The Grind Coffee House-N-Café

Great atmosphere. Better drinks. Wish the hours were a little later but overall my go to coffee spot!

The Grind is located in Plainsboro Village, on the corner of Schalks Crossing Road and Market Street– a nice place for a stroll in the warmer months, with a small plaza with a fountain and the local library a block away. There’s outdoor seating and live performances once in a while. Inside is year-​round seating at small tables, or if you’re lucky, in one of six comfortable arm chairs. If you didn’t bring your own reading material, or laptop, there’s a stack of local papers and magazines by the fireplace (non-​working). The décor is largely earth-​tones with large paintings of music greats adorning the space.
There is a display case of freshly baked goods– limited amounts of cupcakes, scones, and cheesecakes. They also offer packaged items like rice krispie treats and cookies. Hot foods include paninis and oatmeal. So if you want a bite with your drink, you can definitely get something.
There is a vast array of drinks– hot, cold, iced, frozen, tea, coffee, blended. The owner is very proud of the variety of coffee beans that he carries, so surely he can give you great suggestions. The regular hot coffee is self-​serve from large thermal carafes, and refills are 75 cents (at this time). I sometimes do half-​flavored coffee and half-​decaf to cut the strength, and there are usually around 2 – 3 flavored options.
No need to complain about the price because both price and quality are comparable to Starbucks and Small World Coffee (if not better). Same amenities of seating and free wi-​fi, too!

Located in Plainsboro Town Center, The Grind is the «go to» place for a quick snack, lunch, breakfast or a quick cup of coffee or tea or specialty drink. Friendly atmosphere. Excellent quality sandwiches, deserts, quiche, various drinks hot and cold, products at all times. Stop in and enjoy. I’m glad I did! Not sure about the negative reviews… apparently they went to another establishment! Support our local businesses… you’ll be glad you did!

cool place with a nice area to hang and not a claustrophobic feel that you can get with cafes. the coffee sizes are super generous and its pretty good coffee. my friend ordered a specialty drink which was only just over half way full and they were quick to refill it when she asked about it.
I give it 3 instead of 4 because another friend there ordered a small americano with an extra shot and said it was still pretty weak and watered down

I have been to a lot of coffee houses (Elixir in Philly, Lab Café in Ann Arbor, Infini-​T in Princeton) and this one is definitely subpar. I knew something was up when they handed me a cup to dispense my own coffee rather than preparing the drink behind the counter. At this point, I was still giving them the benefit of the doubt.
Then I drank the coffee. It what can be described as the essence of burnt coffee beans, the drink definitely left more to be desired. I had to add tons of milk and sugar to get an acceptable drink. At least with Starbucks, even if they serve burnt roasts, they incentivize your trip with a rewards program. It didn’t seem there was such a program here.
The only saving grace of this area is the interior design. There are definitely elements of a homely environment, but the table arrangement is very nonsensical and can seem cramped if the coffeehouse is full.
Finally, the service left more to be desired. The attitude of the baristas were not that welcoming, but they didn’t go as far to insult me to my face.

Decent place. I normally order a white mocha wherever i go but to be honest didnt like this none too much. I am sure their other drinks are fine though but not the white mocha

I love the quality and variety of the coffee here! The baristas are very nice. My only concern is the quality of the cups. Every time, my cup has been leaking from the sides bc it’s not firm enough

Nice, place with a decent selection. Prices fall in line with typical small town coffee shops. Main problem is the atmosphere. Nicely decorated but they have a cooler from hell. There is a McCray open fridge that literally holds a few bottles of water, yogurt and some pre-​made humus. The unit is stupid loud and ruins what could be a nice shop. If you going to stay there, bring some ear plugs.

I come here often, mostly for drinks. This time, I decided to get a chocolate muffin, which was good. BUT i found a hair in it :(I didn’t make a big fuss, but simply told the barista to remind the bakers to be more careful. He willingly offered me another muffin, this time hair-​free.

You get free wi-​fi with any order. They will kindly let you work on your laptop for hours.
Their coffees have been overpriced like their competition (Starbucks, etc.). You have to serve yourself for coffee.
My hubby found their pastries such as their blueberry scone taste better than at Starbucks. The inside of the scone was moist here. The scones at Starbucks were dry.
They have been offering sometimes free samples of food.
The coffee shop and restrooms were clean. There was no changing table.
It was easy and free to park.

I have been avoiding this shop because of the few bad Unilocal reviews for a couple of months even though this is the closest coffee shop to my apartment. But I took a chance a week ago and stopped in for a large cup of medium roast coffee and I was very much surprised by how good their coffee is. I have been getting coffee from this place everyday since then and my only regret is not giving this place a fair chance much sooner. At least on the coffee front, I don’t think it’s pricier than your average Starbucks.

The coffee here is usually good but today I got the worst coffee I have ever tasted. A blonde Eastern European lady reused the old coffee grinds three times to make a large Americano with an extra shot. I took a sip and it made me feel ill. I would not recommend ordering a coffee from this barista.

These people are moving their listing on Unilocal to keep you from reading the negative comments that people wrote in their old listing. As usual, the coffee and the food is nothing but worse than it was before. Today, I saw a pie being microwaved, when that clearly is something you serve fresh out of the oven or at least warm from baking. Not planning on going back, ever.

Oops!
I did not notice that this coffee house had changed its name to The Grind Coffee House-​N-​Café, from the original franchised, It’s A Grind.
Apologies.
Going independent from a national chain may have been a good idea, but I will not comment on that. My observations and taste sensations of the shop and their Java led me to the mildly deleterious opinion that their coffee was not all that good, particularly after cooling, and the their baked accompaniments were smallish and expensive compared to the competition.
To my tongue there is better Joe and much better bagels to be had right across the street in the shops of the Plainsboro shopping center.