Cafe Soulstice

Sadly, SOULTICE HAS GONE OUT OF BUSINESS. Both Locations.
There is a new café in it’s place with average looking food. Didn’t look interesting enough to bother. It’s not raw — chicken salads, etc. Oh yeah, and yet another place that sells so-​called health shakes full of sugary yogurt –Jamba Style.

Delicious food! But a strange and slightly awkward atmosphere… this is a little café located inside a gym (the café is open to anyone). I went there for lunch with a friend, and it was a little weird to be surrounded by people on treadmills and ellipticals. and the music was pounding to keep those people motivated, but it sure was a damper on our conversation. If they had a few outdoor tables, that would have been lovely. To get to the bathroom, you have to walk through nearly the entire gym, smelling of sweat and other such things. but the bathroom is pretty amazing when you get there — this gym is super swank, so the bathroom/​locker room is enormous and offers you mouthwash next to your handsoap at the sinks.
BUT … the food was qual-​i-​ty! I had the nori roll, stuffed with some sort of fake salmon pâté and veggie. Delish! See the picture. And they brought up samples of their «superfood cluster» which was both awesome (because it was free) and delicious!
This is a nice place to have a light lunch. But you might want to consider getting takeout and eating in a more comfortable palce.

I think it’s great that raw food is emerging on the Peninsula and giving us locals some options for raw food dine in and take out. I will be honest, I expected more from Café Soulstice after stalking their online and take out menu many times. About a month ago I decided it was time… to devirginize myself and take a trip to Soulstice. They have a small kitchen space and open seating section at the Equinox fitness center. They do NOT serve everything on their menu but have a note up explaining that they are using seasonal produce which is always a bonus. Organic, seasonal, local = always the best. I will admit that I was bummed to find out they are not serving Thai young coconut water, my favorite and by far the best drink ever, at this time. The food/​beverages I have tried were good but nothing great. I have 4 years of raw on me and could easily of whipped these things up myself and enjoyed them more. Café Soulstice is a quick pick me up place for me when I need a raw snack or drink but not somewhere I’d go for dinner. You’re best bet is to get some raw snacks or lunch and go sit at a park and meditate and practice mindful eating. Gym noises are not a happy eating enviornment. I also want to include that the staff who has helped me has not been able to answer some of my questions which I find unprofessional if working at a place where questions galore are bound to happen as most people are very uneducated on raw food. Do your research first, eat slowly, chew your smoothies and long live raw!

ITs inside the Equinox gym, next to Frys. Try the burger, its really good.

I love that this place exists. I didn’t find the food very good.
I ordered falafels and a blueberry shake. It did take a very long time for the food to come, even though there were very few customers there. I’m willing to wait for great food. Unfortunately, the food was okay, not great.
The tastiest thing was the red bell pepper salad dressing for the salad.
The falafels themselves had some weird taste I associate with old dried vegetables/​seaweed. I’ve tasted it before in raw dishes, and I’m not a fan. The salad also had way too many super salty olives on it. These were hard to separate out from the hummus — also too salty.
Now for the $ 7 or $ 8 shake — this was «blueberries and cream». Leading me to believe it would be sweet and creamy. It was neither. Fortunately I had some agave in my car which greatly improved the sweetness.
I didn’t have any raw almond cream sitting around to add though.
I’ve had way better raw falafel at Chaco Canyon Café in Seattle, and way better raw blueberry cream shake at Leaf in Los Angeles.
I hoped that Soulstice would provide me with these tasty things here in Palo Alto. Unfortunately, given the inconvenient location and hours, the slow service, high prices, and the only okay food, I’ve lost interest in coming back.

Vegan friends, rejoice! This little raw food gem is inside the upscale Equinox gym in Palo Alto. And it’s open to non members. But don’t expect a separate café here – like it’s sister in San Mateo. This one is right near the entrance and the four tables have a wonderful view of about 20+ people running on the treadmills. And, yes, it does smell like a gym. If you’re not a member, I recommend taking it to go. Because the food is worth it.
It’s all raw, vegan, and totally fresh. We ordered the nachos. Which is not your usual theatre-​house-​melted-​waxy-​cheese-​on-​old-​tortilla-​chips type nachos, it was a healthy, hearty version of nachos complete with all the fixins. Sour cream and spicy cheese made from nuts (you’d never know it) – yum! Topped with guacamole, salsa fresca, lettuce, and this yummy faux bean mixture. I was in heaven.
We also ordered the Solstice burger. And OMG it’s one of the best burgers I’ve ever had. Again, the patty is made from nuts and veggies and not at all dry. And it has all the greens you need without feeling like you’re eating hay. And this sauce is amazing. It’s a cross between mayo and mustard with a kick. It also came with a side salad (yes, more greens woohooo!) and I choose the red bell pepper dressing and I could have licked the container cleaned – it was that good.
Unfortunately, I didn’t order any smoothies. But I will next time. And I didn’t wait too long for the two dishes (maybe 15 mins). And there was only one person working – she was helpful and friendly. I also went 20 mins before closing time, so maybe timing is essential at this place. Again, it’s all about the food. Take it to go – I can see how sweaty people grunting as they lift that 100lbs can kill your appetite. Enjoy!

I really, really wanted to like this place for many reasons. I wanted to love the fact that we finally got a raw restaurant in the south bay. I wanted to love the fact that it’s only blocks from my work and I could eat lunch there whenever I wanted. I wanted to love the fact that they have a cute website (albeit without a comments section-​hence my Unilocalness to vent my frustration in front of millions when it could have just gone straight to the source), are in a cute gym, have cute deserts, and have a cute name (which resembles my daughter’s middle name Solstice).
The fact is, as hard as I tried, I do not love this place. Not Not Not. Sorry Café Soulstice. I tried.
How many times did I try you ask? 3. Three times. I will admit that 1 out of the 3 times was a great experience in every way. Hence the score of 2 stars. It’s an average of my 3 visits. Here’s a recap:
Visit #1 — First week they were open. I took 2 of my work friends and we ordered 5 items. 2 entrees, a side of pâté, and 2 drinks. We ordered these to go. Although one of the owners was there, our order took AN HOUR to make. Seriously?! An hour? And my shake sucked. And my friend’s strawberry smoothie sucked. It wasn’t even sweet. The salmon pâté, however, was awesome! The counter girl didn’t know the ingredients. Lame. I asked if it was made with nuts or seeds. She had no idea. However, she let me sample it, which I then was able to determine that it was made with almonds. Super yum. I wish the salmon pâté wasn’t the only 5 star item on the menu.
Visit #2 — I went there on a weekend since I wasn’t on a time limit and knew that they are incapable of making anything in a timely manner. I explained to the counter girl (who was a different counter girl and actually quite competent) that my last experience there had been a disappointment and told her exactly how I wanted my shake. She made me one perfectly! And in a very reasonable amount of time. I was super excited.
Visit #3 — The visit that provoked me to write this entry. I went on the website to write the owner, but of course, the website (as cute as it is) is unnavigable and doesn’t have a place for comments, an email address to contact the store manager, or anything user-​friendly of the sort. So, I’m writing to you, the people of the south bay so that you can be warned before dropping a wad of your hard-​earned cash and devoting your well-​earned lunch hour on waiting. This time, I thought I was being smart by calling my order in for pickup so as to avoid the 1 hour wait I had experienced last time. I was delusional. I called at 11:30 and order 2 entrees and 2 shakes, and I was told that I would have to wait 45 minutes. Ok, it’s lunch hour, I understand, but the counter girl told me she was the only one working, which I found odd since it was lunch rush. So, I waited patiently and arrived to pick up my order at precisely 12:15. She said she was still making my nori rolls but that the sandwich was done. So, I sat down and began checking my email on my iPhone (btw, there’s some issue with getting iPhone service in that building-​annoying to say the least). THIRTY minutes later, my order was ready. She brought me my shake only ¾ of the way full. Call me a piggy, but if I’m paying $ 8 for a shake, I want all of it. So, I asked her to add more banana or something to bulk it up. She did so and I was pleased at first, until I tasted it. Not only were the bananas used in the shake quite obviously unripe, but my shake had chunks of banana that were not all the way blended!
I really don’t feel like my standards are that high. My nori roll tasted great with the salmon pâté that I love, but my shake was a disappointment. I’m not going back. Third time could have been a charm and won me over, but I will just have to continue to drive all the way to SF for a decent raw meal.