Common Grounds Coffee House

This is such a cute place! It has a nice, homey feel to it. I love that it’s locally owned (I hate giving my $ to big business Starbucks). Great hangout location near UK campus where you can just chill with friends or solo with the wifi. I haven’t tried their food yet but their beverages are tasty!

Best coffee in Lexington. They roast their own beans. The Colombian is my favorite. The muffins and breakfast burritos are excellent too.

This place treats their employees like shit. Go spend your money at one of the numerous other local coffee shops that actually give a damn about people.

I’ve been coming to Common Grounds for 10 years now. A consistently good cup of coffee, a great place to study and tasty food. Give it a try!

Any coffee shop where I can get a delicious tea beverage is going to win my heart. I am one of the approximately two people in the world who don’t like coffee so this review is for the rest of you.
Common Grounds has a good tea list, and they even have a drink called a London Fog, which is Earl Grey steeped in water and milk with a bit of vanilla in it. It was perfect for the cold and rainy day when I visited. My friend said her coffee drink was fantastic, too. I haven’t tried the food yet, but I look forward to coming back and doing so at some point.

Lots of seating options, okay food, okay coffee. Espresso drinks are generally great, but I wouldn’t recommend the drip coffee. Employees are usually friendly and make things how you want them.
I’ve always liked the layout of the space, lots of different quiet corners to have a meeting or get stuff done.
They have wi-​fi, but sometimes it’s really slow, or cuts out. Some days it is just unavailable.
I wish they would clean it once in awhile. Seriously– a vacuum throughout the place a couple times a week would really help! Especially having couches and fabric chairs… it gets gross sometimes. Also, pay attention to the state of your bathroom, please!

If you like hairs in your pastries, then this is the place to be! I arrived here thinking I would like a nice afternoon pastry. When I went to pick one out, the tray had several long, nasty hairs in them. Are you freaking kidding me? This place looks like it needs to be condemned. Disgusting. Clean your establishment up. Being filthy and disgusting does not make you cool, it just makes you gross.

I go to Common Grounds every Saturday to do schoolwork. The atmosphere is relaxing and comfortable, with just enough background noise from music, conversations and baristas. Their medium roast, «1992 Blend» is my absolute favorite coffee. I also usually get a blueberry muffin, which are moist and delicious.
I’ve gotten food here only once and it was your average, coffee shop fare. While I don’t think I would take anyone here for the food, I would take them for the coffee and the great study atmosphere.

I started coming here in 2012 as a freshman at UK. I just couldn’t believe how much it reminded me of coffee shops in my hometown Barbados! The atmosphere was neat, and i thought all the baristas were neat. I especially liked the guy with the interesting shirts and he’s funny!
For bad stuff, since i started coming, they’ve discontinued all my favorite drink options. I used to get an iced puer tea (so surprised they had that, reminds me of home! barbados!), but they don’t have that anymore. Also, i feel menu keeps getting smaller, but maybe i’m just getting older… gotta get those eyes checked LOL
It’s cool, though, cuz common grounds rocks! I’ll bring all my bffs! Pumpkin spice is right around the corner
Peace love harmony –_–

Common Grounds has great coffee and a friendly staff, but it is not unusual to wait 10 minutes or more for a drink, and even longer for food. Set in an old house, the environment is very unique and conducive of socializing. It’s location makes it convenient to UK, Transy, and downtown.

I love the whole vibe of this place. The staff are really kind and helpful, not just to patrons, but with each other too! It makes a place so much better when everyone wants to be there. The guy behind the counter was super nice about my über obnoxious drink order (blended iced mocha with half the syrup… I know, a deviation from my standard ice coffee, but it was 6pm… time for dessert coffees). He even ended up making me a bigger size than I paid for because he was worried he added too much chocolate! I also got a turkey, herb cream cheese, and veg on ciabatta sandwich. It was tasty and came with a cup of truly delish potato salad. The portions on both were small and it was priced at $ 7.50. If you’re a big eater you might not get the most bang for your buck with the sandwiches, but I was very satisfied.
As other reviewers have mentioned, this shop clearly used to be a residence. It has a fun layout with lots of smaller spaces. It seems like a good place for groups to meet or to find a quiet corner to study in. I should note that when I was there the wifi was on the fritz and I was not able to connect at all after several attempts. Lots of outlets though. I also appreciated the wide variety of seating and table options.
I final comment: they had little info-​graphics posted above the counter defining different specialty coffee beverages (e.g. red eye, con panna, etc.) Very user friendly and a nice contrast to snootier shops that will shame you for not knowing your espresso.

This place isn’t too bad. It takes place in a old house which is now a coffee shop with a crazy layout as a result. I had a coffee and a breakfast sandwich. They were both solid; very good, but nothing worth making a regular trip for. The workers weren’t bad either. Not mean but not super inviting either. All-​around, I had an average experience here.
There is a good amount of space for stuff, but the layout is indeed strange. And things are old. I sat in a spot that would shake every time a person walked by. And the place was dark and gloomy. I’m not sure if it’s always like this, but the lighting (or lack thereof) was depressing. And I’m not sure how parking works. I parked a few blocks away in a random hood and walked over.
Overall, not a bad place, and it’s obviously loved by many. I prefer other places over this one, but everyone is different, and this may become the coffee shop of your choice. Definitely worth a visit.
PS, they also have lots of local business cards, events, and flyers posted. They also have free condoms and lube for the taking, in case your coffee date escalates quickly.

Loved the chill atmosphere and music playing. Iced latte was super good and I will definitely be back. Good space to study and read.

Great coffee, perfect place to study /​work an WiFi A L W A Y S works!!!
Food is fab too!

Really cool old coffee house — literally an old house! Lots of different rooms and different furniture. Very eclectic. Parking was a bit difficult, but other than that — awesome vibes.

Absolutely my hometown favorite — every time I’m back in Lexington I make sure to stop by CG for at least a coffee and pastry!
I started going to CG in high school for the Monday night open mic nights and was instantly hooked. They have a great selection of coffee, and their lattes are particularly delicious (shoutout to the Buckeye and any and all with caramel). I also started eating meals here, and have never been disappointed — the wraps are awesome, and I love that they always give you a little side salad of quinoa or something! The vegan cupcakes are also delicious.
Ambiance-​wise, I don’t know what more you can ask for in a coffee shop. Located in quaint downtown Lexington, it is literally a house, so there are plenty of rooms to hang out with friends, and all of the rooms have their own character. I love that there are books and board games galore and that the walls are covered in art from local artists. It is seriously the coziest, cutest place and if you live in Lexington but haven’t been here yet, you’re missing out!

As a teenager, I hung out here a few times. Can you believe that after all of these years that this place is still open?! Yeah, it’s old. not me.
Fast forward a few decades later, I was called to a business meeting here. Parking was weird. They had a questionable lot that I wasn’t quite confident that my car wouldn’t be towed away.
When I entered, people were sitting individually and were doing their own things. It was quiet and I was quite nervous and worried because this was going to be a one on one meeting. Why was I worried? I wasn’t the one who chose this place. I’m an over thinker, that’s why!
I ordered some sort of tea that I’d never heard of. If the hottest takes the prize, that one took the prize.
I didn’t order anything to eat, I was way too nervous, plus I wasn’t expecting to eat there, so I hadn’t scoped out the menu online. Yeah, I usually have to scope out the menu online before I plan to eat anywhere. Did I mention that I’m an over thinker?
I found a couch in an area that seemed a bit secluded, more so than where the individuals were sitting in the area as I first walked in.
I mentioned that the place was old, so the fact that renovations were going on outside of the window, was a good thing. Strange but okay, was my entire experience that day.
Fast forward a few months and I attended a group discussion/​debate. Who knew that they had that upstairs area?! It was literally like my my grandparents’ living room. I haven’t a clue whether the hosts paid or if they graciously hosted the debate. Either way, as an adult, I’m still not impressed with this place. In my opinion, it’s not up to par with the the other local coffee houses, or even the franchise coffee places in Lexington. It was not a very welcoming atmosphere.

Got an almond joy coffee drink, lighter on the syrups. It’s pretty good and they have an interesting range of specialty drinks available as well as good deals on food and snacks! Reasonable soup and sandwich for $ 6 – 7. Looks tasty but I’ve only gotten drinks here.
Nice atmosphere

I love the Common Grounds for the space. The coffee is A-​OK, not the best coffee you would find in Lexington. However, there are PLENTY of space to sit down to study, chat, play music, etc.
Karma is experience, and experience creates memory, and memory creates imagination and desire, and desire creates karma again. If I buy a cup of coffee, that’s karma. I now have that memory that might give me the potential desire for having Americano, and I walk into Common Grounds and there is spotty karma about it.
Improve the coffee and keep it consistent in terms of flavor, take a lesson or two from the Cup of Commonwealth, Daily Grind or North Limestone Donuts in coffee brewing, then it might give you good karma.
I think we are living in a time where the consumer has lots of choices, whether it’s coffee, newspapers or whatever it is. And there is parity in the market place, and as a result of that, the consumer is beginning to make decisions, not just on what things cost and the convenience of it. For that, I give other coffee shops the nod, but give Common Grounds an A for space.
Elite A-​Ok…

Why 3 stars? Because I just couldn’t ignore the not so good stuff.
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When traveling to a new city, I like to enjoy the local beer and the local coffee scene. After researching it on Unilocal,it seemed the Common Grounds was probably the best little hipster joint in town to grab a cuppa.
The coffee was solid. Just based on that, it’s a 4-​star, «I’ll be back» type of experience.
But the service? Yikes. The girl behind the counter seemed to be a bit frazzled by life during my 3ish hours sitting on the couch. She was yelling a lot at the guys doing repairs to the building, and being a bit curt with me on more than one occasion. I got up at one point just to look at a menu out of curiosity and she snapped, «I’ll bring you your drink when it’s done.» Then when she did bring our drinks, she placed them at the very opposite end of a huge table, about 8 feet away from us, and then ran off. My co-​worker and I looked at each other and laughed in disbelief.
Let’s also talk about the flies. Sometimes bugs happen, I get it. But we were pretty much surrounded by 5 flies the entire time we were there. It was kinda silly.
Would I go back? I mean, they’ve probably fixed the fly problem, and maybe the girl working was having an awful day… so, yeah. I’d give it another shot.