Queen City Grounds Review
After leaving Hex Coffee Roasters, we found ourselves hunting for food and landed in the owl’s nest at Queen City Grounds - The Landing. To be completely honest, I don’t normally visit coffee shops back-to-back but with this blog just now getting off the ground I figured I‘d jump at the chance to gather more content for the site.
The shop is situated in the 4th ward of downtown Charlotte at the base of the Skyhouse North Apartments, and unlike Hex Coffee Roasters, the shop boasted plenty of space and even had a second floor where you could cross a wooden tunnel to get to your table. I really appreciate owners who take the time to make the customer’s experience a memorable one.
The Landing
We had to take a double take walking up to the shop with most of the signage referring to “The Landing”.
We didn’t have the opportunity to sit upstairs perched over the rest of the shop, but I was able to take some great shots of the walk up to the second floor for you guys to enjoy. The shop is relatively open and has many seating options which makes this the perfect place to work remotely or study when wanting to get a change of scenery.
But enough about that, how was the coffee? For lack of better words, it was good. I chose to get another Flat White (Shocker I know), my wife a mint tea, my mother-in-law a cortado, and my father-in-law opted for an Americano. Now if you read my previous post covering Hex Coffee Roastery you must be wondering, or maybe not, “Didn’t you just drink a quad shot oat milk flat white at Hex?”, yes, and trust me I wasn’t overly excited about what I knew what coming later in the day. Nevertheless, I did it for you all. I did it for the story and I regret nothing. The looming crash was definitely it worth after trying my cup for the first time and everyone else seemed to really enjoy their drinks. I was happy to see that the shop paid attention to details and used the proper cups for each drink with the cortado being served in the popular notNeutral Vero glasses and my flat white being served in the Fellow Monty Cups. These are things that, of course, shouldn’t take away from the essence of the coffee itself but it definitely assists in making sure your drink is made with the proper amount of milk so as to not weaken the taste of the espresso itself.
Now the good thing about going to two coffee shops in the span of an hour is the ability to properly compare the two while still having the first cup fresh in my mind. For starters, both let me down when it came to the latte art as both were MIA. I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to get past this but I figured I’d let it slide this time. On a serious note though, I enjoyed the coffee at Hex a little bit more but this had more to do with the fact that I ordered a quad and less about the bean itself. Both were equally enjoyable and, truth be told, you can’t truly taste the bean without first trying it as a shot. Either place will give you a pleasurable experience and it will all come down to what you want out of your visit. If you’re looking for a place with good food, plenty of seating to work and a great drink then look no further than The Landing.
