so glad this place is in the new neighborhood! great for a quick cup of coffee or a specialty coffee/espresso drink. friendly service and a nice walk away from our new place. hope this is the first of many local businesses to open and thrive in the laurel.
Brian L.
Rating des Ortes: 3 Oakland, CA
There are many things about World Ground that I love. Coffee is great, food is really good and the casual funky atmosphere is perfect. However, the service is always disappointing. Most of the employees are surly and/or unpleasant. I’ve been going for years, I used to go 4 – 5 times a week but now visit much less, and it’s because of the poor service.
Thuy N.
Rating des Ortes: 4 La Mesa, CA
If you are looking for a place to study or get some work done, and you are OCD like I am, this is not the place for you. This place is more on the dirtier side, and it’s relatively loud with a lot of extra curricular activities in the background. If you are not like me, this place is totally cool. It is very spacious, has outlets, and of course, Wi-Fi. It’s a low-key type of place, so the line is never really long, so that’s a huge perk. Not the typical hipster type of coffeehouses, but they definitely make fantastic beverages. If I were to rate this place based strictly on the COFFEE, I would give it a solid 5-stars! I love their iced vanilla latte, and their ICEDWHITEMOCHA. The latter tastes much better, in my opinion. I love that the barista will ask you to try it before you walk away to ensure that the drink is perfect for you. With that said, cheers to some damn good coffee, and amazing service!
Jam Rockah E.
Rating des Ortes: 1 Oakland, CA
The service here is rude. The last two times I’ve been here, the baristas have been rude. Today was the last straw. I waited in line. There was no one in front of me. I didn’t get a «we’ll be with you in a minute» or even a «Hi» — straight ignore. After about 5 minutes, I left. I wish there was a Starbucks in this neighborhood to give them some competition.
Paul And Cat M.
Rating des Ortes: 4 Oakland, CA
I just moved to the area & have been here 5+ times already. I like it! The sweet chai is delish & we like the breakfast panini(with turkey) & breakfast burrito. I wish the pasty merchandising was a tad bit more appreciated but everything we’ve tried has been delish. No complaints. 4 stars bc I like the place but not spectacular yet.
Michelle Q.
Rating des Ortes: 3 Oakland, CA
This is the neighborhood coffee shop so I gave it a try. I felt the drinks were just okay. I got an iced white mocha. I also ordered a bacon bagel sandwich which was also just okay, a tad greasy. For the price, I’m not sure I will be back.
Loliana J.
Rating des Ortes: 3 Richmond, CA
The people who work here are really nice, it seems like they have a good menu… but when I tried to order something the girl was so confusing! I wanted a BLT with cheese and avocado in panini form but apparently they only have pre-made food and you have to order specifically from the menu? Also, they only had breakfast burritos which was even more confusing. Honestly, I’m just very confused and still hungry and I don’t understand why they couldn’t melt cheese… or why they had such a delicious looking menu but nothing to eat???
Brian B.
Rating des Ortes: 4 Livermore, CA
Cool and funky little place. Coffee, snacks and beer! Friendly neighborhood place. Nice clientele.
Diana G.
Rating des Ortes: 4 Oakland, CA
Wonderful local coffee with very hip overtones. Love this place.
Bethany B.
Rating des Ortes: 5 San Francisco, CA
Large, quiet, good wifi, good service. The exact perfect place if you need a functional place to work.
Stephanie L.
Rating des Ortes: 2 Oakland, CA
Just got here with my husband for some breakfast, coffee, and study time around 11AM. No breakfast items available except a single bagel with cream cheese. No eggs in the place for some reason? No soy milk available. Just a lot of stuff that should be staples for a place that serves breakfast and coffee unavailable. Doesn’t help that the counter help wasn’t very clear about what was unavailable. I was told I could have either a breakfast panini or the last bagel, but when I asked for egg and cheese on my bagel I was told they were out– when the other option she offered me ALSO comes with egg and cheese? Just disappointing, overall.
Awesomeness B.
Rating des Ortes: 3 Oakland, CA
Been here twice. First time great just got a iced mocha. Was great. Today I ordered a breakfast bagel and double mocha warm no whip. I got whip on my no whip double mocha which is just annoying, and they microwaved or «steamed» the egg in the bfast sandwhich which was totally gross and flavorless. They should just get a griddle and fry the egg up that way for ppl who don’t enjoy puffy air filled flavorless egg. No salt no pep, was just a no. Never again with the bfast sandwhich or any egg product.
Gabrielle T.
Rating des Ortes: 5 Oakland, CA
I think every café lover dreams of a sweet and serene setting to escape to with a hot(or cold) mug of something shnazzy and a scrumptious snack to boot. In this picturesque fantasy, we envision ourselves greeted warmly by a super knowledgable but never stuffy server(who may or may not refer to themselves as a barista, it’s up to you) who can whip up whatever you want in a few flicks of the wrist. Depending upon what you plan on doing with your time at this place, you may want a little laughter and muffled conversation in the background or the relaxing(but non-creepy) lull of quiet. You don’t need to fantasize, folks! You can make your dream a reality at World Ground. The staff serves up more than just coffee, pastries, delicious paninis and the like: count of them to supply a joke when you’re in need of a laugh, a suggestion when you’re stuck on a crossword puzzle and a wildly inappropriate and probably inaccurate fact when you need a little bit of trivia in your life. The sweet chai with soymilk used to be my go-to but now that I’m just another slave bowing to the altar of coffee, I’ve been on a real lusty iced coffee kick. Ooh, baby baby. One thing that I truly adore about World Ground(especially since the school semester has just started and I’m using the place as more of a study hall than a cafeteria) is the bounty of seating and spaciousness between the seats and tables themselves. Whether I plop down in the all-the-way, all-the-way back, the front of the house near the big ol’ windows(note to self: do not get distracted by any cuties passing by) or wiggle my tail into one of those barstools so that I can weave in a few sentences with the sweet servers, I am never disappointed and can always find a way to get into the zone with my studies. That’s a pretty big deal when you consider the fact that I’m cruisin’ in on a Saturday afternoon, which is a very busy time for the place. World Ground is a true gem in my lovely little city – though the real gems are the characters that work there, the characters that come through there, and the character of the place itself. In the words of my childhood idol: «Sweet, sweet fantasy baby!»(If you don’t know who sung that… I’ll be praying for you.)
Martha H.
Rating des Ortes: 1 Oakland, CA
Most missed opportunity in Oakland. Enormous pastry case with uninspired choices. Cookies in cellophane. A long history as the only café in the Laurel, but I’ll head to Café 3016 or travel to Temescal for a better crafted coffee drink. Too bad!
Veronica R.
Rating des Ortes: 5 Berkeley, CA
I just moved to the Laurel and was afraid that with only one traditionally«coffee-shop» place around, I’d be stuck with mediocre coffee. Not so! They carry Peerless’s «Laurel Blend» which is one of the smoothest, richest, most drinkable dark roasts I’ve ever loved. Sequoia café has Highwire, but I really think World Ground’s blend is better. Their breakfast sandwiches are bomb. Their wifi is free. I love them. Thanks World Ground!
Maria H.
Rating des Ortes: 5 Hayward, CA
Great place with great vibes. Music is calm, the people are calm. It’s your typical café aroma only with added color and art.
Andrew H.
Rating des Ortes: 5 Oakland, CA
Great experience at World Grounds Café. My community group had a meeting in their backroom, and we felt welcome and deeply appreciated the space. Thank you so much for hosting us! Everyone enjoyed their drinks and food and we agreed that World Grounds Café is a great part of the community.
Christopher J.
Rating des Ortes: 5 Oakland, CA
You’ll often find me here with my laptop in the morning, taking advantage of the free WiFi as I plot and plan my destiny to rule the world with an iron fist. I find the café’s name«World Ground» to be a fateful sign my nefarious machinations toward«World Domination» will be wildly successful. The minions here … sorry, getting ahead of myself … the«staff» here are friendly, wonderful folks who like to smile and laugh(I may give them Delaware or Wyoming when I become their God King). The coffee is good, their lattes tasty, and their espresso is wonderfully energetic for those mornings when getting out of bed to take over the world just seems like too much work. I really enjoy the breakfast burritos and paninis which are masterfully crafted by Chef Ana(I usually have her add avocado to mine, super-food for the super-evil-genius … the little things matter). There’s also a fair selection of bagels, danishes, cakes, and cookies; including a small selection for those glutin-free future minions with peculiar dietary restrictions(personally, I always ask for extra glutin, I find it nurtures my inner evil). There’s a backroom area where groups can hold meetings(I plan to utilize this space in the future for my «Hire a Lackey» job fair … its so hard to find good lackeys around here, everyone’s always so nice, liberal, and«accepting» in the Bay Area; disgusting). If you’re local and need a meeting place, this is a great location and the minions — oops — «staff» will efficiently cater platters of food and carafes of coffee to keep you focused on your task at hand. So if you silly minions habitually frequent evil conglomerate corporations like Starbucks or Peets(Warning: I plan to destroy them first, I hate competition in my scheming for World Domination), then I encourage you to break that chronic condition of poor judgment and try this wonderful neighborhood café instead. Highly recommended!
Ronny M.
Rating des Ortes: 5 Emeryville, CA
I love this place. Locally owned business that brews strong coffee. Small simple lunch menu with a great variety of bagels and pastries for breakfast. Chipper staff that truly enjoy what they do and who they work for. For the wine or beer drinker they have a small selection which are typically local. Most recently they have linden street on tap which is one of the best local breweries around. They are fast, friendly and moderately priced for what they serve. great local spot
Eric S.
Rating des Ortes: 3 Oakland, CA
I’ve been going to this place on and off for way over 10 years. I’ve had drip coffee most of the time. But as a beer drinker moves to Scotch, I’ve moved to espresso. This place doesn’t make a good espresso. Went there on a Sunday afternoon. Ordered an espresso and a Cappuccino. They both came in the same glass. It was an opaque, white, Collins glass, like 16 oz. This may sound super bourgeois but come on. Espresso is a shot. You gotta be able to slurp it to get the flavor out. My 1 oz. espresso was sitting at the bottom of a 16 oz glass. Cappuccino should be served in a relatively shallow, wide rimmed mug so you can get a mouthful of foam with each gulp of espresso. This cannot be achieved with a 16 oz. Collins glass. When I was done with my drink, all the foam was still sitting at the bottom of my enormous glass. I blame Starbucks for destroying coffee culture and replacing it with cardboard cups and plastic lids. But I go to local cafés to avoid this. Shame on World Grounds for going down that road to subpar coffee experiences. I expected more from somebody who’s been in the game longer than most. I give 2 stars for the crummy coffee and experience but will add a star because World Grounds remains a quiet, comfy, community spot where one can meet a friend to talk or bring a laptop to catch up on e-mails, work or surf the net. Step up your game.