The Grind Rail Trail Cafe

Good coffee. Probably the second best cup in town.
Often friendly service and whimsical hours.
An opportunity for great conversation with other customers while in line. You may be there for a while.
Dogs are welcome. Be prepared to defend your meal.

Great atmosphere, comfy seating, nice staff, good prices, good coffee.
Culture has finally come to Derry!
The staff here are very nice, they go above and beyond remaking coffees and trying new concoctions. The coffee is smooth and full tasting not bitter like other roasts in the area. Their flavored lattes are definitely much sweeter than I like them but they are happy to make them with less flavoring and modify. I read other reviews that claimed this place was too expensive. I don’t know if they changed their prices, but I found their prices to be very competitive. I got two ice coffees, a breakfast Sandwhich, and a muffin for 16 dollars. The food is good and fresh.

The cappuccino was great! (And I’m super picky… they know how to do it… like steam fresh milk which for some shops is hard for some reason?). The décor was cozy and hip, good variety of drinks and food, it’s very very clean, it’s warm (it’s winter right now and cold outside), and the staff was super friendly and attentive. I grew up around here but don’t live here anymore and I wish this type of place existed when I did! I’d be here all the time!

I love this place. Staff are great. Coffee is great. Blueberry pancake latte is AMAZING!

I was looking through my reviews and noticed that I write a lot of bad reviews. But the truth is, I will write a good review when it’s deserved. There are 3 reasons I will write a bad review: Really bad service, really bad food or I feel like I’ve been ripped off. Feeling as though I’ve been ripped off is definitely the case here.
My husband and I have been wanting to stop in here ever since we noticed it moved to the main street in Derry, since we are fans of high end coffee drinks. We stopped in a couple days ago and ordered 2 large Iced Lattes. I got a Peanut Butter Cup one that is written on the board as a «sponsored» drink. I don’t really know what that means, nor do I care. It just sounded good and it’s something I’ve ordered at other coffee shops and enjoyed. He ordered a Coconut Iced Latte.
The menu is very disjointed where it seemed to me that the prices were all on the chalkboard on the right while the list of flavors, specialty «sponsored» Lattes and Sandwich list were on the board behind the counter. I noticed that a Large Iced Latte was $ 5.23 which is about the standard I’ve paid at every coffee shop I’ve been to in Southern NH (I always get flavor shots in my drinks). So anyway, I didn’t notice a sign anywhere that said there was an extra charge for flavors. I certainly didn’t see it on the board with the prices on it. Maybe it was somewhere, but like I said, it was so disjointed. So I’m expecting our 2 drinks to be somewhere around $ 10.50 plus tax. I pull out $ 12. The cashier rings it up and the total is somewhere around $ 14.50. What!!! For 2 drinks?! We didn’t say anything because, well, it would have been uncomfortable, it wasn’t going to change the price and we obviously already didn’t fit in there. So we paid it and waited for our drinks, which at that price should have been the best darn drinks I’ve ever had in my life. I’m not exactly sure where that price came from unless they charged $ 1 for each flavor (coconut, peanut butter & chocolate), which is absolutely outrageous and should be made 100% crystal clear. There were some specialty drinks that had 3 or more flavors. Are they charging upwards of $ 8 for them?
There are several coffee shops in southern NH where a Large FLAVORED Iced Latte is around $ 5.50, like pretty much every coffee shop, and they’re better and they all do the whole organic, fair trade, local thing which I really couldn’t care less about. But I suppose that’s part of the appeal of coffee shops for a lot of people. Anyway, my point is that they all do it and all the others have significantly lower prices. The drinks weren’t great. My husband dumped about half of his out. I only finished about ²⁄₃ of mine and didn’t really want the rest. I never do that.
As an aside, the prices on their website are much lower: $ 4.54 for a Large Iced Latte and .60 for a flavor shot. With tax, that would have come out to $ 11.86 if they charged for all 3 flavors and charged tax on the flavors. I would have been more than happy to pay that. So clearly they’ve significantly jacked their prices up recently.

I’ve gotten a morning breakfast sandwich and it came out to be a complete disaster the bread was so soggy and the bacon was horrible not crispy at all just straight jerky pullin’ then when I went to receive my sandwich the girl behind the counter looked like she was in a bad mood this has happened twice to me. I’m really upset cause I love the atmosphere but I dislike your barista. So I’m not going to come here getting a horrible look from a girl who just has a bad attitude all the time if you don’t like working at your job THEN LEAVE!!!

I tried them for a change instead of the Coffee Factory and it was a huge mistake. The staff was rude, the girl behind the counter rolled her eyes when I asked for a straw for a plastic cup and lid which is supposed to be used with a straw. Am I missing something here? Expensive, bad food and poor service means I’m back at Coffee Factory for good. They should learn some basic customer service skills.

I went to the new location today and waited over 10 minutes for a latte — to go. Almond milk is a $ 1 extra and my latte was a ¼ foam. I was very disappointed and understand the laid-​backed attitude if you are drinking a coffee there, but what about the customer that is not drinking the coffee there. I will not be back.

Pretty good food. A little pricey. $ 4.63 for a bagel egg and cheese… Not to say I won’t be back to try something else. Nice atmosphere. a little crunchy even.

I am obsessed with this place. I have been to the Grind about 5 times so far and can’t say enough great things about it. I work for a coffee place but after work I like to come here for the atmosphere. It’s cozy (sometimes a little too hot) and has a very cool, relaxed vibe. I liked the original location but the new location is even better! I feel at home but unlike home I can actually get work done. The staff is always helpful and friendly. I always find excuses to go there and although it’s a little expensive I don’t mind paying for the experience. Keep up the great work!

I would love to give this place a better review but there were way too many negative things that happened however they can be easily fixed by the owners.
First of all I found this on Unilocal as I was looking for a place with the hipster café atmosphere so it would be good food, good coffee, free WiFi, and not as much noise as your average diner or Starbucks. I also wanted to try some place new in the Merrimack general area that I could go to chill before work.
Getting here was an absolute nightmare. It was originally 8 mins away from my initial location in Londonderry as I drove there my gps lost signal in the middle of town twice. I past the actual café 3 times. I knew it was right around this ‘feed’ center but that was always when the gps told me the wrong way. I tried to call them and it went straight to their answering machine oh gee thanks. They said if it was important to email them. And then the proceeded to say the inbox is currently full and goodbye. With one more attempt I ended up going to a diner across from a gas station on west Broadway and they told me I was on the right street just the wrong area as it turned into West vs east Broadway. They told me it was within walking distance and there are no signs just a coffee cup sticker on their window… I parked my car at a 2hr spot in a strip center near by and then proceeded to walk towards a jeweler which the diner staff said was next to the café. I walked there didn’t find anything then walked the other way and found it. No sign whatsoever a little tan coffee flag above the door. I tried telling the cashier how hard it was to find them and how their phone goes straight to the machine and they didn’t seem to care. They weren’t rude but not overly concerned at all either. its just like wouldn’t you want to know some feedback … They said they just moved to this location 2 weeks ago and that must have been why my gps messed up. However that was not the case by any means as the address I put in was the address of the place I finally arrived to soo… o₀ the staff was pleasant they did their jobs nothing more to say about that.
Needless to say I was hoping the food was amazing. I like the atmosphere its very nice to relax and do work in. However noted everyone was working there wasn’t any two people that were talking everyone was working. Aka quiet and awesome for students!
The food is really good and they do have a interesting selection of meals, and coffees that i would like to come back and try but from a foodie perspective comparing like businesses in the area (ones that are actually easier to find) I have no idea how they are going to stay in business.
If this review were all about the taste and flavors of the food then i’d give them ⁵⁄₅ stars hands down but the portion size for the generic portion of course is laughable. I know for a fact that the soup I paid $ 4.00 is the exact measument of a ½ cup. Like seriously??? I know corn chowder is filling but come on that seriously just makes me want to cry inside. The ham and cheese croissant I bought was $ 4.25 and really there was nothing special about it. If I come back here I don’t know if I would buy the food again as delicious as everything was. As a student or just anyone that makes comparisons between restaurants its not worth it, I’m sad to say Starbucks food prices are true to their portions and this place is seriously over priced for what they are serving. I wouldn’t think twice about paying $ 4.00 for this soup portion if I was in a more upscale tapas bar or café but here its just not right to charge that much for that portion even though it’s awesome. I’m still hungry and I’m not going to pay $ 8.00 for 1 cup of soup .
With that rant done, another thing that really bothers me about certain cafés is that they have supported the gluten free diet restrictions so well that they pride themselves on that but put the peanut butter and Almond pastries right next to (aka sides touching) the other pastries. Like really if I were to look up the number of nut allergic people vs the number of people that actually have Celiac disease and are not just «gluten free» I wonder what my findings would be.
Positives: Food Taste, atmosphere, food service
Negatives: Food Portion, Food price, Location, customer service, answering the phone

Amazing coffee house. The staff is so sweet. Best lattes and coffee around. Love this place

Pretty good coffee shop, though it is a little expensive. They have a pretty great selection of specialty drinks and awesome cream cheese. Took a star off due to their use of Kickstarter to fund an expansion of the shop, which I felt was an ugly misuse of that platform. Also, as a coffee shop located on the rail trail that is responsible for it’s namesake, I’m surprised that there is no bike rack in front (last time I checked).

I’ve been working in Derry since this winter, but have only recently had a chance to explore the Grind! I had no idea what I’d been missing. I like Panera as much as the next girl, but strongly prefer to support local coffee shops. Especially when those shops have great offerings, cute space, and a good vibe like this one.
The staff was friendly, and able to make recommendations about drinks having only met me for the first time. The food looked delicious and local made, although I didn’t try any. The space was funky, welcoming, and clean.
If in Derry, definitely check them out.

Best coffe shop in NH From the amazing coffees & lates to the fresh baked goods and healthy lunches. If you haven’t tried it, then treat yourself!!!

LOVED this place!!! I’d so much prefer local coffee shops to Dunkins or Starbucks. This place was adorable and the two ladies that run it were amazing. They were sweet and made you feel like a regular as soon as you walked in the door. I loved their variety of coffee and the fact that they even do Italian sodas (I’m from CA and only know of one other place in NH that does them well). I had an iced mocha with almond milk and it was amazing. Not crazy sweet like most places. The shop is very clean and has a cute chalkboard wall to decorate while you sip your coffee away. I will definitely be back!

Five starts for the Grind! Awesome service and great coffee! I love the fact that everything is organic and biodegradable ! Keep up the great work ladies!

We love the Grind! So much so that we have two coffee cups, a t-​shirt a hat and a cup sleeve lol. Best coffee hands down! Be sure to give their seasonal lattes a try! Mel, Alex, Shannon, and Natalia love you!!!

Happy to keep up this place yet another 5 star review. Super duper friendly staff — such a warm welcome on a cold Saturday. Awesome, cozy, hipster coffee house vibe without the ‘tude. And the products also rock: my dry cappuccino actually came out dry; they had not one but two dairy free alternatives (soy and almond milk), AND stevia. Please please open a branch in Boston!

Friendly staff! Had a double mocha latte (I’m usually a no-​frills guy) and it was like dessert! I’ve only been once but look forward to my next visit. Love the giant chalkboard with visitor artwork!
A nice addition to downtown!