Sovereign Grounds

My absolute favorite place for morning coffee! The owner knows your name and remembers exactly how you prefer you cup of joe. Fabulous service!

I LOVE Sovereign Grounds! As the mama to a super active, curious, hates-​to-​sit-​still ten-​month-​old guy, SG sort of saves my sanity. I can hang with my husband or girlfriends (or go solo and have friendly chats with other parents) without constantly having to get up and walk my kid around the coffee shop or have him fight the fact that we are sitting at a table while boring adults talk. NOPE! Enter Ye Olde Play Area, full of toys (stimulation!), kiddos of varying ages (development), and parents sitting on the perimeter sipping their coffee and letting their babes explore (sanity!).
The people who work there and the owner are amazing, too. They’re not too cool to engage with the smiling babies who come into their shop, are always gracious and patient, and genuinely seem to enjoy having us there, as crazy as all of us families can be sometimes. The food is about as good as you can get at a coffee shop, too. The quiche is made with hash browns and is decadent and delicious. There are morning-​glory muffins filled with cranberries, carrot, apple, walnuts, and they goodies. There’s a savory curried-​cauliflower salad (fave!), and lots of grab-​and-​go sandwiches.
Some tips:
Please read the sign in the play area and follow the guidelines out of respect for everyone. That means pick up the toys your honey is playing with (or the mess of food all of our new eaters leave on the floor and table). Hang back if your kid or family is sick and an obvious drippy, sneezy mess. Babies put their mouths on EVERYTHING. Germs don’t need any help spreading around, as much as I love giving my guy’s immune system an opportunity to develop.
Also, don’t let a SUPER-​WALL-​TO-​WALL-​PACKED playroom deter you. Every time I’ve been there, I walk into basically zero room and babies piling on top of each other (exaggerating. Mostly.), and within ten minutes it’s cleared out and just a few littles remain.
Non-​baby people, fear not: the actual coffee shop is pretty well protected from kids running amok and squealing babies. You’ll be able to hang out on your laptop and get your work done, I promise. Just don’t get too bothered by envious glances from moms who can’t remember what it was like to be in your shoes not so long ago. :)

Great food, coffee, and perfect for the kiddos! The chocolate chip banana bread is one of the best I’ve had in a long time and I highly recommend the veggie quiche!

I love Sovereign Grounds! I’ve visited occasionally for the last couple of years and Hakan (or another employee) is always very friendly and nice. I’ve never had a bad experience!
Their breads and pastries are the freshest and priced just right for their size. I also love their many different salads! They have a great range in flavor and texture and pair great with their quiche, and they truly are healthy — no strange chemicals or additives at Sovereign Grounds!
Furthermore, the overall ambience of the café is very welcoming and comfortable. This is definitely a homey, go-​to place made for the community but still opens arms for new customers. The pricing for everything is pretty reasonable too; I’ve never felt that I spent too much on something at Sovereign. :)

This is a very neat place. My wife and I love the kids area, as does our one year old daughter. The whole place has great charm with old tables, comfy couches, etc. The Italian soda was very tasty (I got vanilla), as were the deserts, the tomato basil soup (yum!), and the salads (our favorite being the curry salad). As with many coffee bars, I enjoyed the snacks and the drinks the most, and was «good» with the more lunch like items (sandwiches, quiche, burrito). Overall, very happy with sovereign ground!

I’ve been meaning to stop by for ages, since this place has quite a reputation among my mom groups/​friends as a good place to meet friends with small kids. I have toddler twins, so when an old friend came to town, I suggested we meet here.
This is a GENIUS idea for a coffee shop. (Ginkgo in St. Paul has a similar small play space, but it’s much more limited). I was able to catch up with my friend in peace while my toddlers ran around in utter delight, playing with all the toys, «shopping» in the kitchen, pushing carts around, and reading books. They even ate a muffin and some veggie straws (they stock a ton of kid-​friendly snacks and foods, which is key).
I had the broccoli salad and a REALLY good ham and havarti sandwich with fresh tomatoes and some kind of wonderful spread. The ham was thick-​cut and perfect. My kids tried various muffins and pastries (rhubard bars, chocolate-​chip muffins, a brownie) and they were all yummy. I was pleasantly surprised by how good the food was.
Some other reviewers have noted that it’s noisy, and that this makes it a poor place to get work done. Well, as a college professor who does 95 percent of my work in coffee shops (see the aforementioned note about having two toddlers at home) I would kindly suggest that you find somewhere else. There are plenty of quiet-​as-​a-​pin coffee shops that cater to adults. There are very few that cater to families with children, and they’re appreciated. It’s right on the website – the ethos of this place is intentionally aimed at families with children. So if that’s not your thing, fine — but it’s silly to knock this place for being what it is.
I wish I lived closer– I’d be back often. As it is, it’ll have to be a special occasion visit, but we’ll definitely be back.

After reading that this place is the holy grail for families with young children looking for an indoor play area and a cup of joe, my daughter and I ventured there after our morning activity. They are, indeed, very family friendly and my daughter would have played as long as I let her in the play room in the back. The owner, I assume, who helped us at the counter with a kiddo on his back (so cute), was very nice and threw together a PBJ for my daughter as that seemed to be the only thing she could imagine to eat. I had the quiche, it was pretty good. The prices weren’t too high. The people were friendly. It was a good experience and we would go back.

I have been here a few times as a resting point between work and another weekly obligation in the area. I hesitated to come in at first because the kid atmosphere is mentioned so often and I was picturing myself trying to relax with a coffee and a book while screaming children surrounded me! That is not the case though, the kid area is off to the side and the «adult» area is a normal cozy coffee shop (my sanity remains in check!). They have good options for cold salads, bakery items, and coffee. If you are looking for more of a meal, you may want to go elsewhere, but for coffee shop style food, its pretty good. There is one barista there who always seems a bit crabby, but maybe that’s just her style, my coffee is always made well so that is what matters!

The owner is so sweet, every day food is made fresh, best iced coffee around! Always a great experience!!!

Went here for the first time just now and I thought they had fresh sandwiches, ordered the turkey cheddar, gross! Old tomatoes, stale bread! 6 $ for this and I’m going to throw it out because it tastes old and stale

Great place to bring kids. The play area has lots of toys. Don’t eat the chicken salad though.

The owner, Hakan, is a wonderful person and business owner. Since their big redo– they have more space and a better layout.
It’s a great place for a quick cup of Java, or a place that you can take up a table for hours chatting with a friend, and the owner will never make you feel rushed. They have a wonderful playroom for kids in the back, and the movement/​realignment of things has really helped keep the noise down. Buy your coffee beans here because they are roasted here on site and they are perfect. There’s really nothing bad about this place — no criticism that I could think to offer.

Coffee was good but the service was terrible and it got so hot inside we had to leave.

Stopped in for my first time last week and was very impressed. I had a really excellent coffee and the quiche. The quiche was amazing. The atmosphere was really nice and I will definitely be back with the kids to try out the playroom.

Perfectly acceptable coffee place, but not enough outlets for computers, the sitting area feels a bit cramped and awkward, and definitely for young families so expect to be surrounded by toddlers running around.

The main focus here is the kids. Hakan really likes them, and very few cafes accommodate young children.
It can get really crazy in there, especially when the weather is bad. One commenter mentioned the mess. Well, it seems that most of the parents don’t clean up after their kids or don’t try teaching their kids to clean up after themselves. They also let their kids beat the hell out of some of the toys. Then there are the screamers. Whether it’s out of anger or fun, the parents need to teach them that this is a public place and you don’t do that. The parents need to be quicker to take their kids to the bathroom or outside if they are getting too loud. Please, pay more attention to manners. Not all of us think your kids are cute.
For customers who are really bothered by the kids, the back room is now available for seating.
This is a neighborhood café, not some place trying to be trendy for the young douche-​bags.
Food has improved. There are now numerous good dishes to choose from. They are attempting to do more gluten-​free cooking. More of the baked goods are made there. Soups are good when they’re house made. They are now using Boar’s Head brand meats and better bread, make smoothies and rotate items almost everyday.
When I’ve had espresso it tastes fine, and it’s cheaper than most cafes I’ve been to. I don’t go for syrups and all of that. All of the staff may indeed need better barista training. They did drop the Hershey’s syrup but the Ghiradelli syrup also has corn syrup in it, so it too is technically a candy. Why don’t some of you suggest to them that they use a good powdered chocolate. For years the owners have been keeping things low-​cost but hopefully they’ll improve some of the ingredients.

I am trying hard to love this place, and for the sake of my kiddo, I do. But as a coffee shop, it’s weak. The espresso is expensive and weak. Anything off the standard menu (double shot Americano with just a bit of water) seems too complicated. No raw sugar, styrofoam cups, no bagels.
Come for the kid time. It’s awesome!

This is still one of my favorite places to bring my kids during inclement weather. The newly remodeled playspace is large, comfortable, and has a new «shoes off» policy that will help keep it cleaner than the old space. I see new toys including a train table, bigger playhouse, caterpillar tunnel, and a play kitchen. I do miss the slide and the climbing structure. It’s pretty easy to find indoor activities in Mpls, but spaces with toddlers to climb and slide inside for free are rarer. I also miss the interesting murals that covered the walls in the old space.
The menu and drinks are the same as ever. Lots of little snacks and juice boxes for the kids, coffee and cake for adults. Nothing fancy and not much GF stuff, but still one of my favorite coffee shops. Hakim can always convince me to buy a pound of his Turkish Roast to take home with me.

I live in the neighborhood and have always liked Sovereign Grounds because the owner is so friendly. They just recently expanded/​remodeled and it is great. For me the only downside is that now it’s super busy especially because it’s such a fantastic place to bring kids to play while the adults chat and have a hip neighborhood coffee house experience. Actually I don’t know why no one has done that already since it’s a cool business model! Congratulations Hakan.

The space and everything about the place was too cluttered… kind of reminds me of my grandma’s place! I personally go to cafes to get away from clutter… something about neat, organized spaces helps you relax or study or work better, at least for me.
I would not recommend this place if you want to get work done.
The children weren’t very noisy in the other room when I was there, but, the young barista and his friends were having a rather loud conversation (the café is basically a small room). It was like sitting on the bus and having to listen to the annoying person who is talking on their cell phone and won’t shut up.
I had the chai tea here. It was okay but it won’t bring me back here.