Ground Control

Food, service, and atmosphere are all excellent! The wood fired pizzas are amazing. I also tried the Tacos de Calle which were pulled pork with mango and pita chips with tomatillo salsa. Save room for some of their in house roasted coffee and homemade gelato! Molto bene! A must try if you’re in the area! A true gem in the west valley!
Third time here and needed to lower my 5 star to 4 stars du to a ridiculous wait which in my opinion was unnecessary… They had a reserved table for 2 hours siting empty while we waited over an hour to get seated!

Since they have first opened the food quality had gone downhill majorly. I LOVE their coffee, tea and Gelato. That hasn’t upset me at all yet, but that’s where the good stuff ends. I used to love coming here for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Just tonight I came here around 6pm on a Sunday night and the place wasn’t packed. I ordered some buffalo wings and a Flatbread, couple minutes later I am told they are out of wings so I ordered the beet salad… couple minutes later they are out of goat cheese which attracted me to both the Flatbread and salad. They asked if I would be okay with feta I said alright as the Flatbread was already in the oven. My mother ordered the farmers market pizza. All items were pretty mediocre to taste. Both Flatbread and pizza were very bland and nothing really stood out. She asked for light cheese and it was still very covered and when asked the server he said that is light for this place. The beet salad came with a honey dijon dressing which was heavy for what seemed like a light salad. The Beets were tiny cubes that just fell down underneath the lettuce that I didn’t really get to them until it was all gone even after I tossed it. I would probably give a 1 or 2 star because of the food but due to the coffee and Gelato I enjoy upfront I gave it higher stars. Not sure if it is new management or a new chef but to quote another reviewer «they have the right ingredients but the wrong execution». Pretty bummed they were out of so many things on a Sunday night, overheard other waiters telling other tables that they were out of even more than just the 2 things I was told. Hope this helps someone.

About four years ago, a former co-​worker (who happens to be a total beer connoisseur) recommended this place to me. Unfortunately, it took a while before I actually got around to trying Ground Control. My girlfriend and I tried it out for the first time a couple months ago and enjoyed the atmosphere and creative menu. But I forgot to Unilocal!about it…
Fast forward to this weekend and we were back again. The menu has changed again slightly, but it’s still creative and a fun atmosphere. Ground Control isn’t all about the beer though. It has a great rotating selection of very good beers on tap. But it’s also a coffee shop up front. And unless you look at the sign, you might not realize their other specialty is gelato.
For this most recent visit, the appetizer was good, but not a good as the one we had last time. We chose a cheese tray with several options, including olives, sun-​dried tomatoes and candied walnuts. The previous time we selected an incredible melted Brie and warm fruit jam combination. Maybe a little hit or miss, but still better than what you’ll find at a lot of other places.
It’s hard to miss the pizza oven next to the kitchen window, so I figured it was time to try it. They have several options or you can make your own combination. You can’t go wrong here. These personal pizzas are huge. This would qualify as a small pizza anywhere else. My «Blanca» white pizza was awesome! Super hot, melted cheese, spinach, bacon and chicken. Very good!
Despite being busier than our previous visit, the service was excellent. Rob was prompt, friendly, and had very good timing. The variety at Ground Control is unique. It has a little something to offer everyone, from a beer to a meal, to coffee and/​or dessert. I’m looking forward to trying some coffee on a future visit!

I don’t know why people are complaining about not getting taken care here… I was asked if I was being taken care of within 5 minutes of sitting down, then given a menu and then they took my drink order, which was brought out minutes later. The waitress was super nice and checked on us frequently. There were quite a few other patrons there as well, but we didn’t wait much for anything. I love the atmosphere here as well. My 10yo liked it too and he’s super picky. All in all, I’d recommend it to anyone wanting good food and good beer with a very relaxed environment. Those other complainers can go elsewhere!

This Ground Control is amazing. Hannah is the best barista, she is so awesome and always makes the perfect drinks. She offers expansive knowledge on every creation that GC has to offer. Really great service and quality here.

This is by far the best place to visit in the West Valley for an awesome selection of craft brew. My wife and I go once or twice a month and the section is always changing which means the beer is always fresh. Food is great too.

Last night my husband and I enjoyed a wonderful evening at the symphony in downtown Phoenix. We considered getting pizza from Pomo’s or Cibo, but instead we decided to support a local restaurant near our home. Prior to leaving the downtown area we looked up the website, which indicated the restaurant closes at midnight. We arrived around 10:20 pm and the sign on the door also indicated that Ground Control was open to midnight. The open sign was also on. I walked in and a server told me it was closed. I recommend they update their website and signs with the new closure times.
Fortunately, after checking on our doggies we found Mod’s. It was 8 minutes before they closed when we arrived, but they happily welcomed us in. I enjoyed a glass of wine as we waited for our pizza to go.

Stopped coming here shortly after my review in 2014. The service started getting progressively worse as old employees left and new employees came. The food was getting more inconsistent than before and more than half the times I came in for coffee they made it wrong or it came out tasting weird or at the wrong temperature. I really wish the managers would pay more attention to their Unilocal reviews as they have really great potential to be a west valley institution.

Horrible customer service… We came here with a large group and heard good things about this place. This is by far the worst customer service I’ve experienced in a while. It literally took 45 min to get water and almost an hr to get our beers. I am not a complainer at all but I had enough when we waited so long. When I told the manager that this is out of control he said «want me to cancel your drinks». That is horrible customer service if you ask me. We will not be coming back to this place due to customer service. I only write reviews on Unilocal if the place was very good or very bad.

Crying shame, it is, when a place that I’ve been touting to family and friends for as long as I can remember falls off a cliff. While they still have a fantastic selection of craft brews, customer service has clearly, and RAPIDLY, fallen to the bottom of their list.
Twice in two weeks my wife and I have stopped in, hoping/​expecting to get served in a professional manner, only to find ourselves compelled to leave, extremely disappointed.
Last week, while staring at several open tables, we were told that, «it will be 20 – 30 minutes while our servers catch up.» Then, just now, we tried again. We got seated right away. After waiting patiently for 10 minutes, I verbally snagged a server who was doing his level best to ignore us and told him I sure would appreciate it if our server would maybe stop by.
Some dude comes to our table and makes it clear that he’s doing us a favor by filling in because they are, «so busy.» We left. He made it abundantly clear that he could give a shit.
Seems unlikely we’ll be back anytime soon.
Sucks! I used to like this place. Too bad their management clearly has their head squarely up their ass.

This is for the coffee side. One barista doesn’t cut it especially when she wants to bs with her hipster bff’s. 35 mins for a simple coffee drink is bat s**t crazy. No thanks

Fast friendly, large and spacious unlike most coffee places. They off wine and beer as well. Very large selection of drinks. Best thing about this place it tastes like Cartel and now we don’t have to drive across town to enjoy a great tasting coffee!

I had the triple double pizza here and it was great. The sauce was bland though but the cheese and crumbled sausage was tasty. They also have a great craft beer selection.

Lots of drinks to choose from — coffee, wine, beer, tea, etc. Also, they have food. I love to come here to meet with friends. It has a warm and inviting environment. Plus, WINE! Friendly employees. Love this place.

This is my third time coming here, and while the food and drinks are awesome, the service is going to be the demise of this place. Seriously, an entire re-​haul of their staff could completely turn this place around.
We arrived on a rainy Sunday (4 adults one kid) and it wasn’t busy at all. We were told to find a seat, given waters and then ignored for the next 25 minutes. We even had to grab our own menus!
There were maybe 3 tables of people. When my friend approached the bar to let them know we were leaving, they acted completely indifferent and barely apologized. What a shame, I was looking forward to some delicious street tacos.
We left and came down the street to Tailgaters and literally had more service in the first 30 seconds than we did in the 30 minutes we wasted at GC.
Do yourself a favor and don’t get your hopes up for this place.

We went here for breakfast with some local friends. My wife had the Cabo Burrito and I the 2 egg plate with a short stack. My inner fat kid loved me. I somehow ate it all and filled in the gaps with a coffee. None of mine was worth writing home about, but I DID order all the basics. The pancakes were large, so be prepared for that.
The real highlight here was the Cabo. A delicious take on the breakfast burrito, the bite I wrangled from my wife’s hands left me staring in disappointment at my life choices in front of me. As I trudged ahead in jealousy, she sang like a Siren the wonders of the Cabo.
The waiter was pretty green but did a good job taking care of us nonetheless. The atmosphere was pleasant and the coffee good.

Update: we keep coming back because we really want to like this place. I don’t think we will be back. We waited for ten minutes before anyone talked to us. People who sat down after us had menus and drinks before we were even acknowledged. A couple sitting behind us had been waiting awhile also before the waiter finally came up to them. He approached them by saying «you’ve been hiding! Has anyone helped you?» When they said «no, not yet…» The waiter responded with «well what do you want?». It seems like that would have been a good opportunity to apologize for the wait and assure them they would be taking care of them. Anyways, after ordering food, it took a good thirty minutes. Nobody asked if we needed refills on coffee or anything. When the food finally did come out, it was alright. I ordered the tacos and my fiancé ordered the Cali chicken sandwich. The tacos were fine, though the meet was a little dry. The sandwich also fine. Not worth waiting so long and having no service. After four times here, I think we are done. :(

I drove up and already liked the place– «Coffee, wine, and gelato.» YES! My kind of place. I walk in and the coffee bar and gelato is right in front of your face. It’s cool because they roast the beans there and there are buckets of freshly roasted beans to the left. Awesome! On the right, there are a bunch of bottles of wine. Yummy yum yum!
I checked the rest of the place out. Cleanliness and attractiveness was a little lacking (including restaurant area and bathroom.)
The barista girl gave me samples of whatever gelato I wanted. Then, I couldn’t decide what I wanted– iced chai or cinnamon gelato. She then did something brilliant– she mixed them and made me a smoothie/​shake! Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeet! That’s exactly it. Sweet. Rich. It was pretty good but too rich that I couldn’t finish the small. Lol my friend ordered a CAFÉ CUBANO which has sweetened condensed milk & raw sugar. He ordered it iced. He got it hot. Bummer. But, he said it tasted good. He just said that the last few sips were extremely sweet because all of the stuff was at the bottom.
Overall, I loved the staff and the options. I think they should remodel the place and clean up a little bit so that it would be more appealing. This place has a lot of potential.

I’ve stopped here a couple times. The west side NEEDS a place like this. Maybe some day somebody will fill that need. Ground Control fall’s seriously short. All the right ingredients but they fail miserably on execution.
My wife and I decided to give it (yet) another try this evening. She had a couple of lattes which she said were exceptional, (she loves the coffee here). To eat she ordered the meatball sub with fries. The sandwich was «okay»… «ordinary»… not bad, not good. I ordered a BBQ sandwich, I think it was called a «Southern Poke» with fries also. Between the two of us we didn’t have a french fry that was over an inch long. We joked that it must’ve been the bottom of the bag, however a serious professional would have NEVER allowed either of these plates to leave the kitchen. The price was $ 10-​$ 11 each. Again, not a bad price if there’s a little bit of thought and respect given to the food — but sadly there is not.
I had a couple draft beers: (1) Los Padres Saison from Telegraph Brewing Co and Bell’s Christmas Ale. Two top notch brews that (possibly) might have compensated for the mediocre food.
I then decided to try a beer called «The Hussler» from Huss Brewery in Tempe, AZ. Jeff and Leah Huss opened this brewery 2 years ago in August 2013. They have an impressive background in craft beer, so I was excited to try this one.
It was rancid. It smelled like dirty industrial kitchen water, (that’s the best I can describe it). My wife rarely drinks alcohol but she loves how a well crafted beer smells. She is able to pick out subtle aromas that I can’t. She smells almost every new beer I try and occasionally will take a sip if the smell is intriguing enough (and the foam looks good). She agreed that there was something definitely off. Neither one of us could believe anyone would purposely brew a beer to smell like this.
The taste was worse. There was almost no carbonation. My wife sipped it and her immediate reaction was, «It’s flat.» Yes — it was most definitely flat. But it was hard to decide if the off flavors of rancid rotted fruit and stale movie popcorn were exaggerated by the lack of carbonation, or if the lack of carbonation was exaggerated by the off flavors. Either way — it was bad.
I informed the waitress (who was extremely friendly and gracious) and she said she would let Ian know. She came back and said, «Ian said it was perfectly fine.» I then said half jokingly «I need to talk to Ian» to which she replied «I’ll go get him.»
A few minutes later a chunky dude showed up at out table with a slight hint of an attitude. He asked what the problem was so I handed him the un-​drank beer and said «What does that smell like.» He took a sniff and said «Chocolate?» When I mentioned there was no carbonation he pompously retorted, «That’s because it’s nitro.»
My wife and I chuckled and realized there was no sense in arguing. He offered to take the beer off the bill but I said «No need, just take it away from the table.»
A shame really. To have all the makings of a place that can showcase exceptional coffee, with the ability to highlight almost 30 unique craft beer handles, with kitchen facilities. The possibilities are mind boggling.
The coffee is amazing. They have have one of the best selections of craft beers on the west side. But the food is mediocre and the service is lousy. The atmosphere is «confused.» Loud, but not loud in an energetic fun sort of way — just loud and chaotic. The employees are all running around frantic like it’s the first day on the job for everyone. No direction. The vibe is stressful. I’ve been in places that were three times as busy but with solid professional staff that take control and set the tone, and it’s not stressful — it’s fun. This place is not fun. It’s over priced and unprofessional.
If you’re in the area and want a great cup of coffee, get it to go. Other than that, don’t waste your time or your money.

Wow what a fun discovery! This place has over 20 wonderful beers on tap at all times. The variety is amazing. With IPAs, Heffeweizens, porters, local, imported, and more. Love doing the sampler of 4 [or 8 :) ]
Food is a mesh of unique and comfort classics, pizza is cooked in a little brick oven. Always delicious!