Suds and Java

Quick and good quality wash n fold.

Dunno if I’d place a lot of emphasis on the «java» part of the name, but it’s a clean and adequate laundromat with all the usual stuff you might need — washers, dryers, soap, dry cleaning — plus some extras — coffee, tea, wifi, and a couple of computers for customer use. Oh, and Ms Pac-​Man. It’s always nice to see her. She and I go way back.
I don’t know if they have any particularly busy times of day or week, but I came mid-​day on a Sunday, and there were plenty of machines available. There is free parking in the back; just make sure you take a spot marked «Customer» and not «Reserved.»
The wifi is free and zippy. There are chairs, stools, couches, and a TV. The menu board says there are muffins and cookies among the snacks, but I only saw Clif bars and bags of chips. The gourmet stuff might be hiding. The coffee and tea availability is reasonable, in the $ 1.25-$ 2.50 range. In true café fashion, they even have abstract art on the walls for sale. I wouldn’t go there sans laundry or anything, but you won’t suffer caffeine derivation while your linens are spinnin’.
I don’t need a laundromat often — pretty much just for the big ol’ comforter that doesn’t squish easily into the machines at my building — so I don’t have much basis of comparison. But this is a decent enough place to come back to.

I agree largely with Sarah H’s review, but I have slightly different issues.
One thing that’s important to note (which makes me terribly torn) is that Suds & Java is part of some type of work training program, which is a great thing! Some of the people they are helping train are clearly in need of this assistance, so I support this goal.
However, this creates one of the main issues there– the staff is somewhat incompetent at the most basic tasks. Things like weighing clothes, keeping track of clothing, or adding up the weights/​costs of the order are sometimes big tasks for the employees. They normally have someone there who is helping train them, but still you have to catch them on simple mistakes like mis-​adding things on their calculator.
There have been several times that I’ve had to ask them, «Is that all the clothes?» as they clearly were forgetting an entire bag of clothes. They need a better way of tracking stuff for people.
One other small point of complaint, which they could easily fix, is that it shows as CAREER ACTIVITY CENTER on your bank account. This is really ambiguous, and made me think on more than one occasion that I had fraudulent account activity. If they changed it to something like «SUDS AND JAVA»… well, that just might make sense.
The plus sides to this place is that its large, takes cards, is clean, and has parking (which gets full quickly, even if the place isn’t full).

Good business. I strongly suggest going early in the morning or later in the afternoon. There isn’t as much traffic. I would strongly suggest not going in between the hours of 2 pm and 2:30 pm. This is when they change shifts. Also, watch out for washing machines with magnets on them — this is the way the staff do laundry for paying customers.
Overall it’s a great service. It’s clean. The staff are considerate and stay out of your way. You can do your laundry and go to Kroger without worrying about getting it stolen. Free wifi as well. I don’t know if they’re still there but there were two computers that could be used for awhile.

Embarrassing to admit, but I’m nearly 24-​years-​old, and this was my first laundry mat experience. For whatever reason prior to now, every college dorm, apartment and parent’s house came equipped with washers and dryers, but without one in my new place, I was left to do some investigating.
After reading mixed Unilocal reviews on other laundry services in Columbus, I decided to skip the closest laundry mat in my Grandview neighborhood and hopped over to Suds and Java in the Short North. At 6 p.m. on a weeknight, I was one of two customers in a large and, more importantly, very clean space. If you’re like me and don’t carry cash, don’t fret – there is not an ATM on site, but they can give cash back for up to $ 20 on credit and debit cards. There’s a change machine for the coin-​only laundry, too.
The staff was kind and very helpful, especially for this laundry mat newb. As other reviewers have noted, you can have them wash, dry and fold your laundry for you; they charge by the pound. The «java» part isn’t much to write home about, but it’s a nice add if you need some caffeine. For me, the biggest convenience was the free WiFi, with which I was able to catch up on work and write this review.

When I pay for what I consider a luxury service — such as wash/​dry/​fold laundry service — I expect luxury-​level service. It is not cheap to have someone do your laundry for you, so I would hope they would do it better than I could myself. And I am barely capable of folding laundry within a week of it coming out of the washer. So my standards are not that high. However, Suds & Java is a big fail in my book.
I’ve been here twice. The first time I came in, the woman who took my laundry was maybe not surly, but she certainly wasn’t friendly. Whatever, it’s laundry. I don’t really expect service with a smile, and she was patient since it was my first experience with such a service.
However, when I picked up our laundry, another person was working. She had absolutely no clue which laundry was ours — because they didn’t use the same number on all of our stuff! So basically I had to point out every single bag that was ours as she wandered through what seemed to be some sort of drug-​induced haze. She barely wanted to give us the bags that CLEARLY had our laundry in them. It was annoying. I was concerned that I didn’t get all of my stuff back…
And rightfully so. Three pairs of socks were missing their mates. One pair was an expensive technical hiking sock so I was pretty annoyed. But socks can get away from you… so it was understandable.
The next time I let my boyfriend take our laundry over and pick it up, so I wasn’t actively involved with the process, but apparently it was again kind of weird, with them not being sure which bags were ours. Our impression at this point is that this is a vocational service center, where they give everyone a chance to make a buck doing laundry and they hire people with mental difficulties. I think that’s great, but I’m skeptical as to whether the people they hire receive enough training to be independent.
So this time, we lost more socks. And I am also missing a sweater. An entire sweater! unlike socks, sweaters don’t get stuck in the corners of machines. They are difficult to randomly lose. When was the last time you lost an entire sweater doing laundry? I’m going to guess never. The socks were also not paired up correctly at all, so I had to re-​fold all of them, which kind of defeats the point of the «fold» aspect of «wash/​dry/​fold.» Many of my shirts were also unacceptably wrinkly and I had to iron them before they were wearable. These aren’t fancy shirts and pants I’m talking about either — I don’t normally have to iron them, even when I don’t fold my stuff immediately.
If you actually want to receive the service you pay for (wash/​dry/​fold) and not lose your clothing, don’t go here. I also noticed that my laundry coming from here doesn’t smell *clean.* I don’t know what detergent they use, but they either don’t use much or it’s super-​unscented.
Overall, it’s not worth the price, especially if you’re going to lose about $ 30 of clothing over two visits.

When it comes to coffee in a laundromat, Suds and Java is so fresh so clean. If you’re super into the idea: with a few quarters you could hang out here all night, drink coffee, and watch the dryers turn. I could see a scene from Juno being filmed here. I wouldn’t be surprised if someone wrote a book here. A homeless man could live here. In this way, Suds and Java has many functions aside from beimg Suds and Java. It’s serene and inventive, It smells nice, and it deserves five stars.

When I first moved here and was working 80 hour weeks opening a new store, I discovered Suds and Java. I had told the president of my company that I needed a few hours off to do laundry or he could pay someone to do it for me. He decided on the latter and thus I found Suds and Java. I had never used a wash-​dry-​fold service before, but after dropping my laundry off here, I WAS HOOKED! I dropped my stuff off before work at 10am and it was ready by 5pm. How nice is it to drop clothes off before work and when the day is over you have nice, clean and folded clothes.
Once I had time to do my own laundry, I used their facilities myself. I love how there are several choices for washers– 3 different sizes and two different types of dryers. The prices are very reasonable as well! The free wi-​fi was a definite plus as I was able to get some work done while doing my laundry. I have yet to try the coffee, but that is only because I tend to do my laundry later in the day and don’t want to be up all night.
The staff is EXTREMELY friendly, the entire establishment is very clean (including the bathroom), there is free wi-​fi, soda machine, television, coffee, couches and tables. It’s almost like being at home doing your laundry, except that it won’t take all day like it would at home. Well, at least if you’re like me and only do laundry once every week or two!
Another bonus– they accept Buck I.D., have a frequent visitor card for wash-​dry-​fold AND washer/​dryer use, dry cleaning and they accept credit cards for almost everything!

I love an odd combination so the thought of coffee and clean laundry seemed right up my alley. When moving and waiting for washer and dryer delivery I had my chance to check out this unique concept myself.
Suds and Java really works. Its got lots of washers and dryers and not a very big crowd. While waiting on your laundry you can mosey on over to the coffee bar and get caffeinated in preparation for folding. The employees are not barista so the coffee was only so so and I swear had a hint of lint in each cup.
Suds and Java offers computer and Internet which is a great way to kill time in between loads. Some people were trying to study but I don’t feel like the TV chatter, heat, and hum of the machines would be very conducive for me. To each their own.
The only negative about Suds and Java is the parking situation. Currently under construction I did not enjoy hiking my laundry up and down High St. The good thing is construction does not last forever, so in the distant future this should not be a problem.
An odd, but winning combo Suds and Java is a sure way to get caffeinated and clean.