Life Bistro is the first and only fully-vegan restaurant serving incredibly flavorful alkaline-diet friendly dishes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. This joint is easily one of the most refined vegan establishments in the city, and has been gaining a massive reputation for their delectable dishes, unique and exciting flavors, and refreshing fine-dining experience. Here’s everything you need to know about Life Bistro, Atlanta’s finest alkaline-vegan fine-dining restaurant.
Fine Vegan Dining
Many vegan spots are smaller in size and specialize in sandwiches and quick grab and go menu options. Life Bistro is one of the first highly-refined sit-down vegan restaurants we’ve seen. Everything they create sticks to the alkaline diet and only uses whole foods and fully vegan ingredients. Here you can find some of the most beautifully coordinated and delicious plates along with a soothing atmosphere at any time of the day, making it the perfect fine-dining experience to enjoy for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and date night.
Alkaline Diet
For those of you who are just learning about this new diet trend, the alkaline diet uses plant-based and whole foods to work towards a healthy pH within your body. It usually avoids meat and dairy products and encourages you to avoid smoking, drinking, or over/under exercising.
The idea is that consuming acid-forming foods like red meat can alter your pH level within the body and lead to poor health and the degradation of body cells. By balancing your natural pH with your diet, you can experience several health benefits under the impression that your body won’t have to work as hard to remove acid from the body.
pH is a measure of acids and alkalis on a 0 to 14 scale. Anything lower than 7 on the pH scale is considered acidic, while anything over 7 is considered alkaline. Our blood is slightly alkaline at 7.35, while the pH levels are much lower in places like our stomach where we digest and metabolize food.
Basic biology will tell you that our bodies are constantly working to promote homeostasis (or equilibrium), so we can’t alter our natural pH with the foods we eat. The diet is based on the idea that while you can’t change your pH levels, you can make it a little easier on your body to process acids by eating foods that are naturally more alkaline than acidic. This may come along with more longevity and feeling physically healthier, making it a tasty diet trend with lots of exciting flavors and health benefits.
Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Life Bistro has an excellent all-day menu. Whether you’re stopping in for a bite of lunch or you’re checking out the dinner menu on date night, the food is incredible at any time of day. Each menu option is chef-inspired, taking vegan food to the next level. Even during breakfast, you can stop in to life bistro and try something unique and refreshing, and get a tasty cold-pressed juice to go. You can come in for a fine dining experience all day every day, or get your food delivered or ready for pick up.
Wellness Shots and Cold Pressed Juices
Life Bistro has a whole range of cold-pressed juices, organic coffees, herbal teas, and wellness shots available on their menu. Everything at the juice bar is fully vegan and fits in with the alkaline diet. The most interesting one is their sea moss wellness shot, chock full of b vitamins and used holistically for its ability to promote a healthy brain, thyroid, bones, energy levels and better mood.
My First Experience
When a new vegan restaurant opens up in town, they tend to be a little hit or miss. At least for me. I’m a sucker for flavors and a refined dining experience and many of the up and coming vegan spots in Atlanta fall short on these two incredibly important factors. Plain and simple, vegan cuisine is delicious, refreshing, healthy and exciting, but only when done properly.
That said, Life Bistro is a breath of fresh air. The vibe here is extremely comfortable and friendly and left me feeling very relaxed. I sat for a few moments and was greeted quickly by a friendly waitress who brought me some water. She was bubbly and kind, eager to explain all of the exciting specials and menu options that they have to offer with me, sharing her opinions on all of the dishes, and encouraging me to simply try whatever sounded the best since there’s something on the menu for everyone and that none of the options are disappointing in the slightest.
After speaking with her about the menu and the alkaline diet for a while, I ordered an appetizer. I started with the 3-way crispy oyster mushrooms and a ginger wellness shot. The presentation of the plate was incredibly impressive, very chef-inspired. The scent was mouth-watering, so I dug in practically immediately. My mouth exploded with flavor with all 3 of the sauces. They tasted a lot like boneless chicken wings, and the spice and seasoning in all three was very impressive. Truly refined flavors and a great kick that almost made you question if it was in fact a vegan dish. The texture was crispy, offering a really nice comfort food feel, too.
The wellness shot was also delicious. They serve cold-pressed juices here and I was able to watch as the women behind the counter pumped out a variety of unique and exciting flavors and concoctions. The ginger in my drink was freshly grated, creating a very light and refreshing flavor. The next time I come by I’m excited to try the seamoss shot.
For my entree, I ordered from the dinner menu. I had the seafood rasta pasta since it isn’t something you find on a standard vegan menu and was chock full of specialty ingredients that I’d never really heard of before, including Konjac, which is an asian yam that has a very robust seafood-like texture, and cassava root, which gives the konjac a marine, seafood flavor. This dish created such an incredible depth of flavor between the konjac shrimp and the mango salsa. They also mastered the art of a true caribbean jerk sauce in their fully vegan yet creamy sauce. So many spices, a beautiful presentation, and the ability to use lesser-known ingredients for better flavors and textures of their dishes has me singing Life Bistro’s praises.
Everything about my first experience with Life Bistro was a delight. I cannot stress enough how exciting it is for vegan cuisine to taste this good. Far too many vegan restaurants are notorious for the simple plant-based burgers and sandwiches with factory made “bacon” or “chicken” on a bed of greens.
Also for those wondering I felt very safe in their dining room. All their employees wore masks and kept their distance while providing friendly service. They santized the table in front of us as well as provided hand sanitizer for us. Life Bistro is truly an exceptional restaurant. They’ve mastered unique vegan-friendly ingredients and how to make them taste good while presenting them beautifully. They do an excellent job of making healthy alkaline vegan food available to more people. Even people like me who simply love to eat and won’t settle for anything less than delicious in every sense of the word. If you like Slutty Vegan or Soul Vegetarian then you will love Life Bistro.
My compliments to the chef, and thank you to all of the wonderful, friendly staff who took care of me during my visit.