Country Life health food store and vegetarian restaurant is operated by 7th Day Adventists. Hours listed are for the restaurant. Store hours are longer, Mon-Thur 9am-6pm, and Sun 10am-5pm. Open Mon-Thu 11:30am-2:00pm, Sun 12:00pm-3:00pm.
Categories: Vegan-friendly, American
12 Reviews
First Review by happyherbivore
Contributions +20
Great Vegan Resturant - Edit
Love this Resturant.
Contributions +13
Very good - Edit
Nice clean vegan food
Contributions +22
Excellent! - Edit
I found this restaurant purely by accident. However, what a windfall! The food is excellent and I can't recommend it enough. I found the food to be fresh and tasty.
If you are in the area, give it a try!
Pros: Excellent food
Contributions +21
Country Life is Awesome! - Edit
This place is so wonderful. Everything there is great and cruelty free. The food is super delicious and healthy and I feel so good knowing that I am not harming animals.
This Thanksgiving, I give thanks for Country Life and all the people who work there and make it possible.
See you on Wednesday!
Pros: No improvement necessary. Carry on!
Contributions +59
Still thriving and wonderful! - Edit
Everything in the restaurant portion of Country Life is vegan (including nondairy cheeses, sour creams, etc.) which is important information for vegans who were deterred by the name "Vegetarian Restaurant"! It is still thriving and doing well and serves wonderful quality food with ever-changing "entrées of the day" (their site has their monthly menu). I highly recommend.
Updated from previous review on Friday March 11, 2016
Pros: Delicious food, Restaurant is vegan, Kind employees
Cons: Store isn't vegan, Limited restaurant hours
Contributions +155
Still going strong - Edit
This restaurant has been around for years (since sometime in the 80's). I went here before I went veg*n and felt welcomed all the same. The staff is nice and helpful. The only downside to the cafeteria is that it is only open for lunch during the week. The food is simple organic vegan food with some delicious cheesecake.
The restaurant is also attached to a small grocery store. The bulk bins have some of the best prices not only in town but even when compared to online. So I don't feel bad when I pay slightly more for Earth Balance or other packaged items since the Nutritional Yeast in the bulk bends is the best price I've ever found.
As previous reviewers have noted, this is run by a religious group; however, there are no "religious" pamphlets. There are veg*n pamphlets now in the restaurant area which is awesome.
Some of my favorite meals include the Taco Salad, Chili Cheese Baked Potato, and the Cheesecake. If you go when they have Tomato soup... just order it. You won't regret it.
In the rural south, Country Life is a pleasant surprise especially considering how long they have been in business. It is a simple local restaurant. Nothing fancy, just good wholesome veg*n food. Stop by if you are in town during the week at lunchtime.
*Note on rating: I give this a 5 star based on the fact that the food is good, people are nice, the food is a good price and it is a rare jewel in this area. If I could give it 4.5 stars I would simply because the food is basic/simple. If you like simple then you'll love this place.
Updated from previous review on Friday January 11, 2013
Pros: Friendly, Good Food, Good Value
Cons: Limited hours
Yay, Vegan! - Edit
My friend surprised me with a visit to Country Life for my birthday lunch. It was great to walk into a restaurant and be able to eat anything without worrying about how it was prepared. The man behind the lunch line assured me that everything was vegan...even those tasty looking "creamy" salad dressings on the bar. I had jamaican rice and beans with collard greens and corn bread with Earth Balance on the side. It was inexpensive and tasty. Oh, almost forgot...cherry cheezecake for dessert! The grocery section has a little bit of everything and I was please with the selection of bulk bin items. Found several things I had been searching for locally and was about to order online. They have a daily special that changes and a set menu they offer all the time (baked potatoes, veggie burgers, veggie dogs, etc). It is opperated by the congregation of Uchee Pines 7th Day Adventists which encourages veganism amongst it's followers. I didn't get any religious pamphlets or see anything conspicuous about their views but that wouldn't bother me anyway. Will definitely return...just maybe not as often as I might like since they are only open for lunch and it is too much of a drive for a regular trip from work.
Pros: Inexpensive, Homecooked, Vegan
Cons: Limited hours for cafe
Contributions +3262
Happy surprise in this town - Edit
I couldn't believe there was a vegetarian place of any kind in this town. This was a jewel to find, considering the general 'meat meat meat' I encountered at other places.
The lunch options are all vegan, from what the employees told me. The 'cheese' sauce was surprisingly amazing and was non-soy (cashew I think they said). The chili is quite good, and getting the chili & cheese baked potato is amazing.
As others said, there are rotating options every day, a great/very fresh salad bar, and things are quite inexpensive.
The natural foods store also has some great items, but they do sell supplements with gelatin, so that should be fixed. But this is your best option around, to be honest.
Also - watch out for them slipping super-fundamentalist christian religious pamphlets into your bag, if you buy groceries. 'Mark of the Beast' and similar religious signage abound, so take them with a grain of salt.
Pros: All-vegan cafe, Mostly veg store, Rare items in this town
Cons: Religious nuts, Very limited hours
Contributions +16
Rare Find! - Edit
I Googled "vegan restaurant columbus ga" on a lark as we were on a driving trip that took us through central Georgia. Not really expecting to find anything, up popped Country Life in a Yelp review. What a treat!
We had a simple but delicious lunch -- a small but very fresh looking salad bar and a bowl of really good chili. There was the choice of an entree of the day (fettuccine), soup of the day (lentil), chili, veggie burger, veggie dog, and the salad bar. (There may have been other things on the menu that I can't remember.) Several choices of breads and nut butters were available. It seemed to me most of the food was vegan, but there were cheese options also. For example, the man in front of me in line asked for cheese sauce on his chili. The service was helpful and very friendly, and the prices were extremely reasonable. In my traveling fantasy, there would be at least one place like this in every town!
Pros: good value, healthy cuisine, friendly staff
Cons: lunch only
Contributions +11
I love this place - Edit
Extremely cheap and great fresh food. The
salad bar cost around 3$ and has the freshest and best selection in Columbus. They are only open from 12-2 I think but it's the perfect place for a quick healthy and afordable lunch. I haven't tried much of the cooked foods but the soup I tried was delicious.
Pros: Affordable, Friendly staff, Affordable
Cons: Short hours, Self-serve
Contributions +16
Don't waste your time - Edit
Country Life serves a very bland school-cafeteria-style lunch that gives vegetarian food a bad name. Most of the dishes consist of canned imitation meats (the same that they sell in the adjoining natural food store) and overcooked vegetables with no imagination. The food store also sells supplements containing gelatin, so they have a very loose definition of "vegetarian". They also routinely sell items past the expiration date so look at labels carefully.
Pros: bulk foods, mostly vegan, Alternative Baking Co. cookies
Cons: tasteless food, lots of gelatin, honey, & casein, religious pamphlets everywhere
Contributions +96
good food - Edit
good, cheap food
only open for lunch
serve food on styrofoam plates
vegan except for honey
friendly staff
always busy
lots of seating
Pros: cheap
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