The Grindstone Cafe, A New Mom Meet-Up in Town

Hey, NEK Moms, if you’re looking for a mama meet-up spot, Lyndonville’s new Grindstone Cafe might just be a great pick. The Grindstone Cafe opened earlier this week–on Monday, which happened to be the day of a record setting Vermont snowstorm. It’s located on Depot street, around the corner from Green Mountain Books and just down the street from Village Kids Boutique.

After a visit to the Grindstone, here’s the scoop:
Why this place scores big points in the mom department:

• Open seating, cozy space — can’t lose the kids, so moms can actually sit back and enjoy hot beverages and unwind;
• Reasonable prices – 3 small hot chocolates, plus a steamer for mom cost a little over $5 – no complaints there, except, well, maybe we’ll be frequenting the place a bit too often!;
• Simple menu offerings written with prices that, get this, INCLUDE Tax for once – an oversized blackboard outlines hot beverage options; no flashy, confusing, misleading signs that take forever to read here (’cause as a mom, time is precious and who really likes to stand in line waiting for the next person to finish reading the board, especially junior?).

What’s not so hot in the mom department:

• This place needs a kid corner, like the big coffee guns have (though this is the NEK, let’s get real, those big name coffee shops have spent oodles of money on market research and they know kiddie corners with toys and pint-sized tables keep the cash rollin’);
• The totally cool guitar – love, love the decor, but hope that guitar isn’t too valuable ’cause babies are going to love playing with it and uh, oh, accidents happen…”sworry mommy.”
• The hours – looks like this place isn’t open on Saturdays, and that’s the day when moms WANT to shop ALONE, with dad on babysitting duty.  Coffee helps moms get in the shopping spirit;
• The bathroom…. hmmm…. where is it? is there one???

All in all, thumbs up to Ben Fuller and Nathaniel Wright. A real, dedicated coffee hangout has come to one of New England’s Best Small Towns, Lyndonville, VT.  Moms, show your support!  Just maybe, we’ll see more cool spots like this one pop up on and around Depot Street.