Good Life Cafe

Reviews 3

EV

Evelyn Smith

Update 8/25/16 - I am continually frustrated by the service here. It culminated with a take-out order I placed in which I was charged an additional $5 for sides that I thought came with the meal as it was stated on the menu. I tried to explain this and the servers were rude and uninformative. They were hesitant to ask the owner and didnt appear to know what they were doing themselves which only upset me more. There was no empathy or desire to resolve the situation. Every time I order even a take-out now there is some type of problem or "change in policy" that I was not told before. They have no desire to, at the very least, pacify their regular patrons. I wont be going back and I would not recommend this restaurant to anyone else. This is an edited review by a server. Edited because I felt that what I first wrote could be conveyed in a more succinct manner. I consider myself somewhat of a regular at Good Life now and I greatly enjoy the food. I first visited more than a year ago now. My sister and I tried a sampler plate and I remember how incredibly delicious the tacos were. I have since tried many different versions of their burger, the spring rolls, cajun stuffed portobello, taco salad, portobello steak, lasagna, and the burrito. All of which is amazing and I have ordered several times over. The Recover Me acai bowl makes an incredible breakfast and the brunch breakfast bowl is really good. The kale salad is my favorite raw side and their macncheese is so amazing I had to confirm with my server that it was vegan. The only menu item I was not particularly fond of was the almond butter bacon sandwich. Individual tastes are different of course and I just did not like the texture of the wrap. On my last visit I had the pleasure of trying a freshly baked lemon poppy seed muffin and it was simply delectable. I encounter the owner and lead server most often when I visit and both are incredibly gracious and accommodating. I have never experienced a bad meal at Good Life. The food is always incredibly delicious. You can taste the passion that is found in the kitchen and I am grateful for it. My only disappointment is in their service. I have come to learn that the majority of their servers have no experience. This is what I notice as a server myself. When I sit down, especially outside, it sometimes takes them five minutes or longer to greet me. That is unacceptable and happens every time I visit. When I do speak to someone its a toss-up whether they appear happy and they never introduce themselves or tell me their name. As a server I feel that part of my service is to engage my guests and make them feel at home. I do not feel at ease when I am waited on at Good Life. Instead I find myself trying to flag my server down to get a to-go box and the check. I dont even want to stay to finish my meal sometimes. If the service is performed well I feel that guests should be happy and laughing. There should be conversation and recommendations by the server to facilitate the best possible experience. Guests should feel attached to you and the restaurant as they do their best friend. When I ask questions about the menu I am never given an immediate answer. The servers dont know the menu very well and they never try to up-sell something, such as the granola I was interested in adding to my acai bowl. On multiple occasions I have waited more than five minutes for a to-go box and my check and even longer sometimes to confirm payment. Please understand that these experiences have occurred many times over in a restaurant that is quite small. I have struggled for a long time to convey in an exact manner the atmosphere of the restaurant. Simply put I feel that the lack of experience on the part of the majority of servers is what attributes to this feeling of discomfort. They cannot be specifically faulted for this but it is a disappointment and I feel the worst part of the dining experience. I will now only order something to-go or sit myself where I know that Kelly, their lead server, will be able to take care of me.

DE

Deana Books

A friend of mine and I went to Good Life Vegan on Main Street (unfortunately I can’t a find a review site for them) and we had a surprise that we did not see coming. No one would wait on us! A male server eyed us when we came in and then turned his head and went in another direction. The other servers appeared occupied doing other things. We went and sat down and the same male server walked past our table as though we were not there. He left and came in our direction again and we thought he was coming to bring us water and a menu, but instead he walked past us again and proceeded to engage in conversation with a man sitting at a table next to us. He talked long with this guy as he occasionally laughed during the conversation. A couple later walked in the restaurant after us and a female server immediately greeted them and told them she would be right with them. They (the couple) sat at a table on the other side of us and the female server immediately got a menu and water for them, while the male server, who was to wait on us, continued to laugh and talk with the guy sitting at the table on the other side of us. After several minutes of waiting I finally got up and asked a server behind the counter was anyone going to wait on us and she gave some response about a shortage of help in the kitchen. I did not understand what that had to do with no one serving us. When I got back to my table the male server had left from talking with his friend at the other table and was now somewhere in the back. We waited again a little longer and then decided to leave because we were concern as to what might happen with our food with all this ignoring of us going on. We left the restaurant and went to the theatre hungry because of the wasted time at the restaurant. Before I wrote this review, I decided to call and talk with the manager because I did not want to believe that we were ignored for service at Good Life Vegan. After talking to the manager the next day, she made it known that she was there that day as well. She described the man who was sitting at the table next to us and was aware that her male server was engaged in conversation with this other customer next to us. I did ask her was there something wrong with my friend and I as to why we were not served and of course she did not confirm anything. The manager never convinced me that she shun such behavior in her restaurant nor did I hear sincere disappointed that we experience that. So, unfortunately, here I am. I will end by adding that my friend and I are both people of color. People come on, this is the 21st Century!

W.

W. Adams

We didnt really hate it, but after two very poor showings by Lambs Bread, itd be unfair to anyone relying on reviews to give it 2 stars. Weve now been twice in 4 months, as my friend is vegan and wanted to give it another shot. Both times the service was appallingly bad, as in "get up and find your own menus after sitting for 15 minutes even when the place is almost empty" bad. This time they had dropped half the menu items, which is generally not a good sign, usually indicates serious money problems or bad management, but they didnt tell us that, so after waiting for menus for 15 minutes in a cafe that was mostly empty, and waiting another 15 to order, we find out that everything we picked out was not available. On top of that, when we did find something to order, parts of it (hash browns) were also unavailable and yet came with what we ordered. Also we were not offered any discount or alternatives to the missing items, just pay up, full price, like it or lump it. I have to say my partner and I are both pretty clearly gay, and given this is twice now that we have sat that and watched other couples and groups come in and get service while we sat there for some time, ignored, we cant help but think our gayness might have something to do with it. Both times out, almost nothing came to our table, not menus, water, food, the check, without one of us having to get up and ask for it. Plus this time when my friend noticed some extra ingredients in her food that were not on the menu, someone came out from the kitchen, apparently "the artiste" (or in Spanish, La Perra, as we called her, lol), and was rather hateful someone might object to her "creative" off-menu efforts, simply because of severe food allergies. The biscuits were hard as rocks, and we forgot to bring our jack hammers. My guess is what we were offered was quite old. Once you see a place slipping this badly, lackadaisical service, half the menu off limits and then even what is supposedly available having unspecified substitutions because of unavailable ingredients (potatoes are not exactly hard to come by unless youre broke), well, its like the end times. Perhaps their biscuits will rise in Rapture, cause they sure aint risin otherwise, lol.