Everytime I've visited USC, I've try to make my way to Ground Zero but to no avail. I finally made the journey a few weeks ago and it did not disappoint. I can't really speak to the atmosphere because we barely got there 10 minutes before closing so it was completely empty, but all that really matters are the milkshakes and those were fantastic! I got "Everything But the Girl Scout" and it tasted exactly like a Thin Mint in liquid form. I like my milkshakes a bit thicker, but it was a detail that I could overlook here.
I will definitely have to drag my Trojan friends here with me again next time!
One glance at their menu and you'll truly believe a heaven on Earth exists....:)
"GO TO SLEEP GRANDMA" = Peanut butter hot chocolate (Immediately sold me!) All the MILKSHAKES are incredible but be sure to ask about the SECRET MENU! Personal Favorite: Peanut Butter, Banana, Ice Cream, and Honey.
They have the best tasting milkshakes but I never feel good after finishing one. I recommend splitting it in half with someone. The employees are nice enough to do it for you! I love the ambiance of ground zero, even though its right next to the dorms, there are many graduate students that come here. There are plenty of outlets and seating (couches and tables) so its a perfect place to do hw. They also play awesome music in the background. I wouldn't suggest coming here if you're looking for something quiet (go to the library). Definitely one of my favorite places to study on campus!
Review Source:This is one of the coolest places on the USC Campus. Might be hard to find if you don't know your way around the dorms. Their milkshakes are really really good. My favorite is the Cup of Joe milkshake. Also, student musicians and comedians often perform there. It's a great time if you have a couple hours on a Friday night. If you go during a less busy time, there are plenty of tables around so you can do homework. This is one of my favorite spots on campus!
Review Source:Another legit place hidden away on the USC campus. It's located between Trojan Hall and Marks Tower, and you can get to it from Pardee tower as well if you go out the back way.
I was a big fan of the milkshakes here my freshman year =D Haven't had a chance to grab one recently but I remember they were really yummy! Huge portions with fluffy whipped cream, yummmmm. They have a bunch of different, interesting flavors or you can make your own. They have normal coffee and tea too but the milkshakes are what they are about. Make sure you bring cash because they don't take discresh or dining dollars =( wish they did it would make it a bit easier but oh well.
Great milkshakes (make sure to ask about the secret menu), coffee, and tea, Ground Zero has everything to offer for the busy college student. Whether you're just stopping by and on the run or are looking to sit down and do some homework, Ground Zero is great. Make sure to check out their website for upcoming events such as improv shows and open mic nights!
Review Source:Ground Zero's milkshake brings all the Trojans to the yard.
Whether you need a milkshake, iced coffee, or just want to hang out with some friends, GZ is the place to go. This is not what you would call a study cafe but if you can do your work in a loud setting, like me, you can even bring your work here.
There are also Open Mic Nights and musical performances here often .. Pretty trendy place. I enjoy it very much.
If it's the morning on a weekday, I head to Ground Zero for an iced coffee. If I'm feeling tired, I head to Ground Zero for an iced coffee. If it's after 2PM on a weekend, I head to Ground Zero for an iced coffee. If it's after a tragic event (aka football loss), I head to Ground Zero for a milkshake.
Essentially, if I need that iced coffee or milkshake, Ground Zero is where it's at.
For a good iced coffee, honey packets, and decent milkshakes, Ground Zero is your girl. And if you're on campus on a Monday night wondering what to do with yourself, head over to open mic night at Ground Zero.
Best of all, Ground Zero has the best deal on campus for good iced coffees. For $1.25 for a large iced coffee, you can't go wrong.
Every college campus should have a place like Ground Zero in the middle of a dorm complex like USC does.
If you can get past the fact that it's easier to find three opposums named Charles on campus than it is to find Ground Zero, then you'll be in for a treat.
The quality of music these guys run on stage is actually quite high. Â They have jazz nights from the Thornton School of Music, Pop Music Majors doing their midterm presentations, bands from around LA, and even a few students trying mediocre stand-up comedy on an open mic night.
The shakes are amazing. Â It's also a bit of a hipster haven.
Order me a Cup of Joe and I'm a happy camper (seriously, try one... or better yet, buy me one! I'll be sure you get a sip). :)
This isn't your typical "study cafe" but actually serves as a solid gathering place and social hang out for students young and old.
After two years of being on staff at USC, I love GZ.
The milkshakes here are worth the rave! According to my friend at least. Unfortunately, I am not a fan of milkshakes so I opted for the Pirate's Chai. Delicious! A chai latte with soy and matcha - it tastes much better than it sounds.
If you're planning on spending $4 on a drink anyways, you might as well head over to Ground Zero where the drinks are unique. It's also a good spot to hang out in between classes (though personally I find the environment a bit too loud for studying).
Ground Zero not only has mind-blowing milkshakes, but a great remodeled interior with changing colored lights, couches you could fall asleep on, tables for studying, and great music! The atmosphere is very chill and you can hang out doing homework in a happy place, unlike hellish asylum-like places like Leavey. It's open until midnight every day!
The Everything but the Girl Scout, and the Midnight Show are great shakes. The All Nighter is great coffee, but be careful which barista you order from when you order coffee. They're great at milkshakes, but I've gotten some pretty awful coffee drinks from the newer baristas. Please train them better?? When done well, you won't mind paying $4 for a coffee here, but I've been disappointed a LOT recently...
The line wait itself is an downgrade to a potentially quaint cafe on campus. I got a free milkshake coupon here, so I went to check it out. I waited for about a 35-40 minutes to get a free milkshake. The line extended to the door. Also, the area is poorly constructed, especially near the cashiers. There are only two workers, so it takes forever to get your drink. As far as a place to study? Forget it. People are so loud here, it's not an ideal place to get work done (head to Leavey library for that). Other than that, this place is great to catch a few performance. Just make sure you come early, or prepare for absolute hell getting your drink and then finding a place to sit.
Review Source:holy shit, these milkshakes are phenomenal. my go-to is with resee's and an espresso shot. there's literally something magical that occurs when you add espresso to a milkshake. try it and your life will be changed forever.
just watch out for those open mic nights! i came here during one of those and the line was STUPID LONG.
I never truly appreciated a milkshake until I came here. I never once been disappointed with my milkshake. I've tried a cup of joe and nothing but a girl scout. Their shakes are very well blended and awesomely flavorful. One can probably last me a couple days and they're reasonably priced too! I split one with a friend which they nicely put in 2 cups and it was the perfect amount.
The ambiance is slightly dark and dingy but still a cool atmosphere to hang out or maybe do some homework if you don't mind the noise. It would be cool to attend an open mike night one day. Until then, I am definitely coming back for the milkshakes!
I'm not exactly sure why this place has all the hype. I'm a student at USC, and whenever I ask others on suggestions for places to take visiting friends, the number one answer would be Ground Zero. Even on my very first day of orientation as a freshman, my orientation advisor highly recommended trying out the "to die for" milkshakes.
Upon entering for the first time, it seemed like a hipster haven. Don't get me wrong, it's not a bad thing; I actually think it's a pretty neat place. I wish I came when they had Open Mic night. It's a great idea they do student performances. Ambiance, decor, and service are great, but I mainly came here to try out their milkshakes.
Looking at the menu, I was pleasantly surprised with all the options they had, but I'm not a coffee or chocolate milkshake kind of gal, so I ordered the Earl Grey milkshake. I'm a tea addict, so I was so excited to try this out. But when I took my first sip, I was disappointed. The milkshake tasted more like vanilla ice cream with a barely there tea flavor. Is there a way to ask for my milkshake less sweet? It was also watery and I actually had to stick mine in the freezer after returning to my dorm so it would taste better.
Honestly, the prices aren't that bad, unless you're gulping down these milkshakes every week. $4- 5 on a milkshake isn't a huge rip off, since you're paying for that same amount at other coffee shops.
Maybe it's because of this visit, but it didn't last a memorable impression on me.
split a milkshake with a friend, because one whole milkshake's worth of calories = quadruple digits.... and also they're SUUPER thick and will make you feel nasty if you finish it. I can barely finish half..... come to think of it, i've never even finished half before. Drinking too much of this stuff will make you feel sick. They're around 4-5$, which is pretty typical of milkshake places right?
Anyways, what to get:
*everything but the girl scout
*make your own with peanut butter and butterfinger!
*spiced apple cider
*you can also bring your own ingredients to mix in instead of paying 50 cents for theirs. once i brought my own nutella and peanut butter cups from trader joes and mmmmmmm it was so good ^__^
They get minus one star because I came in once with my own thin mint girl scout cookies and asked them to make me a milkshake out of that. They did, but they totally stole some of my milkshakes/girl scout cookies too! THIN MINTS ARE EXPENSIVE THESE DAYS!!! the workers distributed little cups amongst themselves and each of them "sampled" a little of my milkshake. excuse me but DID I SAY YOU COULD HAVE SOME? no. i did not.
that is so rude of them, i know they are students, but still. Are we friends? No. So then don't take my fkin food. Â Sorry, i'm just being a little overprotective about my cookies. :P
Yes, the milkshakes are good, but Ground Zero definitely needs to be improved.
First of all, it's ridiculous that GZ doesn't accept dining dollars as payment... there is no other establishment on the campus that has such an absurd policy. I think every business should be required to accept DD if they want to sell food on campus...
Secondly, the line and set-up is ridiculously inefficient. The last time I came, I waited 30 minutes to even place my order (no exaggeration).
And it's definitely not the most sanitary place either. I observed the employees making the milkshakes (since it took them about 15 minutes to make mine) and they seemed to just throw a bunch of random ingredients in each shake - and a few of them scooped the ingredients out with their hands. They don't measure anything and they don't label their milkshakes. This one moronic employee kept smelling all of the milkshakes and guessing what the flavors were... But by far the most disgusting thing I observed was this: The employees like to hang blenders on the sink ledge while other shakes are blending, but this is the same sink where the used blenders are being cleaned. As a result, I saw a ton of water splash out of the used blenders that were being washed INTO the blenders that had all the ingredients in them. It was disgusting.
Overall, it just seems to be a gigantic mess in there and the employees definitely just wing-it... I'm pretty sure 6 out of 7 of them were high on my last visit.
But if the taste is all that you care about, go spend an hour waiting in line and use that time to book an app't at the health center for the food poisoning you have a good chance of contracting.
Aight, so I pulled an "almost all-nighter" and after a power-nap on one of the courtyard tables here on campus, came by for something that would keep me awake through my miserable team meetings and night classes.
The Chocolate Sunscreen has chocolate and coconut flavors in it, so I decided to get that, but with 2 shots of espresso added. Figured the sugar rush and the espresso would do the trick.......Nope.
Met up w/ some classmates, finished my drink (it tasted pretty good), started to do some homework, fell back asleep w/in a few minutes! The effin sugar rush didn't even keep me awake for more than a half hour.
<a href="http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/YP_o3Y9Da8QoiC-tA9Fvgw?select=4MDQ_OLjtwjHVkybh3b8YQ#1xAsMVFXWccLuZISzXbguQ">http://www.yelp.com/biz_…</a>
First off, the milkshakes are to die for.
Second, they feature current Trojan performers including the Pop Music Midterms which I basically form my schedule around (though I only know a handful of pop music majors, if that many)
Third, you can study here in the day, or bring friends and play pool while enjoying some great music in the evening.
It is right on campus near some freshman housing and always has fun free shows to attend.
May be the only place on USC campus that makes a decent latte.
No kidding, but my stomach rejects the Coffee Bean and Starbucks on campus. The people who make coffees at those places don't take their jobs seriously.
Ground Zero is really great. I think all the staff are students? Most of them friendly and make a good coffee. They also have a great selection of teas and they carry Pirate's Chai! If you haven't tried it, I would recommend that you give it a go. It's a matcha chai, made with steamed soy milk, very interesting taste.
And of course, the milkshakes. Delicious, loaded with sugar, but delicious. They have monthly themed menus with some new twists on their shakes that are worth a try.
It's one of the best performance venues on campus. They have open-mics on Monday nights and theater sports/stand-up on a few other nights. Thornton Jazz nights are also worth checking out! (Thursday nights).
Plenty of outlets and open till midnight!
I do hope they get comfier chairs :)
Hello, my name is Kirsten, and I'm an Addict.
A GZ cafe Addict that is! It's honestly terrible that I have a class to the building next door to GZ and an hour break in between classes to boot. minimum of 3 days a week, I go to class, then take a "study break" at ground zero with a monthly milkshake or my "All Nighter" fallback. The Chai latte with 2 shots of espresso and vanilla syrup is to me, as Kryptonite is to Clark Kent.
Some days i go into GZ with the soul purpose of studying and actively telling myself that "I will NOT order ANYTHING today, I'm just here to STUDY" only to find a drink magically appear in my hand with no recollection of how it got there. I just CAN'T get ENOUGH!!!
Dear Ground Zero Performance Cafe,
WHY must you do this to me, WHY!?!?!? I don't understand!!!
Sincerely,
A GZ Addict
An on-campus favorite, but somewhat of a hidden gem at USC.
Ground zero has fantastic milkshakes, coffee, tea, and more, with great monthly and daily flavors. It's a great place to study most of the time, with a quiet but relaxed atmosphere and friendly staff.
It's also a fantastic place to see shows, and they bring in really cool acts from USC student bands to pretty popular outside groups. I got to see The 88 there last year and it was amazing. It's also a great place to discover new music as I've seen several really good rising bands. They also have improv nights and open mic, so there's something for everyone!
If you're a USC student or even in the USC area, do yourself a favor and check this place out!
Currently sitting in Ground Zero Coffee House right now-- and god I'm loving my milkshake.
The place is relatively peaceful which makes it the ideal studying-in type of cafe. Of course there will be classic jazz/slow jam playing in the background, but it doesn't distract you in any way. Instead, you feel more relaxed and at ease :)
There are plenty of tables, couches and chairs for your choosing. Most of the tables around the sides of the cafe are next to plugs so you can easily plug your computer in  to charge while studying. You don't necessarily have to be studying though-- it's a good place to just chill with friends over a yummy drink (warm or cold). Speaking of drinks, the one's I've tried.
The Bore: ($4.00)
My fave go-to milkshake. Classic oreo taste, not too sweet and not too thick. Perfect blend of milky goodness. If you like cookies and cream ice cream, you won't be disappointed with this drink, guaranteed.
Earl Grey Shake ($4.00)
It's pretty good! It tastes like good a scoop of vanilla ice cream but at the end of each "bite" or slurp, you have a refreshing lingering aftertaste of earl grey tea. Who would've known? o_o
I'll be coming back for more. One shake/ coffee drink at a time :)
I love everything about this place! Makes me even prouder to be a Trojan!
First of all, the extensive menu for milkshakes here is remarkable. Never have I seen so many combinations of milkshakes in one place! tHowever, I decided to order something that wouldn't overwhelm by taste buds, he Earl Grey milkshake.
Even though it really was just Earl Grey, its simple taste was accentuated with just the perfect consistency of the shake in general.
Not to mention, the ambiance is incredible. The setting is simple, mostly black. A bulletin board, a collage various of t-shirts... but if you look closely, you see a wellspring of creativity and originality.
One thing that does irk me about GZ is that their milkshakes are not cheap, especially for college students. I'd like to come here more often, but the milkshakes would inevitably cut very sharply into my monthly budget :(
My favorite: toasted marshmallow milkshake
My 2nd favorite: everything but a girl scout
My 3rd favorite: midnight toffee milkshake
My 4th favorite: white chocolate raspberry white Christmas milkshake
The rest are pretty amazing too... Banana split milkshake, there's a peanut butter one, oh man, the best milkshakes ever. I gained my freshman 15 here at USC... Cos I lived right up at pardee tower, and they close midnight, just in time for midnight snack, and open 8am, just in time for breakfast haha
Just like the name of a drink on their menu, ground zero is Tea-riffic !
I personally could never study here because of all the people coming in to order drinks, watch events, or just to chat, but I see plenty of other people studying with their laptops or reading in there. The drinks are reasonably priced and their special drinks of the month or during holidays always seem to be favorites. It's really one of my favorite places on campus and the fact that it's one of the few places on campus open past 10pm is great when I want coffee or tea or even a milkshake to stay awake !
The milkshakes here are freaking delicious. Like... REALLY REALLY delicious. They hit the spot when I'm tired out of my mind after performing at a long football game.
The -1 star is that I actually think the milkshakes are expensive and it's far from my apartment :-P I can't really afford to drink a $4.50 milkshake every other day, know what I mean? The the atmosphere of Ground Zero in general is really awesome. Nice ambiance, great study place if you're looking for something different (although it may be a little more noisy than the library).
When I was a freshman, Ground Zero didn't accept credit cards or dining dollars. But now they accept cash, credit cards, and discretionary only!
They also have some awesome shows, and mixers sometimes. I attended a LGBT mixer here once and it was fun.
Dear Mom and Dad,
Thank you for sacrificing a portion of your hard earned income over the years, preparing to pay for a bit of my education at USC. I'll have you know that all that cash has been used very wisely on tuition, books and materials, rent and most importantly, Ground Zero Milkshakes.
USC is pretty tough, I'll admit, but they've got a great way to help students like me deal with the everyday pressures of consistent reading, homework and studying for midterms and finals. No, it's not the academic advisors or the RAs (though they are great, don't get me wrong.)
It's the ability to take a load off, enjoy a frosty tall cup of "Everything But The Girl Scout" and listen to some rising pop music majors showcase their talents. You see, this is necessary in order to keep the thousands of Trojans sane in their freshman year.
So if you had any doubt when you were pulling that double shift or when you decided to re-finance the house to pull out a little equity, take courage. All that money has gone to good use in the form of vanilla ice cream, syrups, fruits, and delectable treats blended together in a frothy concoction of extremely high caloric value.
Thanks again Mom and Dad!
Oh and by the way, completely random thought: Can I have a couple thou? I flunked out of writing 140 and need to take it again. No big though.
Love,
Your Son.
I had the earl grey (Tea-rific, I think?), and I loved lOVED it. Â I love earl grey, and I loved Ground Zero's version of the drink. Â it was creamy, Â fragrant and refreshing. Â My friend likes the apple cider, which was also very refreshing when served cold. Â
I can't study there because it's hard to focus, but it's a good place to catch up with friends.
I don't go out of my way to visit. When I lived in Marks Hall, I wished that they carried something in the way of food besides bagels (which by nine or ten were all gone anyway, of course) but I lived and breathed their cheap coffee whenever I had an all-nighter. (I'd usually buy it before closing and then put it in the fridge until I needed it, since the place isn't open all night...)
It's really not bad, but I'm biased against it because 1. I'm lactose intolerant, so a milkshake is living hell for me (though Midnight Show is my favorite if I am brave enough to submit my gastrointestinals to the test) and 2. whenever I was in dire need of sleep, the unavoidable sound of the darned people lingering outside under my window until 1 or 2 in the morning made me really mad.
The upholstery on the couches needs to be updated, just gotta say.
But I think it's a very hip, cool place if you're not a rickety-old-lady-in-training like me.
Ground Zero is OK. I don't come here for the shows, but I work literally right next door and it's useful for when I need a coffee or shake. I used to be a lot more adventurous when I was a freshman (oh, like 20 pounds ago) and try the different kinds of shakes, but nowadays I just split an oreo shake with a co-worker.
It gets docked 3 stars, however, for three reasons - one, they're not particularly amazing shakes. I'd rather pay $6 for a truly amazing shake at Milk. Two, some of the workers I've encountered here are so unpleasant.. Make one specific request and they go ballistic. A reviewer below said something about never ordering an oreo shake, because it'll piss off the Milkshake Nazi or something. My response - I honestly couldn't give two shits, because the people who work here are ALREADY Nazis. It's milkshakes, guys, so get off your hipster horses and make me what I want.
Third reason why GZ fails? My co-worker and I have gotten food poisoning from their shakes before. Maybe it's because we ordered oreo shakes!
So you know those heavenly, AMAZING milkshakes that hit the spot and make you REALLY happy until you finish it and feel guilty after realizing how many calories and sugar and fat you've consumed? YEAH! THEY'VE GOT THAT KINDA MILKSHAKE.
UGHHH its so worth it though. When you've gotta pull some allnighter or work your ass off at night, I highly suggest you to get one of these. It's almost like an orgasm. I've tried their everything but girl scout cookies and their chai tea one (forgot the exact name) but both were amazingly orgasmic.
Oh wow - this place was so much fun to go to on Thursday Nights.
I wasn't a student at USC, but I certainly enjoyed this cozy placed tucked inside the campus.
When I visited this place, they did have 3x the drinks, and the selection where placed in cute lil notebooks. I wasn't smart enough at the time to write down the recipies, since they were plainly described.
The spring semester is winding down, but I'll most likely try to go back in the fall - now that a more comprehensive website has been designed, it'll be much easier to determine whether jazz will be playing on any particular thursday.
I've had some good times here. Â Going to date myself, but I remember seeing Destiny's Child in person here performing along with some recorded Wyclef Jean vocals before they got that big. Â Still seems odd to me that despite how big Beyonce got, the only one I remember is Kelly Rowland.
This is definitely a interesting place to try out, and you'll never know who or what you'll find.
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