Fertile Grounds Cafe

One of my favorite café at Berkeley. Not crowded, ample lights and outlets on the second floor. Really good for working on stuff.

Went to this café for the first time after a long walk, looking for some coffee and a bite to eat. The setup has a lot of small tables, so it probably caters to the study crowd from Cal. We ordered two coffees (espresso and Mexican mocha), a spinach salad, and a falafel plate. The coffees came first, and were very good. The spinach salad was next, and was very good also. Fresh baby spinach leaves, feta cheese, almonds, cashews, kalamata olives and tasty vinaigrette. So far, so good.
Then came the falafel plate… started out with a nice presentation of ½ falafel balls on the perimeter of the plate with the hummus and tomatos in in the middle. Unfortunately, the falafels seem like they were cooked much earlier in the day and then reheated in the microwave, making them very rubbery. Also not much flavor to them. This might have been partially redeemed by a good hummus, but our hummus was extremely bland. Overall, extremely disappointing. After eating there, I saw other bad review of the falafels on Unilocal.My recommendation is to either commit to making fresh falafels or remove them from the menu. You are doing your business a disservice by putting out such a poor product.

It is quiet and may be a good place to study, but the place is a coffee house with coffee no better than your average restaurant. In a place crawling with good to great coffee, there are better options. I always like to support non-​chain coffee places when I can, but they have to serve decent coffee.

I wanted to like this place so much more than I did because it really does have a great environment for working in many ways. The wifi is reasonably fast and reliable, and if you’re lucky enough to get a table upstairs by the wall, there are outlets spaced all around the perimeter. That deserves 3 stars all by itself. Service was also friendly. No complaints there.
But there were a lot of things I wasn’t too happy about.
1. A lot of the downstairs seating consists of tables too small to even hold a laptop properly.
2. Chairs are hard as a rock to the point where my butt was killing me and literally distracted me from working.
3. I had the worst falafel sandwich of my life here. The tahini sauce was tasteless and the falafel (when I finally found them) were hard and dry. Most of the sandwich was just bitter greens in pita bread.
4. The restroom was out of paper towels.
Any of these things on their own may have been easy to overlook, but adding them up caused me to lower my rating. I will give Fertile Grounds another chance sometime but definitely NOT order the falafel again.

Hidden gem on Shattuck if you love going to cozy cafes to get some work done!
There are plenty of tables upstairs with outlets lining the wall. The atmosphere is pretty quiet with the exception of the typical coffeehouse sounds, which actually help me be more productive.
I was so tempted to get the strawberry pomegranate lemonade that was being advertised on the board, but it was so gloomy that I decided to go with a pot of oolong tea. The pot was only $ 3.28 with tax, and it’s nice to have some hot tea while I worked. They also refill your pot with hot water for free which is super nice!

I am appalled by the treatment I received today at fertile grounds. I live in the neighborhood and frequent this place a few times a week.
This afternoon– I sat down with and old, finished cup of coffee that I had in a to-​go cup from the morning. As I sat outside at the table and chair, finishing up a phone conversation– an employee/​owner of the store came out and told me to move. I told him that I was coming inside to order lunch in just a minute. He said I couldn’t come in w the coffee cup– I said fine, I wasn’t planning to. I got up from the table and moved to a small bench that was close to the street. He came right out. Told me to ‘get up’. Said, ‘this bench is Mine!!!’ And proceeded to pick up and carry the bench inside!!!
Very odd and extremely rude. He just lost my business over this and I will be sure to tell friends and family about how I was treated and to not support this establishment any longer.
What an idiot. Not the way to do business and not the way to treat people.

This place is actually quite a nice place to study at! It’s relatively quiet and located in North Berkeley where most students don’t really venture out towards. The tables downstairs are all terribly small, but upstairs is the JACKPOT! There are nice spacious tables and it really is outlet heaven as other reviews have mentioned. I would definitely recommend this place for studying.
As for the food and drinks, I ordered an egg & cheese croissant and an iced vanilla latte. The portion of the iced vanilla latte was huge and was actually really strong! The food and drinks were both pretty solid. I see this place as a potential café to go back to grab a snack/​drink and get on my study grind!

Nice spot. Server was really nice.

There’s nothing horribly wrong with this place. However, the wifi here is pretty unreliable. For the past few times I was here, I could barely get anything done on the internet because I was waiting FOREVER for the webpage to load. Wasted so much of my time sitting here staring at my MAC screen and being frustrated.

While waiting for a friend, I decided to go to a coffee shop nearby. Looking at Unilocal,there was Philz Coffee and Fertile Grounds Café that were the same distance away. I picked Fertile Grounds because I like to support non-​chain coffee shops whenever I can. I am so glad that I picked this place because I discovered my new favorite coffee drink: Mexican mocha! It has a spice kick (like in all Mexican chocolate) that a regular mocha doesn’t have. I also ordered a bagel with cream cheese.
There is free wifi (yay!) and lots of outlets on the second floor. However, the outlets are only along the wall… so you might need a long cable if you can’t get a table along the wall.

I was walking on Shattuck to find a coffee shop to do some work at and came across Fertile Grounds. This place is very cute and has great vibes. There is an upstairs for seating and is a perfect place to come and catch up on some homework or reading. What I like a lot about this place is that there is an abundance of outlets! There is a line of outlets upstairs and that is hard to come across at a café… Especially in Berkeley! Very nice staff and they have a great array of teas. I’m excited to come back here to try their coffee! Their food looks delicious as well, so you don’t have to go somewhere else while doing work if you are hungry, which is a great plus. The only thing that needs a little improving is their internet, it comes in and out and is a little slow which is why I gave them 4 stars opposed to 5.

Great study spot, never gets too crowded despite being close to campus. I recommend the Muesli, BLTA, and Mexican Mocha. :)

Love this place!
Service is friendly, lots of power outlets upstairs, fast wifi! Coffee and food are good.
Not a lot of traffic, so its easy to find seats.

Stick to coffee!!!
I’ve gone there several times for coffee, bagels, sandwiches, etc. It’s a convenient place located near where I work. I’ve had issues over the years but because of convenience, I would eventually go back again.
Today I purchased an egg sandwich on ciabatta bread. It took a little while to make but not painfully long. I took my sandwich to the condiment section and put black pepper and ketchup on it. The ketchup came out DARK BROWN, like BBQ sauce. I thought well it still may be okay I dont want to cause a scene, there’s a ton of people in here (but I knew better). Well I get it back to eat it, and the ketchup was severely sour. I threw my food away and called the café. Spoke to the owner. He was EXTREMELY defensive and did not take anything I said with a grain of salt. Just retorted with anger. I told him that he should probably replace the ketchup… he gets an attitude and offers a refund. I said its not about a refund, but more about removing a soiled item. I even requested that he taste it and look at it. m for himself. He did, and said there was nothing wrong with it, it’s fine to him. Unbelievable! My 6 year old can tell if ketchup is good or bad. He then says either you want a refund or not!!! I hung up. Never again. I’ve supported this café for a few years now, I refuse to financially feed someone who cant even own up to expired ketchup.

I am not a Berkeleyan (Berkeleyite?) but a place like Fertile Grounds Café would be the epitome of a Berkeley Café — good food, coffee, fun art on the walls plus that vibe that is distinctly Berkeley. Hey, even the name screams Berkeley. For example, you certainly won’t find a coffee shop with a name like «Fertile Grounds» in Palo Alto.
The food selection here isn’t huge but what they do serve seems pretty reasonable — a selection of breakfast and lunch items to go with good coffee, tea and drinks.
The staff here is friendly and fast and they leave you alone if you aren’t the chatty type. All in all, Fertile Grounds seems like a reasonable neighborhood coffee place. If I lived in the area, I can imagine dropping by regularly for caffeine and a bite, and maybe some free wifi as well.

This place gets really stuffy and there’s an open concept to the kitchen so when they prepare food, the entire place smells like whatever it is. When I went in, it was so hot and I saw several people sweating at the tables upstairs. They also just finished cooking bacon or something like that, so the entire place just felt like a pig roast. The fans don’t do much either. This is probably only going to be a place to visit in the winter for me.
They do, however, have lots of plugs, which is really convenient.

I was supposed to meet a friend in Berkeley for coffee, so I chose this place because there are plenty of Philz Coffee locations in San Francisco, and I did not need to try another one. I was pleased with my experience here. I came here on a Saturday morning, and there were only two or three other people in the café.
I love that there is an upstairs area in case you want to get away from the foot traffic. They post their WiFi information by the cash register, which is awesome. There are not a ton of outlets (you have to hunt for them) but there are plenty of tables if you want to bring a group. Good, quiet, and peaceful overall.
There are tons of food and beverage options on their menu, which makes this awesome for camping out all day for working or reading. I had their Caramel Latte, which I would recommend. My friend also tried their Carrot Cake which was alright. Their other pastries look yummy!
I was most annoyed that one of the regular customers kept chatting with the barista so he did not take my order and I was left standing there awkwardly for a few minutes. Anyways, this is just your average café… good for a change of pace if you live in Berkeley.

I just eat but my lunch eat look good and my coffee .I came here even weekend .I really like my sandwich I bought it

I am in absolute love with this place and the fact that I frequent this café despite the distance from where I usually am says something.
This is my 120% go-​to study spot, especially on days where I just want to have some peaceful time to myself. I don’t understand why so many people opt to study at Philz when their wi-​fi isn’t the best, they have a limited range of snacks/​food/​pastries, seating is extremely difficult to find, and even then not all the seats are «study-​friendly». But then again I’m glad not too many people know of this place or else I won’t be able to enjoy what I love best about this place.
Seating:
The seating upstairs (where I always go) is brightly lit and has a good number of tables and chairs, usually the perfect size for a 1 – 2 person study session. But the best thing is that this place is OUTLET HEAVEN — in this day and age when everyone’s always looking for outlets, a surplus of outlets is a beautiful concept. This is one of the main reasons why I always come here to study because I’m always working on a laptop.
Food/​Drinks:
I usually get the Mexican Mocha, after a friend recommended it to me. Until then I was mostly drinking lattes or cappuccinos. I think their drinks are okay, I’m honestly not too fussy with coffee. If I’m feeling hungry I always go for the hummus — they have 3 varieties but I usually get the classic, with diced tomatoes and an olive on top, served with perfectly warm and soft pita bread (it’s heavenly).
People:
Baristas are friendly and the service is good. Sometimes it’s easy to miss your food or drink being called from downstairs, but they usually only have one person behind the counter. They do a really great job of keeping the place clean.
Atmosphere:
I don’t see too many students here, probably because of the location, and I’m usually studying alongside older people that are reading or doing work on their laptop. The café plays their own music, but not too loud where I can’t listen to my own with earphones. It’s not a dead quite café which I love, and the atmosphere allows for casual conversation.
TIP:
Always check the wi-​fi password at the counter before you proceed upstairs. If you’re an avid coffee drinker be sure to grab the card that lets you log drinks and give you a free one after 10.
TL;DR:
Go-​to study spot, outlet heaven, good food/​drinks, a great warm and not-​too-​quiet atmosphere that keeps me coming back every single time.

For some reason the bright red Illy umbrellas go unnoticed by many a passerby on Shattuck, and for this I am grateful. I’m not ready to share Fertile Grounds with the Philzians and Asha-​ites yet.
Fertile Grounds is charming from the front in that classic movie way, with counter seats separated from patio tables (and those iconic umbrellas) by big glass walls. Some of that charm faded when I realized how narrow the tables inside had to be in order to accommodate the lot size. Pretty much all of them are designed for two people, barely enough room to fit two laptops on. The tables upstairs are slightly larger, but this is not the place for your midterm study (cram?) party.
Still, walking up to the second floor is a little bit like stumbling on power outlet heaven — all of a sudden the room is 3 times brighter and stretching all along the wall is a river of power outlets. If you come in the warmer months, I recommend getting an iced drink because it tends to get stuffy up here. On the ground floor, look for outlets scattered along the bottom of the walls.
The victuals offered are a mix of standard café fare (salads and sandwiches), all-​day breakfast options, Mediterranean small plates, and smoothies. There’s about 5 different places to look at the counter before you’ve appraised the whole menu (and memorized the Wi-​Fi password), but it’s worth the perusal, I promise! I’ve tried the basic Hummus Plate and was not disappointed by the smell of fresh pita announcing its arrival two minutes before it actually appeared. If you’re a fan of parfaits, you’ll love the Swiss Muesli, which is topped with sliced almonds, bananas, and cinnamon. I haven’t been blown away by their espresso options yet, but maybe I haven’t experimented enough.
Following the narrow walkway past the staircase leads you to a closet — or could this be the bathroom? The cramped, brick-​walled bathroom is bright and fairly tidy. Still deciding if the condiment squeeze bottle now housing soap is a creative twist or just frugality, but either way it adds a little unique flair.

This place has good drinks (all Illy, all the time), and the people who work here are nice. The music is unobtrusive, the wifi is good, there are plugs.
Which sounds five-​star-​ish.
The dealbreaker for me is that every direction you look there’s a picture of somebody packing a machine gun. Hey look, Jesus with a machine gun. The décor is every angry. Everywhere.
I mean, whatever. I guess I’m not like… conscious enough or something. But it makes me self-​conscious enough to pick somewhere else, far more often than not. Which is a shame because otherwise I like the place.