Stopped into Daily Grind for breakfast after a sunrise walk on the beach, and it was the perfect…read moreway to start the day. The vibe was welcoming and exactly what you'd hope for from a local beach coffee shop. The staff were friendly and made us feel right at home. We ordered a couple of cold brews, bagels, a bacon, egg & cheese breakfast sandwich, and a cinnamon roll. Everything was fresh and hit the spot. The cinnamon roll was good, though compared to some of the best I've had I'd give it about a 7.6/10. Overall, Daily Grind is definitely worth a visit if you're in Surf City. Great coffee, friendly service, and a laid-back beach-town atmosphere make it an easy recommendation.

We had the pleasure of trying the Daily grind multiple days during our vacation, it's really…read moredelicious! The coffees are wonderful- multiple days we got an iced chai with 2 shots of espresso and Nutella flavoring. It's delicious. I tried the s'mores lattes- it was pretty good, not my favorite combo they have but overall it was tasty. The food is the only thing I had wished was a little better. The eggs were not seasoned so the sandwich overall was just okay. All of the bacon was on one end of the sandwich. On a croissant it was kinda bland. The workers are all very nice and the inside is clean and fun. We definitely recommend stopping in for their drinks!!

You push open the door and get hit with that sweet mix of fresh espresso, salty air, and coconut…read moresunscreen somebody tracked in from the beach. The whole little surf town coffee shop hums like a porch party after Sunday service and the locals lined shoulder to shoulder chatting with one another while waiting for their morning caffeine injection. The walls were painted in those happy, sun-washed colors only a beach town could get away with -- coral orange, seafoam greens, faded turquoise -- like somebody scooped the whole coastline up and brushed it across the room. Art for sale covered nearly every inch, layered together like treasures collected over a lifetime near the tide. Nothing matched perfectly, and that's what made it beautiful. The staff moved through that little café like sunshine with shoes on -- all easy smiles, loud laughs, and hearts so big you could feel 'em the second you walked through the door. Every single one of them treated strangers like cousins comin' in from outta town. Honey, baby, darlin' floated through the air sweeter than the vanilla syrup steaming behind the counter. Their coffee was smooth enough to make you close your eyes after the first sip and forget every worry you walked in carrying. Rich, dark, and velvety without a single bitter note, it tasted like slow mornings on a wraparound porch with the ocean humming somewhere nearby. It felt less like being served and more like being welcomed home! Cheers!!

ALWAYS a go to! Amazing coffee and even more amazing staff. The friendliest people you'll ever meet…read moreat Topsail.

Spectacular service and beautiful spot. Food was quick and charming. Staff helpful. Good spot for…read morebreakfast

The good: the kale Caesar salad is the best salad I have ever had anywhere. The combination of the…read moredressing with the crunchy chick peas is to die for. The whole restaurant is super cute, albeit it does get really hot inside with only fans when there are lots of people inside. The tables are clean and the staff is friendly. The avocado toast has awesome goat cheese and the bacon you can add on is wonderful. The bad: Honestly extremely disappointed today. This is my third time here and I've been recommending them to all of my friends and family. We came in at 2 pm when they close at 4, drove 30 minutes for lunch, for the "kitchen to be closed". No where on their website or anywhere else do they advertise that they may close the kitchen early and I asked when it typically closes and they said they can just decide to close it when they feel like it, so they're only serving coffee and smoothies. We opted for smoothie bowls and they were completely liquid, we had to drink them and not eat them with spoons. There was also chunks of frozen fruit that didn't get blended and there was no spirulina and zero coconut flavor. Not sure who was working today but it was honestly such a bad experience that I don't think I'll be back or be recommending them to people anymore. $13 for basically a banana and handful of blueberries with melted juice and frozen pineapple chunks is highway robbery. Added two stars for the two prior experiences, I guess.

Sugar Island is a cozy used book store, that sells pastries, coffee and a few vintage items and…read moreantiques. I loved the store from the moment I walked in, with the quirky ceiling and stacks of old books. There are two floors of books with scattered vintage items here and there. Downstairs, I found the coffee and pastries. I picked up a Raspberry Crisp to take home. All the cookies looked yummy. Upstairs, there are children's books in a section and then other adult books. I could have spent hours browsing. The staff as welcoming and friendly. There is plenty of parking in the little strip mall. This is a fun, independently-owned, place for a book lover to come on a rainy (or sunny) day.

Great bookstore and coffee shop. Wide variety of books, plus local jams and other foods, decor,…read morecoffee and I think pastries. We had just had breakfast so were here for the books. We each found something cool. Service was great. Prices a little high, but, you're at the beach. Easy access, decent parking. Definitely would come back.

We visited family from Florida, and this place was probably my favorite stop. The lovely woman at…read morethe counter was very helpful when I ask questions about coffee and flavors. I got a decaf iced caramello which was caramel and marshmallow syrup and it was delicious!!! The place also was very beachy and clean, and very inviting! I wish this was my local coffee shop and hope to comeback when I come back to town!!!

Bestie and I stopped here to snag a geocache on New Years Day and were greeted in the parking lot…read moreby the new owners wondering what we were up to and welcomed lol. So after a lesson in geocaching we of course had to check out this little cafe and we were pleasantly surprised! First off the new owners were super friendly and welcoming, and an absolute joy to chit chat with on a cold winters day. The shop was adorable, with comfy seating and even a fireplace! The hot mocha coconut latte was the perfect drink for a cold day and bestie said her hot cocoa was divine, probably the best she'd ever had. I even had an adorable heart on my latte! Next time I need to snag some of the protein bites in the case to go with my latte. We will definitely be back the next time we are in the neighborhood!

Pretty solid bacon egg & cheese. Drive through and parking lot was easy to access and the servers…read morewere sweet. I enjoyed my food but wish my hashbrowns were a little more crispy. Good coffee but not as good as other Dunkins' I've been to.

The store was clean and bright, and a pleasant and competent employee was stationed at the register…read moreto take orders. They got my standard coffee and a very complex mix (to me, my daughter ordered it) in an iced coffee correct. Both the cruller and the blueberry cake donuts were on the dry side; the jelly was good. The selection was not vast.

I found it very pricey, but my perspective on value for money paid should not affect anyone's…read moredecision to try this place out. Furthermore I decided that a 5-Star review is still owed, since "price" should be a matter of perspective and not something that should cost a good business a star. That being said, I got exactly what I ordered and it was delicious!! It was the perfect way to start my day at the beach. My bagel was perfectly toasted and I could taste all of the flavors I asked for. I stepped outside to sit under the sunshine while I waited for my order, and to my surprise they brought it outside for me. Overall a great experience and I would definitely do it again.

We enjoyed our stop at sunrise bagel during our visit to Topsail. We came in on a Monday morning,…read moreit was still packed at around 9:30am. The service was great and the workers nice. For the bagels, we got the bacon egg and cheese, and my partner got the Shoreline on the bacon blast bagel. The Shoreline was delicious, the cream cheese added great flavor to the sandwich. The bacon blast bagel was tasty as well. Unfortunately the bacon egg and cheese (the Highrise) could have been better. The filling to bacon ratio wasn't great, the egg was small and the bacon didn't stand out in flavor. I wish they added more as I had multiple bites of just bagel. Overall though, the shoreline was great. I'd come back to try their other options!

Despite a couple scathing reviews I've written over the years, I really try hard to only do good…read moreYelp reviews simply because posting a bad review unfairly is playing with a person's livelihood. That being said, I feel like this review should be viewed more as a public service announcement. Call it what you want, it ain't good, but neither are these donuts, so there's that... Just this morning, my wife asked me what kind of donuts I wanted, and my exact response was, "I don't care. A bad donut is better than a good bagel any day, so get me whatever." About 30 minutes later, I was proven wrong AND introduced to the only bad donut I've ever eaten. First of all, understand going into this place that chaos theory is their business model. By that I mean this: whatever your vision of a "donut" is, flip it upside down and inside out, and then make it all way more complex and intricate than it needs to be, and that's what you're going to get here. If the idiomatic phrase "too clever by half" were a donut place, it would be this donut place because they take a simple donut and turn it into a Rube Goldberg device that just isn't as good as it is complex. As far as texture goes, think of a donut in your head. Whatever your favorite is, think of that. You may think of sweet, dense, cakey donuts capable of holding tons of toppings (think Dunkin), or you may think of the uber-sweet, light-and-fluffy donuts glazed and hot off the conveyor belt (think Krispy). Now that you've pictured that, mash them both up together. Take a cake donut and treat it like a "hot off the belt" donut while frying it in oil that's too cold so it absorbs too much grease. Cakey donuts and Krispy donuts, they aren't the same, friends, and they shouldn't be treated the same because what you're going to get if you do is nothing like the donut in your head. Next, flavor-wise, understand that these donuts are basically made from slightly more dense pancake batter. That's it, and not much sweeter I might add, and definitely nothing special. Here's where the whole thing goes off the rails though. They take all of these steaming round rings of run-of-the-mill and douse them with thin coats of whatever you want on them, and none of whatever they're putting on these convoluted collars of cake ends up as a solid covering; it all turns to a puddle of liquid disaster surrounding this so-called donut. You want a Boston cream? Well, they douse the whole thing in a watery chocolate glaze and slap a dollop of vanilla pudding into the hole of said disappointment. There! Done! You want a maple bacon donut? Well, kiss the maple goodbye, glaze it with something watery and too sweet, sprinkle it with sugar, and throw some bacon on top. There! Done! All in all, these were just really bad donuts that tasted like pancakes (I love pancakes, but these wouldn't even qualify as decent pancakes!). I'm sure it's a local novelty, and I'm sure they have cultivated a cult following of good ole southern Karens, Kens, and their kids, but I'm also sure their product doesn't live up to the definition of what a donut is in its most basic form. I have to assume they have survived because they are the only donut shop in the area, and they have the market cornered. I won't be a repeat customer, but good luck to you if you choose to try these, and I hope they're better than the two boxes I have that are going down for the dog to eat the second my wife turns her back.

Airy, deep-fried donuts that felt like a hybrid between a traditional cake donut and a Krispy…read moreKreme. The toppings were just ok though. Peanut Butter Cup (4/5) Bacon Bomb (4/5) Caramel Chocolate Crunch (3/5) RATING SYSTEM 5 - Great (Need to get this again) 4 - Good (Would get this again) 3 - Ok (Might give this another shot) 2 - Not Good (Won't get this again) 1 - Bad (Telling people to avoid this)