Village Juice & Kitchen - Stratford — Restaurant in Winston-Salem

TL;DR very tasty, but a bit pricey and no seating for babies.

I’ve been suffering from chronic gastritis for months, so I have to really baby my stomach. I know that almond milk is easy on my system, so I googled “almond milk smoothies Winston Salem” and Village Juice Co. was the top result. I had never heard of it, and decided to give it a try. When I walked in and saw the menu, I was really excited by all of the options that were “gastritis friendly.” My initial thought was that I would order a smoothie, but quickly decided that I had to try the “Farmer’s Daughter” rice bowl instead. It was an unusual mix of foods but it tasted amazing, and I was given two dressings to choose from. I really appreciated that touch as I thought one was much tastier than the other (I liked the carrot one). I also grabbed the blue magik almond milk, and a ginger shot. I had a case of sticker shock when I heard that the three items added up to $25 but I forked it over for the sake of my picky stomach. I was pleasantly surprised by the taste of everything and I did think the pricing for the bowl was fair as I was able to make 2 meals out of it. I haven’t tried the ginger shot, as I am waiting until my stomach is particularly angry, and after eating here it was happy!

There are two reasons I am giving four stars instead of five: The teeny tiny container of almond milk was around $10 which seemed steep. (I would purchase again if it were cheaper, as it was very tasty.) I saw zero high chairs so my 8 month old sat in my lap, munching on bits from my bowl and making a mess of my food...

This place is disappointing to say the least. My first ever experience here was when I was delivering Door Dash. I came in to pick up an order and the cashier, who was blind and looked very young was extremely rude. She literally didn’t acknowledge once and took other customers that came in behind me. Finally I had still there for so long she called a customer up and I interrupted her and said “excuse me, I’ve been standing here for a very long time and you haven’t even acknowledged me”. The customer insisted on her servicing me which it seems to have bothered her.

I said I would never return after this experience but one day I was craving an açaí bowl and didn’t want to drive across town so I decided to give this place a try. The service was a lot better this particular day. There was a lady with purple hair and another young lady fixing smoothies and they were both very pleasant. However, the bowl was absolutely disgusting. I’ve never in my life had anything like it. There was not an ounce of sweetness. I asked for almond butter but was told it was already included in the bowl. The cocoa chips (I believe) were literally bitter. The açaí itself had no taste or flavor to it at all. I was so pissed because I was stuck with a $13 bowl of nastiness. Absolutely horrible. I will never be returning to this place. I can’t imagine how they’re even...

When I initially ordered the sunset chia pudding “orange zest” was listed as a topping and the lady taking my order told me I couldn’t get it taken out because it was “already inside of the bowl”. Okay fine. I could tell she had an attitude but didn’t take too much consideration for it. When I got my food there was blonde straight piece of hair in it so I walked back in and told a different worker that there was a piece of hair in my food and had to explain it wasn’t my hair because I have curly black hair. She said she would remake it for me and she did. Except when she went back to make my bowl again her and the lady who took my order were having conversations about hair being in my food and thought it to be funny. When I got my food back the second time there was no honey in my food so I went back in a requested a refund. When I was explaining to her that I wanted a refund, with an attitude she responded “I can just add honey to it”. I told her no that I wanted to speak to manager and that I wanted a refund. She then said that she would give me a refund and I didn’t trust my food being made by them again because of how they were treating my experience. I go to WSSU and we have village juice on campus and I loved there food and drinks. But going to this location has left a bad taste in my mouth and I won’t...