Cold and salty Fast Food disguised as ethnic cuisine served in a cardboard bowl. I had a large chicken bowl of my selections for $12. I wanted to like this place but it just didn't cut the value expectation. The POS ask me to tip the cashier before I could complete my transaction. Icing on the cake. read more

Unbelievable food. So healthy and filling. The combinations of their food is so creative and everything taste so yummy. They incorporate foods that are good for gut healing, paleo friendly, vegan friendly, everybody friendly. Wether it's a salad, a bowl, or broth bowl you won't be disappointed. I'll be coming here often!!! read more

CoreLife Eatery - New American Near Me - Portage, Michigan

So clean, healthy and delicious! So many different options to choose from. I love their gluten free mac and sweet potatoes! Greek chicken bowl is my fav! Friendly staff as well! Love this place! read more

Ate here while in town for a hockey tournament. The staff was very friendly, the food was tasty and healthy, and the lemonades were great. Would eat there again. read more

Ordered online and there was so much wrong with the three meals I ordered it was laughable. When I called to report what had happened, the general manager said I should place a new order to have the correct food delivered and he would comp both orders. Instead, he never comped either so I paid $110 for a very subpar three dishes. When I called back to alert them that I didn't see the refunds to my account, the person who answered said she would have the GM call me but he never did. Feel cheated. read more

I am so glad there's a healthy alternative around here! Excellent choice of foods, large variety of great drinks, and they provide sample cups so you can pick your favorite. I ordered the fire tuna, I would order that over and over, it was a perfect blend of fish and quinoa, with just the right amount of veggie. Really good amount of spice too! Super friendly staff, a bit slow on the service but I was an oddly busy Monday around 2 so I don't blame them, good thing that they're so busy. Definitely recommend this place, stop by! read more

CoreLife Eatery - New American Near Me - Portage, Michigan

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Clean eating - quickly- done right! Line moves quickly and dishes are made to order. Serving sizes are very large and filling and prices are fair. The flavors are there and delicious! It's not often you find a fast food place that you can eat at every day guilt free :) a nice addition to the Portage area! The lemonades are also phenomenal! Worth the extra purchase. read more

Finally got around to trying CoreLife. Love the concept and quality of ingredients here but feel there is some room for improvement. We got the tuna poke bowl and thai chicken and noodles bowl. Both bowls were overpowered with sauces so much that you could taste nothing but the sauce. Other reviewers have also mentioned this problem so this seems to be a trend here. I would tell them to go easy on the sauce next time or get it on the side. Apparently tuna poke bowl was half off on the day we went. This was a nice surprise at checkout but there is no way to know the daily special before you order. I suggest asking for the daily special until corelife figures out a way to advertise it properly. Other than that I like this place and can see it becoming one of our regular spots. read more

CoreLife Eatery - Poke bowl - New American Near Me - Portage, Michigan

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CoreLife Eatery's message is clear: Eat well, live well. They boast natural ingredients and it's a pleasant surprise to see what appears to be fresh veggies behind the servers. The menu -- handily described both on signs next to the area where you wait in line as well as above the counter where ordering is done -- falls into three main categories: bone broths, grain bowls and greens bowls. My coworkers & I stopped by today for lunch. I ordered the Spicy Thai Chicken & Rice Noodles. It is made with Napa cabbage, spicy Thai rice noodles, spicy chicken, peppers, scallions, sesame sriracha sprouts, Thai chili sauce and then topped with Thai cashew dressing. It was delicious, I also ordered a side of Brussels sprouts, which also were very good. The front windows add nice natural lighting and they have an outdoor patio. Everyone there was super accommodating and friendly and I'm excited to go back and try more of their selections. read more

CoreLife Eatery - Spicy Thai Chicken with a side of Brussels sprouts. - New American Near Me - Portage, Michigan

Great concept of quick service, fresh ingredients, and excellent spread of menu items: green, grain, broth, or rice bowls, power plates, or make your own bowl. I tried their tuna poke fire bowl, which was flavorful, but not quite as spicy as advertised. The quality of the tuna was fair, and the remainder of ingredients were fresh, but the fire sauce didn't really tie all the ingredients together. In fact, it was quite over-powering and took away from the flavors I was trying to savor. I would definitely recommend, as others reviewers have, get the sauces on the side so you can adjust as you like. Doubling up the protein is also a good idea as the tuna to veggies/rice ratio was very low. The server did apologize as the avocados used in the bowl were browning, and I think the mushiness did take away quite a bit from my overall impression of the dish. I also think they need to keep their website updated and improve their advertisement of the daily specials. Once I was at the register, I found out my bowl was 1/2 off since it was the daily special. When we asked how we would find out what the daily special is, we were just told "it changes daily". Aside from these few issues, I think this is a good addition to the area; the concept will definitely attract folks who like clean, fresh ingredients, or are just out for a quick lunch. read more

CoreLife Eatery - Tuna Poke Fire Bowl - New American Near Me - Portage, Michigan

I loved loved loved CoreLife Eatery! As I am once again "making good choices" with my food, I really appreciated a restaurant where everything is gluten free and there are lots of vegetables. I had a Chicken and Rice Noodle Broth Bowl and I thought it was delicious. There are many more options on the menu that I cannot wait to try. Where CoreLife is really killing it is with the beverage selection. I hardly ever order a drink at a restaurant, but I was not disappointed with the choices here. They offer several varieties of fresh squeezed lemonade sweeter with things like beets and cranberries and several flavors of iced tea. Drinks have free refills and I must have tried 5 different drinks on my visit. read more

I ordered online and picked up at the window, avoiding the throngs of people waiting on line inside. Everything went smooth as buttah! The woman at the window was very pleasant and I will definitely be back! I had the big double protein spicy Thai noodle bowl minus sprouts, minus green onions, with both cashew and miso ginger dressing. Easily enough food for two meals! read more

CoreLife Eatery - Double protein spicy Thai chicken noodle bowl. Looks delicious! Also I ordered online and went through the drive-thru for pickup. - New American Near Me - Portage, Michigan

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Everything is gluten free! A great option for my gluten-sensitive husband. Stopped in here Friday evening and there was a short line, giving us time to peruse the newspaper-like menu before getting to the counter. Has a Chipotle/ Qdoba style set up. Can pick one of their menu items or make up your own, choosing a salad, grain bowl, broth bowl, or a plate. I got the spicy ginger steak broth bowl, which was tasty. Does have some heat to it! Rice noodles and kale make it nice and filling. Steak wasn't overcooked. Broth was flavorful. Husband got the falafel and hummus power plate with quinoa, rice, and roasted brussel sprouts. His only complaint was that the falafel were too small! The drink choices are very unique and tasty. We tried the coconut water fruit punch, apple cider green tea, and beet lemonade. Don't get the beet lemonade unless you like beets, haha! They ever have iced coffee in the fountain machines too. Very stylish interior. They appeared to have an efficient to-go process where you can order/ pay ahead and pick up. We absolutely plan to return! read more

CoreLife Eatery - Steak broth bowl (with apple cider green tea and complimentary bread), hummus and falafel power plate - New American Near Me - Portage, Michigan

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Lots of options. I like that you can mix and match to make the best tasting meal. Located right off of westenedge for easy access.

My first time here, and I ordered the make-your-own-broth-bowl. I ordered vegetable broth with other vegetables added and some steak for protein. The broth was so bland! I made a point not to get any of their spicy ingredients (sriracha for example), but I don't even think they salted the broth. On top of that, the broth had a thick film of grease/fat on it. So unappealing, and I don't know where it came from since the only ingredient containing any fat would have been the beef, which was very lean, but also tough. But the half slice of bread on the side was good. Aside from the bread, the only good part of this experience was being able to order online and use their drive-up window to pick it up, especially since it's a cold and rainy day here. I don't think I'll risk wasting another $12 trying anything else on their menu. Such a bummer! read more

I ordered online through their mobile app and honestly loved it! I made the order from my house, and by the time I reached the store, my food was ready to go! I love the Southwest Chicken bowl. It's got all the veggies & protein you could want, with choice of dressing and bread! All the ingredients were super fresh looking & tasting! Would recommend to a friend. read more

CoreLife Eatery - New American Near Me - Portage, Michigan

Food was fresh and delicious. Was a little disappointed that no one helped me. I told three people that it was my first visit and I didn't know what I was doing. The guy behind me was saying the same thing. No help. I didn't understand how it worked how many veggies to pick. I picked a southwest chicken but was told it didn't go with my order! Ug. Thank goodness everything I picked was delicious and fresh. read more

It's hard to eat healthy when on the go, but this is a great option. It's healthy and tasty. Love the Brussels Sprouts! Love all the options and flavors. I think it would do great in Orlando, FL. read more

Interesting place. Kind of a Chipotle for the health nut. You order a main meal - rice bowl, noodle bowl, or salad - and have it personalized on an assembly line based on your taste with a wide variety of veggie additions. I had a Korean beef rice bowl with edamame, kimchi, pickled onions, and carrots. Actually, it was very tasty. The service and meal assembly organization during the period I was there was atrociously bad. There were 8 customers in line, 1 employee mightily trying to assemble the meals, and 4 employees watching the 1 getting run ragged. Finally when the customer line grew to 12, the lazy 4 decided to join in the meal prep. It was frustrating to watch....especially because I was about 5th in line and hungry. Nevertheless, once I got my meal the food was good enough that I will go back again at some future point. Maybe they will have their act together! read more

Healthy fast food is the best way I can describe this place. There isn't anything on their menu that I dislike its just a matter of what I am in the mood for at that specific time. I will say my personal favorite is the ranch flank steak, it is a large portion so depending how hungry you are you could probably split it with someone and still be satisfied. My favorite part is the juice fountain! Rather than having sugary sodas, they have a variety of natural fruit juices that are all yummy. It's nice to see a place not have the generic soda machines our society already consumes enough of that garbage as is. read more

Definitely my favorite healthy option in town so far. So many delicious options which makes it hard to choose what you want. Can't wait to come back and try more. Today I landed on the tuna poke & honey ginger lemonade. Yum! read more

So happy Core Life came to Portage!!!! We need more healthy fast-causal in this town!!!! Had the steak/bacon/blue bowl and it was tasty. Pieces of grass fed steak were seasoned nicely and very tasty although they were too big- needed a knife to cut them- awkward for a salad. House made dressings are so tasty and all are gluten free. The space is beautiful. The house made teas and lemonades are awesome. Loved the apple cider mint iced tea. Going back tomorrow. read more

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Love this place will be back for sure. However on the takeout make sure to check your order as we were missing an item other than that it has been great every visit. read more

Had to try this place since everyone says how much they love it. As expected, pay more for quality, healthier food. My biggest complaint is that 1 entree with a beverage was $14, I consider that pricey for a quick-serve restaurant. The food was very fresh, I loved the display of all the greens behind the counter. The natural colors of the veggies are just beautiful. I liked the selection of fresh juices & lemonades. read more

CoreLife Eatery - Spicy chicken warm rice bowl - New American Near Me - Portage, Michigan

Food was okay. I was convinced to go by my family who referred to it as a healthier Chipotle, saying I could get basically the same type of chicken and rice bowl. Core Life does have rice and chicken....but it was not very good. The portions of rice and chicken were small compared to the broth, not alot of good options and very expensive for a bowl of soup. Additionally, while the selection of teas/lemonades was nice, all of the canisters look liked they'd never been cleaned. I love that they use real spoons instead of plastic, but the spoons were covered in water marks or worse....I had to choose 4 different ones before finding a decently clean one. For a small chicken broth bowl + a lemonade, I spent $14. Glad I experienced, but will definitely be just a one time thing. read more

CoreLife Eatery - Chicken tortilla broth bowl and a lemonade. $14 - New American Near Me - Portage, Michigan

This is probably the healthiest whole food restaurant in the Kalamazoo area. Tons of selections for those that eat meat or veggies. Today I had the Shitake & Roasted Tofu broth bowl. Tons a flavors in this bowl as there is kale, cabbage, lemongrass and ginger mixed in the vegetable broth. Overall an amazing lunch bowl. They also have a great selection of juices from lemonade, lemonade mixed with cranberry juice and cyan among others. Definitely will be back again! Ps... be aware there may be a line! read more

CoreLife Eatery - New American Near Me - Portage, Michigan

i just loooooove corelife, especially as another place in this little town that offers vegan dishes! Their miso tofu is actually delicious and the sweet potatoes are my favorite! Usually go here after a workout and it's like the most perfect recovery fuel! read more

CoreLife Eatery - protein plate: miso tofu, soy beans, rice, and sweet potatoes :) - New American Near Me - Portage, Michigan

It has very healthy food options and good vegetarian food options as well. However, I do not find value for money

All items in the menu are super nutritious. I had the Korean barbeque rice bowl - it includes fresh carrots, bean sprouts, cucumbers, and purple rice (which makes it very healthy). It is not your usual korean rice bowl. I will definitely go back! read more

CoreLife Eatery - New American Near Me - Portage, Michigan

Absolutely loved it here. I don't eat carbs and am on a bone broth kick and this was the perfect place to go. You can customize anything you get and the staff is extremely pleasant. I got beef bone broth with steak and added what veggies I wanted. It was insanely delicious, I can't wait to come back! read more

CoreLife Eatery - Ginger steak and beef bone broth with veggies - New American Near Me - Portage, Michigan

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We had the absolute worst experience at CoreLife in Portage last week :( As a hospitality professional, I was extremely disappointed with their service. I'm assuming they were short staffed - and I understand that can be difficult and frustrating - but both of the female workers had horrible attitudes towards everyone in the line! (Trust me, after that experience, I'm sorry I was a customer too) People like that don't even deserve jobs! And our food was terrible - cold, didn't fill our plates or bowls - just sort of tossed things together to get through the line quickly. $36 for 2 half-assed salads and 2 cups of soup that weren't even warm or full. I would normally give it another shot, but this experience was pathetic. We threw it all out and left. Never again. read more

I went to CoreLife yesterday for lunch and had the Steak, Bacon and Bleu Cheese Green Bowl. I remarked that the steak appeared very rare, and the folks I dined with also noted it, one of my party said they thought it looked raw. Twenty four hours later I can report that the meal did poison me. The effect would probably have been worse on someone with a compromised immune system, for me it was merely an unpleasant and highly frequent series of bathroom experiences. I can no longer recommend CoreLife to anyone. After being poisoned, I'm all set. Don't want to return. I'd rather go without, thanks. read more

So the food overall is frankly very good, however the staff is not too friendly. Every single time I have gone I have run into issues with staff. For example when I ask for more of something or to swap ingredients they appear annoyed. I do really love the food but what prevents me from continuing to come is the staff. read more

I've been to this place 3-4 times and every time I end up liking it even more! The best part for me are the super fresh greens the option of having a nice hot broth bowl with rice noodles. They have plenty of vegeterian options and we can even build a custom build bowl. We ordered the coconut curry bowl and a greens bowl with quinoa, rice noodles and wild rice. Both were really good. The only thing I would like is the curry/broth to be warmed up a bit more(but that's just me). This is a great place! read more

CoreLife Eatery - Greens bowl with roasted veggies, Thai cashew dressing, fresh greens and rice noodles - New American Near Me - Portage, Michigan

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CoreLife was undoubtedly a positive experience. The atmosphere was trendy, the service was positive, and most importantly, the food surpassed expectations. CoreLife falls into that somewhat new category of "upscale" fast food (a la Blaze Pizza); it's similarity to other fast food chains lies only in its speed. Take note: this is a healthy restaurant. You won't be getting fries and a shake here. Instead, the menu is divided into thirds, each displaying one style of dish which they serve. Your three options are salads, broths, and grains. The salad option is straightforward. You construct a salad or choose from their suggested options. Should you be adventurous enough to create your own salad, you'll be faced with a veritable truckload of options, from different base leaves, to toppings, to proteins and more. Much like a Subway (albeit much higher quality ingredients), you could come to CoreLife every day for a year and never eat the same salad twice. This being said, Erika and I often trust the menu on our first visit to a restaurant, and so we ordered two salads off their "suggested" menu. Before commenting on the food, here's a brief overview of the other two dish options besides salad. Choosing a broth dish will net you a bowl of something akin to pho, or even a high quality ramen. The grains mirror the salads in almost every way, except that you choose a grain such as quinoa instead of a green. In both the case of soups and grains, you will have just as many customization options as the salads. Finally, to comment on the food, I'll say this: you can taste the quality, but it isn't mind-blowing food. I think CoreLife will shine as an organic, tasty, but fairly run-of-the-mill soup-n-salad joint. As you eat, you'll certainly appreciate that your lettuce is crisp, your proteins are well cooked and juicy and so on and so forth. I doubt at any point in the meal will you think, "Wow! This is the best salad/broth/grain I've ever had!" While the ingredients were fresh and high quality, there just wasn't any exceptional, exciting, "personality to the dishes. I ordered a Thai Chicken Salad. And for the first few bites, it was exceptional. However, it eventually mellowed as my mouth became accustomed to the spice, and I realized that it was just an above average restaurant salad. Was it good? Absolutely. Will I recommend it to my friends? Probably not, since I don't have friends who are big enough Leaf-heads to want to go sample a new salad restaurant. So... Check it out if you're a salad buff. Check it out if you're the type of person who doesn't mind spending $10 on a soup or salad. Check it out if ingredient freshness and quality is at the top of your list. read more

CoreLife Eatery - Spicy noodle bowl - New American Near Me - Portage, Michigan

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Team VP has been on a ketogenic diet (sugar free, low carb, gluten free, high fat) for just over ten months, so when CoreLife popped up on a newsfeed we were happy to go and try them out. We decided at worst, how badly could an Eatery screw up a salad. Just to be clear, CoreLife is, at it's deepest most honest level, a super fancy Subway and Qdoba rolled into one. I say super fancy because they use words like agave instead of sugar (by the way CoreLife, agave IS sugar, so when your customers ask if your dressings are sugar free please don't proudly tell them NO! they are sweetened with agave! because that is just plain ridiculous). Customers walk in and pick a product - salad, grain bowl or broth bowl and then continue on with their choices from the vegetables, meats and dressings. The idea is not new. Just as a guide for new patrons. If you pick a set option from the menu (we both had the chicken salad with avocado and bacon and egg) that CoreLife created for you everything you add to it will be an "up charge". We heard the words "up charge" from every single employee we spoke to and I counted eight total. It felt a little overwhelming while we were walking through the line. Mr. MVP wanted cucumbers: up charge. I wanted an extra egg instead of double meat: up charge. Mr. MVP asked about parmesan crisps: up charge. You get the point. Mr. MVP paid (he also had to talk to the staff for me) because it was really loud in the dinning room and I could not hear. I had to turn my hearing aids off completely in order to even think. The sound echoes terribly off the metal and the music along with the kitchen noise just made everything seem right on top of me. If you are noise sensitive you may want to order ahead or have someone get your order for you and wait outside. Our order for two salads was $25 (no beverages), which we are still undecided if that was reasonable or not. The salads were good size and the lettuce was a nice mix. The dressing for Mr. MVP's salad, the yogurt Caesar was good. My dressing the basil creamy something or other which has siracha in it and we asked if it was spicy and were promised it was not, was actually spicy. I ate my salad dry which was sort of unpleasant. My salad had an extra hard boiled egg (up charge!) which was good, but the teeny tiny avocado, and the whole reason we got the salad in the first place was almost completely rotten. It was not just sort of brown, it was black and very disgusting. I can understand that avocados are expensive and to save money they use tiny avocados, but at least train staff not to put spoiled fruit on salads. My salad also had not one, but two stems from the romaine (?) lettuce. It was an interesting experience. Mr. MVP said his chicken was good, the bacon was greasy but passable and the parmesan crisps were not worth it. They were weirdly crisp on the outside and chewy/soft on the inside. My guess is they use inferior cheese in an under heated oven which will never crisp up and will taste funny. Maybe cooking for ourselves over the past few years has jaded us against less than stellar service and does not allow us to overlook things like rotten avocados, flimsy cheese crisps, spicy, non-spicy dressing and lettuce stems. I'm not certain we will be back. read more

AMAZING!!! 10 stars! Organic cafe with GREAT pricing for the quality of ingredients and power packed flavor. I go here every time I'm in town for work and get 2 to 3 meals togo. Nuff said. read more

CoreLife Eatery - Half eaten spicy chicken warm rice bowl - DELISHHHH - New American Near Me - Portage, Michigan

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This place is to eating what the Walking Dead is to television. The best mediocre show on television. It's not bad, it's efficient, appears to be made of fresh ingredients. Everything I had was kind of bland and unimpressive. It was definitely better than fast food. It was no doubt better for me than Qdoba. It was priced pretty similar. So, pretty good. Unless you try and compare it to something actually good. The drink tanks with several lemonades were quite good. I would give a 3.2 read more

CoreLife Eatery - Chicken Ceasar - New American Near Me - Portage, Michigan

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I have been so excited to try out this place ever since I saw it on Mlive and I have been counting on the days and Finally I got to try it. I am a huge fan of sashimi and ofcourse, I went for the double Poke Bowl. We had left over even after sharing between my husband and I. The customer service was great given that this is a new place that's just opened. Just one small inconvenience though: one girl mocked me when I asked for extra sauce and she rolled her eyes and loud-whisper to her co-worker stating that, asian sauce? we don't have asian sauce and of course, asians want asians sauce. I don't think she realized that I could hear her loud-whisper over the glass. Active listening is very important when you are attending to customer. Anyways, other than that, The food was great and we can give another try. I wished they have more options of the sauces. read more

Fresh and healthy with big flavors. This is going to be my go to salad spot. Grain bowls, broth bowls, and salads. This place reminds me of Chop'd in Los Angeles, or Freshii in Grand Rapids. I had the Poke tuna grain bowl. The server grated fresh ginger and sliced the avocado right onto the bowl. I had a cold brew coffee and you can choose almond milk or half and half. The drinks have free refills and a great assortment of juices, and tea some options even without added sugar. I opted to double the protein. I also went with the big bowl, and I'm glad I did. In our group we also had broccoli cheaper soup, a salad, and noodle bowl. All of us agree fresh, and yummy. By the time we left the line was to the front door. Large menu so come with a plan. We will definitely be back. read more

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