It’s A Grind Coffee House

I just walked by and saw IAG closed. Sad to see it gone. It used to be a regular hangout spot when I lived in Long Beach. I hope Lazara and the rest of the crew are doing well.

THIS PLACE CLOSED DOWN LAST WEEK. Why is it impossible for small business owners to survive in downtown LB, especially near the 245 Pine area?
I miss those days with Express, Crate and Barrel, Bath and Body works, even the good old AMC Theater…
CLOSED.
Reviewed on 11/​16/​2014

Am a coffee «snob» and I love it’s a grind because thus far their coffee and service is outstanding! I am on an iced Apple Caramel nut kick… and this location serves my need for the nice walks and historical architecture… so pretty much a nice place to chill. the ambience is so laid back!

Great Mocha! Good service. What more can I say. I would visit It’s A Grind Coffee House again and again.
Enjoy Long Beach, CA!

Wow. A lot of over sensitive people. do you want them to come out and give you a hug and a kiss or make bomb coffee? I could care less about all the bs. Just get me my coffee and me out the door. I got stuff to do. Not chill and feel sensitive. Hence the coffee. Anyways… Coffee is awesome. Super strong, people seem cool I guess. keep on rocking. Braap!!!

Love this place! Very good vibe, everyone is really friendly but also minds their own business. I study here all the time, VERY comfy seats, lots of table space, lots of outlets, great coffee & snacks!

As a professional writer with solid industry credits who chooses to live in Long Beach, I’ve tried a few of the coffee shops in the area. Most of the Starbucks are overrun with transients and/​or teens cutting school who play on their laptops all day so it’s not an environment conducive to writing.
So I was very happy to have found It’s a Grind on Pine a couple of years ago. Even though I have excellent Wi-​Fi in my apartment, I find it is nice to get out and be around people to help with inspiration and character creation. So for a few months I’d go to this coffee spot to get some writing done about two or three times a week.
Mind you, I’d always buy food and drinks every single time I visited the place. However, I was never greeted upon entering the store and even though I was a solid regular, the owner/​manager (a short Latina (?) with dark hair and light olive skin) never was friendly to me. EVER.
I’d watch them greet selected customers by name but ignore me and a few others. It felt like a clique and you’d figure that they’d recognize me after months of patronage but they never did warm up to me and I decided to stop giving them my business because I never felt respected or welcomed. I know this won’t make much of a difference, but if the owners do read this, please understand that you should try to make the regular customers feel at home or else they will stop spending their hard-​earned money at your establishment.
I’d avoid this place if you aren’t one of their «buddies.»

Great coffee Shop, feels very urban,
The only reason I give it 3stars is because the second day I return to buy some coffee the Cashier was very rude and unprofessional, I was short 5 cents and I asked her if I can owe her 5 cents next time I come back, her response was sarcastic laugh No and turned around and told her co-​worker again laughing, very rude. I work as in the retail field and when I get ask this question I try my best to to tell them I wish I could but I can’t or give them a professional response. I believe her name was Lydia

Terrible.
Poor coffee, worse foods– even the prepackaged crap, cramped layout and jus generally a poor use of space inside. I’ve been to others in this chain and while they’re not a favorite– this place id by far the worst.

The iced black tea with a little lemonade to sweeten is my stand by. Sometimes I will even get an iced latte and one of those great turkey cranberry sandwiches. I like that the Barista learns your name and they bring your order to you. It is always a very friendly place to go even though it is in the heart of downtown.

I don’t know why I keep coming back here… it took me 8 min to get a bagel with cream cheese and a coffee.
I was the only person in line!!!
And once again, people that walked in after me got their order first. Thanks It’s a Grind.

Cute little chain with good coffee. This location is right across the street from Starbucks but there are still so many people who frequent this establishment. The coffee here is richer than Starbucks but not as rich as Pete’s. Either way, it’s a good place to go to when you feel like a little caffeine.

I’m a longtime Starbucks follower, but had to find an alternate since the SB I go to was out of seating and power outlets (as usual). I usually prefer to sip on a large drink, eat a bagel and work on my laptop for an hour or so.
DRINKS
I only had a Peppermint Mocha like drink that was similar to SB, but IAGCH makes it with white chocolate. It was awesome! Prices seam on par with SB.
LOCATION
Great location and easy to bike or walk to. I don’t like to drive in downtown LB since parking is a pain, so no feedback there.
SEATING /​TABLES
Lots of tables and chairs (and several casual leather sofa chairs)… more than SB. And they have several power outlets with free Wifi. The barista said they even have extension cords by request. AWESOME!
DIDN’T LIKE
It’s relatively minor, but the place does have a strong roasted coffee smell, which is tends to cling to your clothes and smell like cigar smoke at home. Wish they could check on their air conditioner filters or have better ventilation. Same for the restroom, which is clean and well decorated, but seems to lack an adequate ventilator. So sitting too close to the bathrooms might not be advisable, if you catch my meaning.
The interior is nicely designed, warm, inviting and clean. I could camp out there for hours as a second «office» location, if I could afford buying multiple drinks every hour. Restroom was clean and modern as well, despite the lack of better ventilation.
IAGCH is definitely my new favorite coffee shop alternative to SB!

I love this place, but I was very disappointed on Saturday, I bought one of their City Grille sandwiches, hoping it was tuna, because that’s what the label said. I got to work, opened it, and it was turkey. And the cucumber, which is usually wrapped well, was not, and seeped out all over the bread. I dislike cucumbers. What a disappointment, I detest turkey. On the bright side, the stray cats had a good meal, as I fed it to them. :(

This place got worse. Internet didn’t work. It was spotty before, but nothing now. They reset the router in their own sweet time, but it still didn’t work after a restart. A waste of my time.
If you like no internet, threadbare, dirty chairs and nasty tables come here. If you like dirty floors, the smell of cleaning chemicals and no organic coffees to choose from, then by all means, this is your place.

I don’t know why I even came back here because I wasn’t impressed the first time, but I was just in the area and didn’t want Starbucks.
I ordered a small (which is like 12 oz? maybe smaller) Sugar-​Free Chai with Almond Milk. I’ve never seen sugar-​free Chai anywhere so I was pretty stoked on that.
The drink was delish, I would totally order this again if the price was right, but I never will because it was fucking $ 4.30. That’s like 35 cents per sip. No thank you.
I don’t get why coffee places charge extra for Almond and Soy milk…½ gallon of milk is like $ 2.29, I buy almond milk (½ gallon) for $ 1.99. Dicks.
Not coming back here. Lesson learned part two.
Plus the service is dreadfully slow (albeit friendly).

I’m not in this area often, but I have to throw my two cents in for It’s A Grind Coffee House in downtown Long Beach. I fell in love with the homey, neighborhood vibe of this little coffee shop! Kicks the Starbucks across the street in its corporate butt. Quality coffee, free WiFi, friendly staff, and amazing background music (mix of mellow beach tunes, jazzy blues, and John Mayer-​esque melodies — basically a sweet hodgepodge of all my favorite Pandora stations!).
Park in the lot on 3^rd St for 2 free hours and cozy up in a plush chair with a book and Nutty Cow latte!

Their Black Tea Latte Press is Super Duper Sweet! Eeek! I got it in a To-​Go cup and their lids are horrible… they keep leaking, drip drip drip. Hot liquid drizzling down my shirt, Burn! Where’s a bib when I need one? I still prefer the Tea Lattes at Urth Caffe… LOVE! =)

Good customer base, they have a nice group of regulars. Great staff, always friendly and they make a good cup of what you need. Nice music, a coffee house must. Comfortable feel, sit back and do you reading thing.
Very consistent and quality and taste. This is a go-​to.

I ran out of coffee and despite having tons of work on my desk (I work from home) I ventured out to find the Starbucks in my new area. I used Unilocal to locate, parked and walked toward it when I passed in front of It’s A Grind and on a whim went in there instead. Sorry SB!
It is nicely decorated. Dark woods, large paintings, more than a few comfy chairs and lots of free local reading material to pick up, which i did!
I ordered the Nutty Cow AKA Hazelnut Latte with Soy Milk and grabbed my usual Madeline shortbread cookies and paid with my debit card.
There were a lot of older people in the place hanging out, some bicyclists, newspaper readers and a couple of laptoppers hidden in the corners.
The music was great. «Is you Is or Is You Ain’t My BABY…» was playing. and matched very well with the jazzy art on the walls.
The drink was very good and the price was similar to SB — I noticed on the way out that they have an outdoor seating area and a doggie water bowl with the logo on it. I spose your K-​9 pal can grab a drink as well.