CoreLife Eatery — Restaurant in Manheim Township

UPDATE We decided to give Core Life another shot, and what a turnaround! The staff is friendly and attentive. The space is clean, and the food is healthy and delicious. I do still feel that the value and price are a little misaligned, but honestly, I think most of us feel this way about dining out since 2020.

I also want to take a moment to thank the owner for responding to my previous post. It’s rare to see such a thoughtful response. I also feel it’s my responsibility to update my review to reflect my most recent experience and improvements—something many of us don’t do often enough.

It’s clear the management team has put effort into improving. Kudos for turning things around!

————————————————————————

PREVIOUS REVIEW:

LOVED Core Life when it first opened. We recently moved back to the area and decided to order online and pickup for the sake of efficiency.

I don’t know if the quality of our bowls was poor because we weren’t there to watch it or what, but we were really disappointed with what we received.

The overall quality was not even close to what I had remembered. I had a small bowl with purple rice, edamame, scallion, avocado, tuna, siracha and black sesame seeds. The Tuna and avocado are up charges, which I have zero issue with, but they were hardly identifiable.

My bowl ended up being rice with a few, and I mean very few identifiable cubes of avocado and tuna and a sprinkle of edamame . My husband ordered the small spicy Thai chicken and he was hard-pressed to find almost any chicken.

I should clarify and say that we’re not gluttons, but times are hard for everyone; business and individuals alike. And when we do order-out now it’s much more of a treat.

In the end, for what we paid and what we got the value just...

I ordered 5 items this evening via Door Dash. Two of the items were not in the bag. No big deal, mistakes happen. My husband called to ask for a partial refund and he was told that it couldn't be done. That we needed to go through Door Dash. The Door Dash driver didn't take our food.

I then called after checking if there was a way to go through Door Dash (there wasn't), and I asked for a manager. Both my husband and I were extremely respectful, but for some reason the employee would not put the manager on the phone. She was conversing with the manager, and I could hear every word. The manager had a lot of attitude and insisted we could not have a refund.

They wanted us to come to the store, which I said I preferred not to do due to COVID, and I offered to provide my credit card information instead. Then they told me they didn't know how to do it and hung up!

It's about 10 dollars we lost, but this is the second poor experience we've had with Core Life. After the first experience we thought it was a fluke and we'd give it another shot. I've never actually posted a negative review for any establishment in my life. But this restaurant did not treat us fairly. We won't...

UPDATE: four years later after visiting many times, I have to change my review. Twice now I’ve gotten the southwest chicken and purple rice bowl and it tastes like a chemical or soapy taste(extremely strong). I can’t figure out if it’s the lettuce or one of the veggies (cheese, chicken, tortilla strips are fine) but it is super concerning. I got sick once on it and I think I finally need to stop eating here. The taste is so potent that no one would miss it. It’s like a chemical or soap taste and it actually burns your tongue/mouth. Idk what is going on but two strikes and I’m out for good- the risk is not worth it especially for $12+ a bowl.

The other dishes we’ve gotten are SO hit or miss too. It’s about a 50% chance it will be good and that’s just too low to justify eating there again.

Original Review (4 yrs ago): I’ve been on a temporary extremely strict diet and am so thankful places like Corelife exist! The chicken is only cooked in olive oil and salt/pepper - nothing else. All the ingredients for the dressings are located on their website. Love the bowls and the drinks are tasty as well! All the staff are always very...