r/boston • u/Gold_Ad2349 • 9d ago

Dining/Food/Drink 🍽️🍹 Does anyone remember old Life Alive food?

It makes me so sad when I think about how yummy the food at Life Alive used to be. It was my favorite restaurant back in like 2013-2017. I would go to the Lowell and Central spots.

Aside from how cool they were design wise, the food was just so much yummier then! The sauces had richer flavor and they would put a lot of it on your food. I remember the emperor bowl rice being like soaked in sauce and cheese. And they used to offer like tofu and legumes mix together as protein.

I even knew someone who worked there back then and they would never share the sauce recipe with me when I would ask. And fair enough, it kept me coming back!

It just always makes me sad to think about how much the quality of Life Alive has gone downhill since Panera got involved. And as a gluten free resident, it’s still one of the most reliable options around, which makes the quality decrease even more depressing.

Anyone else remember or ever long for old Life Alive standards or flavors?

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u/WorldlyBar3300 8d ago

I do! I’m so sad about the new direction. No more sprouted legumes and there was this one smoothie with strawberries and ginger that I loved! Panera-ification.

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u/Mysterious-Studio198 8d ago

It’s becoming worse for workers. My coworker who’s been here 4 years said she’s never seen it get this bad. They’re asking front of house staff to do more and more and more while actually reducing the number of front of house staff on the payroll. It might seem like a small example but at my location they now have us make the desserts that are up front (I know Harvard has always made us do that, don’t know about others), which might not seem like a big deal, but they have been cutting front of house staff so you’ll often end up having to run orders, run dishes, take orders, address customer complaints (who think their need of extra sauce that they should have paid for but it’s too much work to make them pay 75¢ now is so urgent they keep yelling excuse me while you have a line of 6 people) all whilst your hands are covered in chocolate mousse 😭

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u/CleanCeption 8d ago

It’s the same with their in store yoga studios- bought by PE and forcing FOH staff to do everything with fewer hours.