Grounded Coffee

Location: 6919 Telegraph Road, Alexandria

Grounded Coffee is a French pastry / American espresso shop based in a small strip mall in Alexandria. Right off I'll say that Grounded has the best coffee I've found in the VA suburbs... so far. And, their pastries take me right back to France and Austria; they're fantastic and reasonably priced at $2.45 per croissant (plain, chocolate, apple, almond).

I've sampled the cappuccino 3 times. Two out of three times it's been very good: strong, complex, nutty, and the milk appropriately foamy. The third time it was burnt and watery. Hint: make sure one of the girls pulls your coffee. They have ceramic mugs, but you must request one upfront. The teenies always reach for paper out of (bad) habit. And, be prepared to explain what cup is deemed for your drink. Always much confusion here, which the owner has had to explain to her help each time.

While the lighting is florescent and all that, their is ample space with plenty of indoor and outdoor tables (outdoor is fully shaded, though along the sidewalk that overlooks the parking lot) and 3 leather sofas. Wi-fi is available and free. Decor is fairly minimalist, clean, and timeless.

They have a very nice play area for toddlers, and... gasp... a real changing table in the women's bathroom. (I have to note that since my 5 month old is alway en tow with me.)

Sandwiches, soup, salads, muffins, smoothies also available.

I like Grounded. Our friends plan to make it a regular stop on Sunday mornings. They liked the pastries and coffee as well (drip coffee in this case), and their toddler son loved the toy trains in the play area.