We have been visiting this place since couple years every time we go to Purdue from Columbus IN…read more Perfect for lunch. Food was tasting okay not that great this time. We got soup and chicken and tofu fried rice. Service was excellent!!

Returning my eldest to Purdue on a Sunday evening, we wanted to get dinner together before I left…read moretown, so after perusing Yelp, we picked Thai Essence. There were just a few tables in use when we arrived around 6pm, so the staff sat us fairly quickly in the side dining room. Saving our calories for dinner, we ordered waters and proceeded to look over the menu, where the first thing we noticed were the prices, and hoped the portions were going to be huge! My son ordered a noodle dish, while I got the pork red curry. Before tip, our total was $40.02, which is definitely on the pricy end! In short order our food arrived. While it looked great and tasted very good, we were both disappointed at the modest portion sizes. As my son put it, "I cannot believe we spent $19 each on a meal that left me still feeling hungry afterwards." Likewise service felt pretty uneven, with only a few checks being made on us, and even fewer refills on our waters. PROS: nice presentation, very good taste CONS: pricy, meager portions, uneven wait staff service Overall, we found Thai Essence to be Good Enough, and would return.

Food was delicious. Simple but flavorful. Banh mi bread was so airy. Highly recommend. Service was…read morefast and friendly.

I got the marinated pork sandwich. It was really good. The place is in a bad neighborhood and we…read moreall know how most Asian food places are in terms of cleanliness but I just hope the kitchen clean because when you walk in you don't really get a clean kitchen vibe.

The food was really good and came very quickly, service was polite and helpful, and the ambiance…read morewas very chill and relaxing

The food was good The menu was slightly confusing The…read moreservice was great and I would say it's a very solid choice

Traveling and wanted to try something sit down and quick. This for the bill. Plus the cost was…read moregood. I ordered the Korean BBQ Pork. I was pleasantly surprised and would order it again. My husband had the Spicy Thai Chicken and rice. He liked his meal as well. We left with happy bellies full of healthy food. Forgot to add that it had a cool vibe and seemed to be real actively new and clean. Definitely recommend.

Absolutely horrible!!! Ordered original THE BOX - CHICKEN…read morewith roasted sweet potatoes. Chicken had major issues & roasted sweet potatoes were undercooked & inedible. I called the store directly & spoke to a manager who assured me I would get a full refund. Guess what?? Never happened. Definitely will NEVER ORDER from Core Life Again

This is a hidden gem for lunch. The weekday lunch special prices are very reasonable and the food…read moreis delicious.

The place looks like a local Chinese place, a bit rundown which is good. They have a nice little…read morechoose your own condiments bar. I can tell the egg is quite flavorful but is a bit old. The beef is hard and not tender at all. The noodles are quite nice and slippery. The server was very kind. If not for the server I may have just got up and left. Joking. The broth was great and warm while the added condiment only enhanced the flavor even more. I would give this place a 3 stars as the was alright and nothing extraordinary.

Spring rolls: taste great. The shrimp is soft and they have great portions, the wrapping and…read morefillings are all good for a spring roll. The sauce is amazing, tangy and spicy. Without the sauce the spring roll tastes quite bland like how it should usually be. Steak and mestballs: the steak is VERY tender and the meatballs tastes really nice like a soft pillow with a meaty flavor. The noodles are well made and compliment the entire pho really well as the main idea. The soup is also quite exquisite being such a tasty broth that sinks into every aspect of the dish. The service was quick and amazing. The look of the place wasnt too fancy but that's all right for a local shop.

Greetings! Once…read moreagain it's time to tell you about a place you need to know about: Green Leaf Vietnamese Cuisine. I stopped in West Lafayette for dinner and Green Leaf got the nod as it had a solid reputation with Purdue University students (Boiler Up!). I wasn't planning on writing about Green Leaf, but after my first bite I knew I had a worthy contender to share if the meal continued to deliver. It did, so here we go! Tucked away on a quiet street is an unassuming entrance...you walk into a friendly wide open space with twenty foot or higher ceilings and the host invited us to sit at any of the twenty tables. Upon seating, our server, Will, approached and our experience was underway. Will immediately impressed me with his heart for service. He was attentive, informative, engaging, and diligent. We ordered fresh spring roll as a starter and our pho entrees. Will appeared with the spring rolls and sauce...sadly I cannot eat peanut so he brought me a sauce without peanut crumble. He explained that he made the sauce, cooks, serves, and manages Green Leaf. As my pictures show, one bite and I knew that Green Leaf was a local gem! Our pho was fantastic. We ordered a flank steak pho and a signature pho that included several meats, shrimp, and tripe. Both pho dishes came with generous portion of rice noodles, side veg to put in the pho, and plenty of broth. I later learned that the soup cooks for twenty hours...talk about flavor development. Bathrooms and general decor are serviceable, but should be as great as the food. A fresh coat of paint in places, a revisioning of how supplies are stored, and an overall look with eyes open will reveal where Green Leaf can make some strategic improvements. To me, the little things matter as much as the big things. The food is great, the space should be great, too! Green Leaf will get a return visit in the future...I loved my food, and I loved the heart that is put into the service and the recipes. Will: Keep up the great work with Green Leaf, your efforts and products will keep customers like me coming back again and again! Until next time...tk

LOVE pizza uncommon! They have a variety of pizzas to try and I always get something different and…read moreit always tastes soo good. Even though it is a little bit expensive, the food is so worth it. The location is very convenient, and the service is incredibly fast. Even when I go home, I am always craving their pizzas.

We went looking for a late lunch and my son has heard good things about this place. So we decided…read moreto try their pizza. We all ordered 10" personal pan pizzas and each tried something different. Two of us loved our pizzas and the others said theirs were good. Each pie came with a pizza server. You can place an order with the cashier or kiosk. Spacious restaurant with bar, booth and table seating. There is street parking nearby. Service was friendly and pizza came out hot and fresh. We were looking forward to some gelato but unfortunately their freezer out of service. Love that they offer a vegan menu and gluten free options! Prices are a bit on the higher end but worth it.

This is hard to score. It was black Friday and we just wanted a quick something that wasn't a…read moreburger. We were at Fresh Thyme and to avoid the crowds in the parking lot we tried to escape from the front. We happen upon HuHot and a parking spot. Bingo. So we decided why not? It's a fill your bowl, sauce your bowl and they cook it. Just meh. Not a large selection of items, I tried one piece of the beef and pork which were tough they had run out of chicken and I didn't want to wait so just ok. They got an extra star because of amazing customer service. The hostess was extremely helpful and when informed of my husband's food allergy bent over backwards to ensure his safety. They will even take items from storage that haven't been exposed to possible cross-contamination on the ingredients bar and fill your special order bowl. It doesn't stop there when my husband went to have his bowl cooked the cook asked him if he had cleaned the grill well enough for hubby to feel safe! Two well-known and strangely well-regarded chain restaurants have poisoned my husband. Luckily on the first taste, he could feel something wasn't right so no ER visit was required. I now taste everything before he eats. Last thing It was very inexpensive much much cheaper than I expected and for me, and maybe you, who like a bowl of vegetables and a starch it worked out nicely.

We went here for lunch. We loved it. The grill is in the center of the restaurant. There is a…read morebuffet of fresh foods and sauces to choose from. Make your own combination of ingredients. Then take it up to the grill, and they grill it up for you as you watch. We loved this concept, because we got to choose each ingredient we wanted in our combo. It was so good, we went up twice. Our waitress was nice and attentive. We will definitely go back to this place when we are in the area again.

The tempura is fantastic and the staff takes great care of you. I love the freshness of the fish…read moreand tempura

Our go to spot after a Purdue football game. The service is quick and courteous. And the sushi is…read morealways too notch.