Roots Natural Foods Market. Kitchen + Organic Juice Bar — Restaurant in Leominster

Today I went to this Roots market to buy some of the vitamins and supp's they have and bread. And when I left I again wondered why I had gone there. Well, they are about the only organic food store anywhere close to Fitchburg so I can go there or drive a long ways to Lowell or Boston. I bought a couple of prepared small meals for a late lunch. And regretted it. Some Pad Thai and a container of tuna with jackfruit. They tasted ugh!. I lived in Thailand and I loved to eat Pad Thai there. This stuff was not even close. Old produce that is past its peak and over-priced and some organic canned vegetables and a lot of cosmetics and New Age - or whatever they call it now - things. A decent selection of coffee beans that you grind up there. But the coffee was going to cost me 17 dollars. Right, 16.99 a pound. I asked - ? Why is it so much? I only got a few ounces of the coffee to see how I liked it. The cashier erased it and weighed it again. It was .34 pounds. Or something like that. O.K. So why does the cash register ring it up at one pound? The cashier set it aside and weighed it again and deleted it again and it was showing a weight of .3 of a pound and .4 and a price of 16.99 and 15.99. I passed on the coffee. I have bought a prepared salad there before - because it was convenient and saves the trouble to prepare a meal - but the cost for just a plastic container of lettuce and a few nuts and pieces of something nutritious is way out of line. I wanted something to drink - a beverage - to wash down the jackfruit-tuna and Pad Thai. There were no bottles of water or small containers of juice. Lots of ginger beer - who drinks this stuff? - and large bottles of kefir and I finally settled for a can of Kumbucha tea. For 8 dollars more-or-less. I could not finish that can either. Too much fizzy in it to drink down at one sitting and I wanted to drink something to wash down the chow at the time, not later. Why can't they stock some ordinary bottles of water? Even coconut water? They carry these at the Market Basket. As well as some decent bread and kefir and vitamins and you can buy water at the CVS pharmacy along with many of the supplements and the health bars that you go to Roots for. And the produce at Market Basket is pretty much fresher and cheaper. This is not an exact comparison, just my subjective impression from a few visits to Roots. A very small store crammed with a lot of over-priced organic stuff. Maybe they think they can get away with it because they are the only place around and you can take it or leave it. Try Market Basket...

We went here on Saturday the 14th just before 12 o clock for lunch. It was mobbed. We had to wait in line to order our sandwich, I told fiance to get a table for us while we waited because it was cold outside (they have seating outside).

The restaurant is right next to a crossfit gym and they seem to flock here after their routines. It wasn't impossible to find parking but it was a little less than pleasant, I would like to go here when it's less packed.

We did not try the smoothie bar but many people seemed to like it.

I can honestly say this is one of a couple of restaurants that does vegan well. They definitely know what they are doing there which is awesome. I hate when new vegans try to attempt cooking vegan and they literally have no clue and the food has no flavor.

The veggie wrap and the vegan caesar were both well done.

The Veggie wrap was outstanding. Fresh and bursting with flavor. Very satisfying as well. The pickle on the side made me pucker.

My fiance really enjoyed his chicken pesto sandwich.

My only complaint is that I wish the vegan caesar had less Kale--bleh, Kale (in my opinion) is best in a chopped salad hehe, but really good still...

Really interesting environment and I loved that they had a side bar with tons of hot sauces to choose from (bravo!) and water was plentiful.

Would like to go...

The sandwiches are priced well above what you actually get. The bread is packaged from Nashaba Brooks. While the meats are plentiful and of good quality, the price is more than double what you pay at other higher end sandwich joints in the area. Chips, a sandwich, a cookie, and an iced tea could easily hit $30.

The service was annoying. You check yourself out and are prompted for a tip. Presumably, the AI works hard. Throughout the wait (about 20 minutes) the manager kept repeating the same line about how busy they were and that a delay could only be expected during lunch. Of course, the counter question is when else other than lunch would people want a sandwich. What added to the comedy was the amaturish use of labor. The lunch rush is probably not when you have two employees making smoothies for the refrigerator display. Those employees should probably be making sandwiches.

From a decor perspective, the space felt unfinished and incoherent with loud music blasting away the live wood edged zen garden motif. The outdoor space was a parking lot at a small municipal airport with minimal attempts at separating the area from cars and creating a garden environment.

Overall, the place could be cute chic, but as of now it's industrial leaning towards post-industrial dysfunctional...