text: I really, really love healthy food done right. The kind of food that breaks down the barriers between us crazy health nuts and the traditional awful eaters around the world. The kind of food that says, \"it's alright, see? I can be healthy and delicious!\" If you want this experience, go to Native Foods Cafe in southern California, not LYFE Kitchen.\n\nWell, like any good story, we need a setting. Henderson. The District. Whole Foods shopping center. High end high end high end. This is a high end health-oriented cafe so the price is high, too. I am not going to mention specific numbers, but even in the world of high-end cafes, there should be a sense of value.\n\nIt starts well. The interior is beautifully modern and polished. Comfortable and plentiful seating in a large space. A display of herbs and spices growing immediately catches your eye - which will provide some irony later. Filtered water available on tap at any time. Staff is extremely friendly and helpful. There are menus for every dietary need. Thoughtful! Now, let's get into the food.\n\n- Roasted brussels and squash. A side dish that hides nothing in its name. This is, weirdly, the best thing I've had here. It's those two vegetables tossed and cooked in light oil and spices with cranberries thrown on top. Simple and high in value.\n\n- Barramundi noodle bowl. The honest, forward name in the last dish is contrasted to the cryptic name here. I'm going to copy the exact description. \"Sustainably raised seabass with soba noodles, mushrooms, scallions, edamame, in kimchi broth.\" Yes, all of those ingredients are present - but what do you picture this dish looking like? A noodle bowl with a fish on top? Wrong. Try some weak broth with about 8 noodles floating in it with accompanying (and sparse) edamame, kimchi, and mushrooms. A cooked piece of fish on top. This just makes no sense. There is no distinct character or flavor to this. No purpose or personality. It's just food. Low in value because you essentially just paid for a piece of fish.\n\n- Grass-fed burger. So, again, technically everything on the list checks out. \"100% grass-fed beef, romaine, tomato, red onion, farmhouse pickle,  dijonnaise on an oatmeal bun.\" You can expect a lot of bread containing a relatively small, unseasoned, and remarkably dry beef patty topped with extremely sparse amounts of lettuce and tomatoes. Seriously, where is everything? And why is the patty so awful? Oh yeah, this comes with a tiny \"salad.\" Extremely, extremely low value.\n\n- Fish tacos. Hey, fish tacos! What can possibly go wrong here? These actually taste alright but mainly because they're drenched in sauce. Thin pieces of fish topped with lots of vegetables with a bit of salsa on the side. Same borderline-garnish grade \"salad\" on the side. Fish tacos are often delicious because of the combination of fresh fish topped with crunchy vegetables (like cabbage) and a light sauce. The effect was lost in that sense. Perhaps four tacos would be a bit more appropriate for the price and considering there is almost nothing else on the plate. Again, super low in value.\n\n- LYFE waters. Not bad, but quite watered down. I'm not even going to get into it.\n\nSo, a conclusion then? Potential, yes. Execution, poor. I just can't justify coming back and paying a high price for not much in both value and flavor (all their spices are growing up front instead of being used in the kitchen). I guarantee you'll leave hungry and poor.