The Grind & Gallery Coffee Bar

Even though The Grind isn’t always my first choice when going out for coffee, I really appreciate the fact that they’re open late! They’ve always been there for me in times when other coffee shops weren’t. Riley Park is pretty much a ghost town after 9pm unless you wanna go to a pub. But what if you just want to relax somewhere quiet and have a late night coffee? The Grind will hook you up.

This is a good place to study or get together with friends. it’s spacious and restroom is wheelchair accessible

How about no stars? I had a very disappointing experience here. I forgot to ask for lactose free milk until after my drink was made. The owners of the shop, a korean couple, specifically the woman, responded «ohhhh you should have told us sooner!!» In the most annoyed tone of voice. Seriously, i should have been the more annoyed one, i just paid $ 4 for an iced chocolate (which tasted dirt cheap– like Nesquick sugary chocolate syrup in milk) that i could not drink. I could not be bothered to argue with such an insensitive, non customer oriented shop owner so i just dropped the argument. I will never go back. Quality of the drink wasn’t that great, but the service was awful. I admit i should have remembered to mention the lactose free milk point, but you should never have such an attitude, and treat your customers like they did something awfully wrong, when they have a simple request. It would have been much smarter and much better business decision to just remake my drink, especially considering that the cost of ingredients is much much less than losing a future customer.

I normally don’t go up this far on Main as I normally stop at either record stores and then back down again, however, was inspired recently in conversation with someone to come and check this out.
I really wanted to like this place as I am always hunting down places to have coffee on Main street, however, here is where this placed failed me… in their pastry department. They didn’t carry anything dietary specific, however, what they did have didn’t seem appealing and pre-​made.
latte was decent.

Needed some quick food while in the main street area so I Unilocaled up a coffee and sandwich place and chose one with 4 stars… it happened to be this one.
Not a wise choice…
My BF and I ordered 2 paninis, a chai tea latte and an iced chocolate. The latte came out in about 5 minutes. It wasn’t a chai tea latte by taste, it was a sweetened latte (which they also sell). The iced chocolate took another 5 minutes. That one wasn’t too bad.
The first panini took 15 minutes to come out. Apparently, they can only make them 1 at a time because the second one took another 15 minutes and my BF had already finished his with plenty of time to spare. The idea behind grilling a sandwich is so that sandwich is HOT and the cheese melts… the second one had grill marks but was otherwise a cold sandwich including the completely unmelted and still cold cheese. What are they doing?
The paninis were not inedible but they were no better than what a bachelor with no cooking skills could make. Also, they came with salad. The salad was blah (craisins don’t make lousy ingredients any better). Literally, I could identify exactly what bag it came out of. Does anything at this place not come out of a package?
The place is littered with students who seem to camp out there all day. One or two people doing that would probably be ok but there were 6. It really made the place feel awkward and we felt like we were intruding on their study time.
I feel like $ 20 was stolen out of my pocket.

It’s 11pm.
I’m sitting outside with decent light, a decent soy chai latte and decent wifi.
If that isn’t worth at least a three star, you’re silly.
Like many a Unilocaler before me, the most memories made at this little coffee shop were made years ago, when the joint was still 24 hours and I somehow felt the need to play tabletop games at 3am. Let’s be honest — everything tastes ok at 3am. Even weird vegan wraps and pastries a little past their prime — because it’s 3am AND YOU’RE AWAKE. Inherently, you’re less picky.
Now that I play my board games at a far more adult hour of the day, there rarely comes a time where I have to plunk down at the wee hours and drink hot beverages to stay awake. I passed poor man’s mochas over for port and very rarely look back.
But sometimes, your email inbox sits at 300.
And you need to get out of the house.
And it’s 9pm.
And like Underdog — The Grind is there.
What is does have: everything above.
Plus, their soy chai lattes are pretty dang good.
What it doesn’t have: Anything mind blowing.
It also closes at eleven.
They kick you out at midnight.
Take it for what it is.
And thank your lucky stars it’s there when you need it to be.

Still my go to when I am even remolety close.
Service is always friendly and the coffee is always fresh and tastes amazing!
Free wifi is always a good thing. People are usually studying or the regulars that I see daily. If you’re looking for a good spot for some dessert and a hot beverage I highly suggest you try out the Grind!

OK, here are the pros:
— They have some good desserts and food
— They have free wifi
— They have a huge back room that is great for groups
— Seems to be a great place to study and work on things
— The staff is generally friendly
— They are open later than a lot of cafes
The cons:
— Their food is not always great — a friend of mine complained her quiche was potentially not cooked all the way
— Their prices seem a little high compared to other places I’ve been to
— This is a biggie for me: If you have scent sensitivity, DO NOT come here before closing. Anytime between 8:30 — 9:30, the staff will break out the cleaning solution they use to mop, and they do NOT dilute it. I have been here multiple times when they were cleaning, and the products are extremely strong and reek of chemicals, causing me to be light headed and nauseous. As this has happened a few times now, I intend to call tomorrow morning to speak with an owner and complain.

I had been here during college years for my finals. I loved their mocha at that time and haven’t been there for 5 – 6 years. Then yesteday I went there for my latte fix after lunch.
I got London Fog latte which was frothy, warm and delicious. Fast service. The store wasn’t busy because there are plenty of other coffee shops around I guess.

The tables are so run down and the place generally looks dirty.
The red velvet cake had the consistency of a cookie. It was terrifying.
The chai latte was the only redeeming bit.

How did the hipster burn his tongue?
He drank his coffee before it was cool.
Ha!
Anyways…from the outside it doesn’t seem like much and the drinks on the menu were pretty typical drinks that you could find at any coffee shop. I got the Mocha Glacier (cute name) simply because it is blazing hot outside. Then I asked the woman at the front who I assume was the owner of the place what she recommended in terms of the pastries. She suggested the cinnamon roll and said it was everyone’s favorite but then I scrunched up my face and explained that I was allergic to cinnamon. After describing a few things that were behind the glass case she placed a blueberry coffeecake on a plate and handed it to me. Pretty delicious, I suppose. Nothing spectacular.
Then I walked towards the back where there was a large seating area with wooden chairs and tables and booths. On the walls were a variety of artwork, mostly paintings and underneath each one there’s a price tag.
All in all, I like the ambiance of the place but it’s not worth the trek all the way over to Vancouver.

Tasty food and beverages, nice quiet place with lots of seating. I like the vibe of this place! Really good baked goodies

just drove by on a Monday nite, so quiet at 10pm!
used to be ‘the place’ to go during university days before Timmy’s, and the rest of the gang offered 24 hr coffee places. always busy back in the days.
a place to be seen too, i may add.
but great to see they’ve got WIFI too now.

I like the Grind; it’s got free wi-​fi, good food, huge seating areas and a chill, friendly atmosphere. What else do you need?

The Grind is probably my favorite study coffee shop. They have free wifi and many tables in the back for relaxing or studying. Most tables are close to an outlet, so it’s pretty convenient.
Their drinks are pretty good too! They have different flavored whips for each of type of drink. I usually order a mocha that has a coffee flavored whip while my friend gets a hot chocolate with a chocolate whip. There is also a small selection of baked goods that are very well priced and quite delicious. Definitely a fan. I never feel like I’ve overstayed my welcome even after hours of studying. Always very warm and cozy =].

I have been holding off writing this review for awhile, in hopes that my irritation with The Grind was solely due to early mornings without caffeine. However I have now been here a number of times, as I live in the neighborhood, and continue to be disappointed.
In the morning they do not have medium roast coffee, always dark roast. No vegetarian selection on food (however from other reviews it seems as though they may be doing me a favor), SLOW service, and the Grind charges a fee for debit transactions under $ 5.00.
I highly recommend heading to Blenz, or Mobius across the street. I feel for you are in need of a coffee before 8 on a Sunday, as the Grind is the only thing open in the area (besides McDonalds).
Also it is not 24 hrs. They open up at 6:30 am.

I came here for a caffeine jolt just before going to dim sum. I’ve nere really frequented this place too much in the past, but every now and then I’d come and get coffee.
Nothing great, and nothing bad. I had a dark roast and it was not bad. Slight sourness because it was sitting in a carafe for a while. It didn’t bother me too much.
I’d come again only if I was in the area and if I needed a quick hit.

The Grind was a big part of my university years, mainly because it was cheap and ghetto. Over the years, they improved some of the food, as well as added Wi-​Fi. Unfortunately, this last time I came over, it looks like they had cut the hours as well. The place now closes at midnight. Boooo.
Parking can be a bit tight, especially along Main. You may have to park on the side streets.
The coffee is mediocre, but the tea selection is nice. There’s a beaten-​up piano in the back, where you can play songs and annoy the crap out of everyone. I’ve never really seen anyone try the piano for too long, mainly because some crazy is going to bludgeon with the piano if you keep it up for too long.
If you’re in the back, be sure to gun for the throne-​looking chair, and feel like a king for a while.
Along the sides are some random paintings and photographs for sale. It’s kinda neat for sure, though art isn’t really my thing.
Lastly, beware the (extremely gross) washrooms. You’re better off peeing in the alley out back.

I used to hang out at this Grind a lot. And then I boycotted it. For years, whenever someone suggested coming here — I would froth at the mouth and launch into a tirade of obscenities about how much I hate this place.
Reason being: in my final visits here — there was a strong, unavoidable stench of urine. It seriously stank like a urinal (or, a stairwell of a parking complex) here — without the urinal cakes or ice cubes… outside of the drinks anyways. It wasn’t due to someone with horrible BO (not uncommon given the night vagrants in the area) — it was a persistent stench of piss that lingered unchanged in the coffee shop across visits on different days. After that, my friends and I stopped coming here altogether.
Only came back here on someone’s insistence and the fact I realized that it’s probably been at least 5 years since I’ve stepped foot in here (seriously, the smell was that strong and traumatic).
Lo and behold, I can now proudly proclaim that The Grind doesn’t smell like urine anymore. That’s a ringing endorsement if I ever heard one.
Free WiFi and 24 hours means this place means students like to camp out here with their laptops. Also the patio is 24 hours since it’s directly on Main. It’s also more spacious than your typical coffee shop with plenty of seat.
Coffee is expensive and so-​so and the snacks just plain suck. But pretty much the only 24 hour coffee shop in East Van other than the Waves on the Drive… which smells like unshowered student BO.
The Grind! Now with 100% less offensive odours!

This place is great for starving students. Open 24 hours and free Wi-​Fi, plus large tables. Great place. During finals and midterms however, make sure you come to this place around 5pm. You’ll be lucky to get a free spot afterwards, because students tend to camp out (I am guilty of such).
Teas and coffees are good. I usually rate a coffee place based on how great the London Fog is. And I am definitely a fan.