how the coffee/​drinks are.

I got a very nice PM from one of the owners explaining that the issue with them closing early is because they’re in the process of an adoption. While I personally hate kids, I have oodles of respect for people who can stand ‘em.
I’m also a big fan of places that truly care what their clients think. I’ll definitely be back.

First visit: Couldn’t find a place in VG to sit and study. Virtually every chair and table was taken up so I had to take my business to Royal Grounds on Shattuck.
Second Visit: Didn’t need to study but needed a quick caffeine pick-​me-​up. Of course there were tables and chairs open. The white chocolate mocha that I ordered was a bit sweet for me. It came in about a 4 oz. cup for $ 2.50 — an adequate size. Even though it was a small size, I drank it late in the day that it was hard for me to fall asleep.
They also offer a selection of sweet treats that looked really appetizing. Hopefully, I’ll get a seat the next time I come to visit.

On my mission to slurp and click at every eligible coffee shop in the Berk, I ventured over inspired by the tales of stupendous coffee, punkish raven haired baristas, vacant tabletops and sinkably good chairs. The weekday crowd consisted of bowed headed book-​toting/​laptoppers grad students, the occasional dog (!!) and a spot at a shared table calling my name. Casual and bright it seemed the ideal spot to buckle down with a task though equally appealing for catch up chats for small groups.
Nom nom nom time came with a vengeance. The menu: a whole rainbow of… sandwiches. Turkey. Veggie. Five other iterations smushed between bread. All «super fresh» Sysco ingredients. Creative, eh? I can’t speak for the pastries, but they were sitting pretty.
And the coffee concoctions? Don’t expect any of those fancy foam designs. This isn’t a pinky up kind of place. But with its low-​key, warm ambiance and abundance of outlets you’ll find me as content as a cat basking in tumbling rays.

My main goal is to find a good place to work from, hence I rate my establishments based on wifi connectivity, comfort and laptop friendliness and then everything else.
Pros:
1. Good atmosphere if you find motivation through seeing other people clicking away on their laptops
2. Decent amount of tables (both indoor and outdoor) with plenty of power outlets.
3. Wifi connection seems to be pretty good
4. Takes credit cards
Cons:
1. Can get crowded at times
2. Snacks selection could be better
Overall, it seems that this place is targeted towards a type of population that wants to sit down and work which I like. The coffee/​snack selection is okay but not that great but it is good enough for me.

I’m surprised that more people haven’t noted that this place serves FLYING GOAT COFFEE. Flying Goat Coffee + free wi-​fi = I’m there. I had a medium latte ($ 2.75) which was nice and foamy on top but didn’t have the pretty leaf design and didn’t seem as good as the latte I had at Flying Goat Coffee. However, I still love the smooth, strong, rich flavor of their coffee. I didn’t see any evidence that you can buy the beans (too bad).
I like sitting at a café with my laptop but the place was filled with laptop people who didn’t talk to each other or move for HOURS. They just stared at their screens intently.
They have quite a few electrical outlets and closely spaced wooden tables. There are a few leather chairs too. With the Indian fabric and yellow paint, the atmosphere is casual yet very quiet and serious due to the intense focus on one’s screen. It has the atmosphere of a library in a coffeehouse setting. The bathroom is popular. I think I saw a sticker saying that they’re a green business.
The food options include sandwiches, bagels (no Tofutti — too bad) w/​pb, hummus or cream cheese, vegan donuts, and Semifreddi croissants, bars, cake, etc. I had a bagel that was just okay.
The credit card minimum is $ 3.50.
Parking in the neighborhood is either metered parking or 2 hour free parking on the side streets.

Plenty of seats, even though most of them were taken up. I was lucky enough to find an empty corner spot.
I feel that there are certain cafes where it’s impossible to concentrate and study at, and then there are rare finds where I’m able to focus. Here at VG people were either on their laptops, reading, or at least pretending to study, so I fit right in. There definitely was a study environment feel here, rather than the typical ‘let’s-meet-and-catch-up’ kinda coffee shop, the ones where you can listen in on people’s conversation even if you didn’t intend to eavesdrop.
The café au-​lait was decent, though that Sunday was probably a little too hot to be drinking that.
Will definitely be back here.

Five stars? Seriously, people? Free Wi-​fi is nice; I saw people working but didn’t have my computer with me. There are lots of outlets on the north wall, so you can probably plug in your computer AND a hard drive, which would be sweet.
It was warm, as someone else noted, but outside was getting cool, so I liked that part.
I’ll be generous and assume the server was very tired. She was there by herself, and it was late in the day (although there were less than a dozen people on Saturday evening).
The coffee was WEAK SAUCE. I had a decaf americano because they don’t serve decaf house. My friend had something fancier and declared it burnt-​tasting. At least hers had some sort of flavor. I took the lid off the chocolate shaker and dumped cocoa into my water just to have something to taste.
There are enough cafes in Berkeley that, hopefully, I won’t have to go back here.

So… the other night I had a dream about bagels. I woke up thinking about bagels. Then, I walked to Elephant Pharmacy because my tea supplies in my lab were getting dangerously low. As I was walking back, I thought I’d stop by this place.
I walked in and… THEY. HAD. BAGELS!!! I took it as a sign, so I ordered a medium soy latte and a multi-​seed bagel… which the lady behind the counter politely offered to toast for me. They also had the same heart-​shaped vegan meal cookies that I wanted to try the other day. (Before somebody stole mine. Ahem!)
My latte was excellent, the lady was totally nice, the décor was cute, and the music was fine. My bagel was rather splendid… and there were also a whole bunch of cute preppy boys around (cradle robber, I know).
I am SO over Yali’s. I mean, even if they see you every day they’re not nice to you like the lady here was.

I was here this morning and really liked the place! It’s head and shoulders over the generic campus-​area cafes in terms of atmosphere and the quality of the coffee. My double machiatto was made perfectly from Flying Goat espresso; see
for a list of their coffees. My English muffin was well toasted too! Sarah seemed nice enough; the café has a good vibe.
Their web site is an example of unnecessary flash running amok. Just give us the facts!
The word «village» in the name reminds me that cafes used to be thought of as community meeting places. This morning at least, there was pretty much one customer per table and one laptop per table. Everyone was buried in his or her wireless connection. My table was the exception: I came in to chat with someone. But I did feel as if I should have had more portable electronic devices with me. Next time I’ll plug in.