CoreLife Eatery — Restaurant in Camp Hill

First try, figured it was full of promise. I've never felt "trapped" by my a restaurant order like I did. Got the spicy chicken thai noodle bowl as prepared except with some extra spicy thai sauce on it and the thai cashew dressing on the side. Everything looked like it should be so fresh and tasty, though the amount of protein was rather scant for the price. I proceeded to be very confused throughout...The spicy thai sauce flavor was there but very "one note." I tried what I believe was the fresh jalapeno (red and green) relish; I recognized it as jalapeno, then at times felt it was not much exceeding green bell pepper level of flavor. Not once did I pick up the "earthy" flavor from the bean sprouts. The chicken didn't even really give off a chicken or meat flavor, nor did a chunk of green onion really taste like onion. The cashew dressing was more like a weak nut milk. Overall, it was like most of the items were devoid of any of their base flavor. The trapped feeling was knowing it was so disappointing and flavorless, but having no "error" or real ability to point to it being other than they intended in order to complain or request a refund. Like another poster, though it's not my normal behavior I ended up throwing away 3/4 of my bowl. My wife's build-your-own had similar confusing tastelessness, and the process of build your own was not clear, with the person taking the order asking her what she wanted as if she knew what all the items were (she had to tell him it was first trip and no idea what the choices were after several times of him asking vague "what would you like" questions). She also found the dried cranberries to be without flavor (something typically very concentrated in their flavor) and the jicama flavorless and very dry (beyond what it normally would be sliced). As she said, she's had buttered noodles with more flavor. The mac and cheese was quite expensive for the cup size, a bit more promising, but then with more bites also had a blandness to it. No sweetener options at all for the unsweetened tea - and no sweet tea option - was the final "argh" to the meal. We have eaten a wide range of foods that are natural foods, vegetables at other "fresh" or "clean" eating restaurants, vegan cashew cheesecakes, and so forth. This by far was the most confusing experience to have so much be so lacking in even basic ingredient flavor, as if the storage, prep method, or time sliced and presented was leaving it flavorless. Disappointing. Won't bother coming back - can't find a reason for how this was, but don't wish to waste another $30+ to feed the trash. Hawaii Poke or Panera Bread - both relatively nearby - have far more flavor in their ingredients. (As a sidenote, the best item we had was the cranberry cayenne drink with white cane sugar. It and the mandarin cardamom drink were the only items that really had flavor and impressed us. We were dining on a Saturday about 4:15 PM, and the place seemed rather empty - 1-2 customers there when we entered, but it was early for...

Normally the busy intersection CoreLife is situated really discourages me from stopping because of the daunting traffic volume and traffic patterns. But now that I've made my one visit, I know I will be back.

The exterior facade and signage are all designed in good taste.  The interior feels clean and inviting, a bit of a museum cafe feel.  For whatever reason, somehow "Corel Life" got stuck in my head instead of "Core Life"...Either way works for me:)

I can feel the "freshness" element by the display of raw ingredients in the back wall, as well as the sight of the staff grating ginger root directly onto the bowl.  The set up reminds me of poke bowls a la Freshido and Hawaii Poke, including the build-your-own option. But here they offer more than just bowls - there are soups and tacos as well.  And the ambience and healthfulness also seem a notch higher.  The selection of exotic drinks also stands out.

On this visit this was what I ordered:

Korean Pulled Pork Taco Steak Fajita Taco Spicy Thai Chicken Taco Southwest Grilled Chicken Bowl Beet Lemonade

I must say I was very impressed. Each item was visually enticing, fun to eat, and each one set itself apart from others in terms of taste. In addition to being delicious, there's so much grains and fibers in the mix that I can honestly stuff myself without guilt.  I love the fact the tacos are thick, springy and toasted (almost like naan), and I love the purple rice and cilantro dressing in the Southwest Grilled Chicken Bowl.  The Beet Lemonade tasted like earthy plum juice and I am a fan.

Overall it was a successful initiation to this franchise and I'm sure I will be making...

Food is good. The people are very friendly and helpful. First time visit to the store as well as the chain. So why 3 stars?

The back area of the store that is visible from the register is absolutely filthy. Sorry, you need a major power wash back there on the floor. In my opinion, it hasn't been properly cleaned in a long time.

This is from someone who worked in the food industry a long time so I get it. It doesn't bode well for the store though. I wouldn't expect it to be spotless either.

The kids were cleaning everything up out front to close for the night, but that floor yuk! Thw front prep floor could also use some TLC.

Dining area was as I would expect after a day of customer traffic. It looks like that gets taken reasonably well taken care of.

The only other thing is that I came later in the evening around 6 and small chunks of the rice were as hard as a rock.

Now, I'm not picky, so I'll be back, likely earlier in the day. I'm stuffed and for me, the customer service is generally enough for me especially nowadays.

This is truly meant to be helpful to the owner... clean means safe and after seeing that, I'm curious how many have not come back?

Update 10/11/22 Customer Service gets an A+++++ for how thy handled this. 👏 I recently made another visit to eat and floor looked good!! Food was awesome and as stated before, workers were fantastic....