Ground Espresso Bar in Magherafelt

Been going to Ground shops for about 15 years. Probably won't be back after experiencing Magherafelt again today and the constant inconsistent coffee. Latte was watery and bitter, partner asked for vanilla but hers was even worse. Traybakes remain decent and are always the highlight of Ground. The main issue is that despite coming in at 11am on a Sunday and the place being quiet, the upstairs clearly hadn't been cleaned. Crumbs dirt and rubbish everywhere. The children's play area has a few toys which are broken and unsanitary. The lift has been out of order for quite some time and they serve the drinks on tiny uneven metal trays which have to be carried up 2 flights of stairs. Staff don't offer to help and 3 of them sat gormless behind the counter with no waiting customers. When you're charging almost £5 for a coffee you better be providing best in class. Ground unfortunately for the past couple of years simply hasn't, a shadow of it's former self where they coffee was worth a detour.

Didn't have food today. Food always good. I still like a coffee in ground.👌

Visited after shopping in town. Ordered panini and hot chocolate, both were lovely and staff were friendly and attentive. Will certainly visit again soon.

Lovely coffee shop, friendly staff. Nice and modern

Although it's always quote loud, my children love when we go upstairs so they can watch the world go by. They love their hot chocolate and cornflake mars buns. Great for a wee after school treat.

My absolute addiction, staff are brilliant always a bit of craic with them. They know all their customers by first name and ofcourse the orders. My favourite words every morning..... the usual. Best coffee in town

My favourite place for coffee in Magherafelt, great coffee, lovely location, great prices

So it was a wet day and me and my cousin decided to go to get hot chocolates ,firstly the staff decided to take their time.Then one of the staff asked whether we would like marshmallows or cream with our hot chocolate we replied with 1 to have cream and marshmallows and the other to have just marshmallows.When receiving the drinks it was lukewarm and NO MARSHMALLOWS.And charged an extra 50p for cream. And it wasn’t mixed all the way as both drinks had large chunks of hot chocolate powder at the bottom of the drinks.Will not be going here again!

Great wee cafe in the town, great coffee too 👍

Lovely coffee shop, great hot chocolates

Coffee always good and cornflake and Mars bar tray bakes are a must. Always stop here if we cycle through Magherafelt

Nice oat flat white and lemon drizzle cake. Wanted coconut milk but they don't do it unfortunately.

Porridge was delish, set me up for the day.

Good coffee, nice treats but not great selection of sandwiches

Bought some Carrot Cake on our visit. Completely stale and dry. Tasted awful like it been sitting out for days. My wife took it back, telling them it was off and to taste it. They didn't and while they offered us something to replace the cake, my wife refused saying she just wanted to warn them incase they sold more of the cake. To our amazement they kept the stale cake on sale and didn't withdraw it!!!

Visited with my family last month. I am on crutches and we had a buggy but as the kids area is upstairs we chose it because we were aware of the lift. I haven't been to a 'ground' in a while but always loved the coffee in the Ballymoney store. We had a wrap and 2 Americanos and it was absolutely awful. The wrap was so stale it was practically crispy, the lettuce inside was wilted and soggy, the accompanying crisps were sparse and also soggy and the coffee had a LOT of coffee grounds in it. Not to mention the place was filthy and untidy. Only pluses are the lift for less abled people and the toys for kids (though these are all broken and half are dirty) Staff were also uninterested and to be honest they weren't very helpful as we were struggling with crutches, buggy and trays and no one even thought to offer help. All in all, I will never be back in this store and will reconsider a visit to any other ground as a result of this.

Early breakfast trip, arrived at 9am and gave a cheery good morning, met with a Not cheery, “are you alright there.?” Coffee not good, window bench dirty and one of the first customers. Won’t be back. There’s enough bad reviews on here to see owners need to sort it out?

One of my favourite coffee shops. Food is always a great standard with a wide range of choices. The pastries, cakes etc are amazing and the atmosphere is always good. The staff are friendly and helpful.

An Architect friend brought us to the Ground Espresso Bar for a quick caffe on our visit to the area. Although my being a coffee snob from Seattle I felt truly at home!

Great coffee and lovely atmosphere especially upstairs!

Came across this place and was impressed. Popped in for an early morning coffee on the way to larne and coffee was great . We also had some carrot cake which lived up to its “worlds best carrot cake “ claim. Lovey place and will hopefully visit again .

The whole place is dirty and staff really unfriendly! It is extremely expensive! I would hardly recommend this coffee shop to anyone. I would recommend Slim’s Healthy kitchen!

Tables very dirty very loud noise not be back

Great place. Good coffee and child friendly.

I love ground in Magherafelt - a great place to relax, or grab a quick coffee or meet a client

Tables were not clean got coffee in a glass

Beautiful food! Couldn't ask for anything more!

Overpriced food (deliberately don't show the prices of food on display, so you get caught at the till - is that even legal?). Coffee not bad. New Bob & Bert's opening nearby might make them sharpen up! Food brought in (Lynas) and nothing freshly made/baked on premises.

A busy place coffee was nice but the environment was a bit crushef

Went here with my family for an afternoon coffee - we won't be back! From the grand selection of buns on display - a huge choice of two types of traybakes - to the cremated croissant that couldn't be cut with the (dirty) knife provided, the place is a let down. I enquired about the possibility of a high chair to which I was told look in the toilet or there might be one upstairs - such amazing customer service. I found the high chair in the filthy toilet area and true to the rest of the place, the high chair was filthy too. Crusted with the remains of food, we attempted to clean it but if the staff can't be bothered then why should we? Won't be back, terrible place. Avoid.

Unfortunately after last time I gave it another try as there was nowhere else open. The latte was cold and we received particularly poor service from one of the girls with blonde hair, I don’t think she was local but she was very unhelpful and unhappy. Ground management, you seriously need to take a look at this place. Bob and Berts is opening soon!!

Extremely poor customer service from Brad!!!! rude, sharp and blunt!

Great coffee shop in the centre of town and their Carmel shortbread is n absolute must.

Good drink and ginger bear sorry about my friends loved my hot chocolate

Always dirty but their coffee is good

Good coffee. Decor is lovely and makes the whole experience most enjoyable

Depends who's making the coffee.

Good central location, plenty of life around the place, and nice to just sit and drink a coffee while you watch the world go by outside. Coffee is pretty good and the food was edible. But it does lack the little extra that an local independent coffee shop brings to the table. It's clear to see it's a chain and not someone's business/ passion.

Currently sitting in ground cafe surrounded by plates, messy floor and generally unhygienic conditions. Staff member Orla was fairly unhelpful and very unhappy. Thankfully Bob and Berts is coming soon!

Perfect place to enjoy lovely coffee and little snack. Friendly staff, welcoming atmosphere.

Visited ground recently with a friend only to be told there were no vegetarian options left despite it only being shorty past 2. Then asked what the soup was as I thought it may be suitable only to be told there was none, even though it is advertised on the board. Left hungry after being robbed of nearly £2 for a bottle of Diet Coke. Won't be back anytime soon.

Lovely Ground, great views great coffee plenty to choose from. Service a bit slow on Sunday mornings not the staff fault more staff needed

Up stairs closed just after 4pm shop does not close until 6pm. Don't understand when you have prime location and views you keep closing it 2 hours early.

Obviously this is my own opinion. Overall I think Ground has got to big,, in terms of its number of coffee shops. Their food, both savoury and cakes and traybakes are beautiful - though a little on the higher side in price. My main bugbear with Ground (and this happens in every branch I have been in) is they don't fully know how to make the individual range of coffee's. I always get a cappuccino, which is meant to have more foam milk compared to a latte. The milk is just poured in. I always have to ask for it to be made again. Once a member of staff said to me "you want more foam?". I replied no a cappuccino is meant to have more foam. This visit, I was with my parents - when we decided we were going there, I said to my mum that she can order so I don't get frustrated at them. I went to visit another local store while waiting for order. On my return, mum said she had to ask for my cappuccino to me made again. To me this highlights a training issue - and it is more than one branch. This may seem trivial - however, if you are paying a decent price for a particular coffee, then you expect it to be made correctly.

Love ground. Friendly staff, good sarnies and great choices of drinks both hot and cold.

Good Americano and great Caramel Brownie 😋

1st class, very creative, a little bit price.

friendly staff and atmosphere, lovely food, great coffee .. nice play area upstairs. my 3 year old daughter loves it here

Always a good spot to meet people you know

Excellent coffee just wish it was open a little later in the evenings.

Great coffee and tray bakes with a nice big window to look out of and watch the world go by!been here a few times and the paninis are lovely 2!highly recommend ☕️👍🏻

Clean, friendly and great coffee. Plenty of seating.

Staff are real nice.get to no wat we get .

Very nice. Good service and great coffee.

Friendly, helpful, very well represented staff. Great array of food and drink. Prices are reasonable. Spacious. Background music perfect volume. Comfortable. Suits all age groups.

Relaxed atmosphere, friendly staff, fantastic coffee and supportive of breastfeeding

Friday Lunch in this popular diner. Ordered Toasted Paninis. Asked if we would like coleslaw on side. It was all piled on a tray with 2 hot drinks, no offer of help to table. Teapot had broken spout and jug was cracked. When we informed a member of staff they replied more had been ordered. Cutlery was dirty and we couldn't use it. Coleslaw was sour and we had 2 return our meals and re-order. No paninis left, so got wraps, which they offered to toast, however they microwaved them and they were awful, no coleslaw this time. No apology and no offer of refund. Young inefficient staff who couldn't care less. Will never return here again. Staff need to visit Ground Ballymena and see how it is done.

Great coffee, but hot food is a little too pretentious for my taste.

Arrived with a couple of friends for lunch at 1pm. We decided to have the soup but were told they only had one bowl left so ordered this and then were told the bread advertised with it was no longer available and we were given a slice of white bread!!!! No discount given. My friend decided on the wrap and asked if she wanted it toasted so they toasted the lettuce etc as well which wasn't very appetising. Ordered some tea and coffee and had to ask for saucers as they did not give us any. Staff are not very friendly and are certainly not motivated. Paid nearly £20 for a terrible lunch as my other friend just had coffee. Ground in Magherafelt has certainly went down hill and as there are lots of other places in the town to choose from I certainly would not visit again or recommend.

Staff very friendly and efficient nice premises

Love the staff. Love the coffee. Love the salted caramel brownies.

Lovely staff and monthly coffee specials. The food is also great. They offer a loyalty card to collect points for those money savers out there!

Standard coffee shop that offers all the expected hot drinks. tea coffee hot chocolate etc etc. Staff are nice and the place has lots of seating. Wifi is free and good also.

Witnessed them asking people to leave if they weren't ordering anything, even though only 2 out of the group of 7 weren't taking anything. Place was nearly empty at the time and the group were quiet and civilised. Really don't understand that type of attitude. Expensive plus bad customer service so won't be back.

Love chocolate brownies and good food choices. Reasonably priced.

This has to be the best tasting coffee in Magherafelt Staff efficient and friendly, food good! Especially the toasted bagels.

Love the coffee and cakes and breakfast options but unfortunately what let's it down is the toilets....very dirty and just nasty. You can tell how a place is run by the toilets. Sad really. Location wonderful but just need to get their act together.

This is a great coffee house in the centre of town to meet friends or for lunch or a coffee by yourself. The staff are pleasant and friendly.

A few months ago getting a latte took 15 mins with no one else in the queue before me. Also last week the girl in charge told us if we didn't want to wait we should go elsewhere. Thank you for the advice, we did and will in future go to Mauds!!

I have given ground a number of chances to at least up my estimation of them over the months since they opened in Magherafelt, an I don't ever right complaints till now. It's a local business and I like coffee but on every occasion this place has let my wife and I down! Yesterday was final straw, on going into the shop a few minutes before closing only to be told shop is closed, on the door it def said 6pm I was in before that! But this is not the only issues with Magherafelt ground. A number of weeks earlier we had a bacon bagel while sitting in which had hair in it as the staff with long hair don't wear nets on food prep. The Cookstown store a few week earlier was closed for renovations, we sat outside 30 mins before driving off there was no signs on the door and nothing on social media. Further the vast majority of the times we have been in the staff in shop never listen to what we have order and make our coffees wrong!!! As I write I have been blocked from there Twitter account as I complained, a really grown up customs service approach! My thoughts are avoid and try some of the other coffee shops in Magherafelt!

I used to think another shop was the best cafe...but now that Ground is here, this is the best. Two floors of seating, good wifi connection, great location and view with the big windows, great drinks and service, and really great snacks.

Bringing a more effortful style of coffee to Magherafelt with pour-over methods and aeropress.