Vida de Cafe

«Vida de Café Delicious Food For a Healthy Lifestyle!
Dear Loyal Customers
Dear Loyal Customers, After 6 and ½ years in business we have decided to close up. We are very thankful for the opportunity to have been able to serve you delicious healthy raw vegan food. We have tried all options to keep our business running so that we could continue to be of service to the community, unfortunately some things aren’t meant to be. We do have plans to get a Vida de Café Cookbook together in the next year, which will include all Vida recipes and lots and lots of other ones as well. If you are interested in having a copy please email us or add us on Facebook as we keep our Facebook going until we release the book. Thank you again for your commitment to us and the opportunity to learn and grow with you guys!!»
This is the extent of their website…
So, don’t go as they aren’t there…

What an amazing experience! The food here is absolutely delicious! And the best part? It’s all organic and vegetarian which was a huge help when it came to pleasing my wife’s appetite.
I my self, love vegetarian restaurants but it’s not often that I find ones that are not influenced heavily by Asian cuisine.
This place offers these healthy dishes in a very different but yet unique format. Latin, Indian, Thai, and American influences were all over the menu which gave us plenty of options to choose from.
So glad we tried this place. Definitely a gem in this area!

I like this place, it has a good vibe. Small about 6 four tops and a few 2 tops. I really enjoyed the Caesar salad the gnocchi not so much, too dry or something. I’m not sure but sometimes you just order wrong!

Raw Vegan; mostly gluten free. There were leftover cooked options from their Mother’s Day brunch. I ordered Potato Gnocchi w/​Pistachio Pesto… not real shy about cleaning the plate. Tasted some of sir’s vegetable ramen. Excellent excellent broth, hearty portion of veggies, vermicelli noodles (gluten free)… in the traditionally massive bowl. No room for desert T-​T
3^rd visit, always happy for a chance to eat here

I’m not really a vegan person, but my friend is and I like to eat healthy. I enjoy the taste better than the Cider on central in Downtown St. Pete. I ordered the lasagne and my friend ordered the pad Thai here. It was both great! Definitely would return.

Great place if you are looking for something different and a bit healthier alternative to the other establishments in Pass-​a-​Grille.
Even if you are not a vegetarian or Vegan, this a great spot to be introduced to another style of cuisine.
Great service and great food. Ask about their specials and enjoy a Green Horchata Smoothie! You may have to sit next to some pretentious vegans but the staff here is far from it. Great Job to Vide de Café. You haven’t converted me, but next time I am here in St. Pete’s, I will definitely stop in for a great meal.

Not for date night! First off, the lighting in the evening is weird. I think they dimmed it, but as it is white fluorescent, it just seemed dull and made us all look unattractive — better to just have it on at full blast and make no attempt at dimming. Further, the night we were there, every chair was filled (which is great for business), yet they were seriously understaffed with only 2 (lovely, friendly) people preparing and serving food. Also there was a medium-​sized dog in the restaurant for some reason. It obviously belonged to staff as it watched their every move but seemed discontent as it wandered around; the dog’s discontent made me uneasy. We took the last table available, which unfortunately was too big for the space it is in — right in the center of the restaurant, next to the serving counter. I was nudged many times by the server, the dog, and other patrons. This was not romantic.
Still, I rate this place high (4 stars) because the food was delectable. I mean really, really delicious. I can’t wait to go back to eat the sushi and the zoodles again. I can’t believe how wonderful that damn sushi is. I think it must be a PERFECT place for a casual lunch.

Please read my review in context. I don’t think meat is murder, and I’m not completely sure what we mean by «live» food. To me, if I order a taco from a place that features «live» food, I’m gonna get a tortilla with something inside saying «Mooooo». OK, now that all of the Vegans hate me, I’ll continue…
We stopped here because we were at the beach and wanted something light. OK, it is great that this place exists for all the Vegetarians and Vegans out there. I am not judging. After all, I’m a Terratarian, an don’t want to be judged (All of the fish in the sea applaud).
I got the Tacos (translation: Avocado and nuts wrapped in lettuce), my friend got the Pad Thai, and my wife got a salad. It was all good. The Pad Thai was probably the best in the bunch. Would I rave about the place? Nah, but again, I am happy to eat dead animals. I have, however, been to many Vegan places that I thought were far superior, but hey… this is a little place at the beach, so why not?
Again, take my review in context. If you are into live food that isn’t technically «alive», I’m pretty sure you will love it!

Best raw vegan meal I’ve had to date. Highly recommend the guacamole & hummus, mango smoothie and pad Thai.

It has been a month since I dined here and my mouth waters every time I remember my amazing lunch!
The barely chili is hearty and the homemade onion bread is a perfect compliment.
The zucchini pad Thai is a MUST. Creamy, tangy, and OH SO GOOD! I am still dreaming of that sauce. The ingredients are top notch and the cuisine is innovative. The menu is incredibly inciting, I had difficultly choosing my order! The portion sizes are filling but not overwhelming.
The owners are friendly and passionate about promoting healthy, alternative diets. I am a customer for life!

Nice little place to eat healthy and tasty food. Smoothies are very good as well. Salads are amazing! Never disappointed when we go here. Actually, probably the best place to eat in Pass-​a-​Grille in my opinion. Friendly and reasonable priced with a healthy alternative.

This was my first time at a restaurant that serves live food. I am vegetarian and had Unilocaled the area to see what I could find that would fit my preference, this was the first restaurant to pop up.
Once I looked at the menu, I realized that almost every item is also Gluten Free (whaaaaaa? Fo sho!) Be still my little heart, it is rare that I can choose anything off the menu (except ONE item).
We decided to try quite a few dishes and I can’t even tell you how wonderful they all were. My absolute fav? The sushi… absolutely tasty, full of ginger love. I could have had just that and been totally happy.
It was packed on the night we went, and locals kept on coming in for take out which is a good sign. It seems to be a favorite and if I lived close by it would definitely be one of my go to places!
I can’t wait to come back.

Best raw dish I’ve had yet! I’m skeptical of raw but this dish (and the tacos) were fantastic. The «lemonade» was very good — I only wish it was cold, but when it’s made fresh in front of you, it can’t really be cold, lol.

When you eat here, it is quite evident that a great effort is placed in designing, creating and serving good, healthy raw food. The menu is creative, colorful, flavorful and diverse, and you are certain to leave with the feeling that you fed your body some seriously healthy grub.
It falls a bit short on service perhaps because they are so busy, which is a good thing, but they might want to consider some help during their peak hours. This food is too good not to be served wtih a better attitude.

I found this place totally by accident. As much as I love the Tampa area, whenever I am there I drive around like a lost Mr. Magoo tourist. But fortunately for me a wrong turn lead me in the right direction to this place. First of all the entire area is just absolutely lovely, very laid back, high end beach area.
The day I went to the restaurant there was a young mom and her cute little daughter helping behind the counter. All of the food is freshly made by hand right there on the spot. I had the Mushroom Tostada and it was off the chain!!! When you are a cook and you know how to make healthy vegan food taste sinful you are truly a food artist. I also had their freshly squeezed lemon juice which was also mixed with another veggie or fruit (sorry don’t recall) but it was so good that I ordered 2 glasses of it. You know how sometimes you get freshly squeezed juices that have a horrible after taste to them? So NOT the case here. They some how mixed the ingredients of this drink up just right where it tastes good during and after.
This is a totally awesome place with great tasting food that is also healthy.

Vegans, vegetarians and omnivores (face it your body needs a break sometimes) TREAT YO SELF! This place is a great find. Delicious food well presented, and made with loving care. A comfortable walk from the pink hotel you can take a stroll down at your leisure.
A recent vegan but long-​time vegetarian the meal was stacked with flavor, and was definitely home-​cooked-​with-​love. I had the lasagne. My husband (non-​vegetarian) was challenged when trying to finish his plate — falafel by the way were tasty and not in the least bit greasy.
I had the key lime cheese cake for dessert and it was of course fabulous. No liquor license, added advantage then of bringing your favorite wine with you to your table for two or more.
Can’t recommend highly enough.

Probably the only healthy food offered in the surroundings of Pass-​a-​Grill.
I ordered a falafel, the taste was superb, and a cucumber-​watermelon juice.
I truly enjoyed this visit, the food tastes amazing!

We were searching out some of the famous beachside restaurants in S. St. Pete beach. The famous ones were crowded with excessive wait times. In contrast, Vida de Café had hardly any people and a much more attractive menu. We liked it so much that we returned once more during our week-​long stay in the area.
The menu here stands out, because all the food is high-​quality and vegan. As an added bonus, nearly all of the food is served raw, for the highest nutritional value. The menu is not large but has a good variety of dishes, appetizers, smoothies, and desserts.
Our first meal included the chocolate smoothie, the lasagne, and two desserts. The smoothie was good, based on their home-​made almond milk, I believe. It was not excessively sweet and good. The lasagne was notable for being vegan. Being raw, I suppose it makes sense that it was served cold. I would have preferred it warm, I think. The two desserts were worth writing home about. The vegan key lime «cheesecake» was excellent and reminiscent of key-​lime pie. The chocolate cheesecake was indistinguishable from a rich chocolate pie, but perhaps better than the best non-​vegan version – wonderful.
Our second meal included the mango smoothie, pad thai «noodles», caesar salad, and the key-​lime cheesecake again. The mango smoothie was not impressive, as I could hardly taste the mango and without the natural sweetness of the fruit. I think it didn’t use ripe fruit or enough fruit. The pad thai was pretty good and a large portion. Served cold. Made with pine-​nut dressing, the caesar salad was convincing enough and came is descecated eggplant for fake bacon. The curry soup with avocado was really wonderfully tasty.
I can say that our server was attentive and inspired about his menu. He had good suggestions. He also loves living in Florida.
The parking in this area can be difficult. It is disappointing that the restaurant has such limited hours, closing a sunset most days.
Vida de Café is an excellent café and a nice change from the normal seafood restaurants and pizza joints in the area. If you like vegan or raw foods, you will like this place. Non-​vegans will also enjoy the meals, esp. the desserts.
Highly recommended.

First off, I love the Pass-​A-​Grille neighborhood in which Vida de Café is located — über laid back and local feeling. You won’t find the wild and invasive tourists on this part of the coast (luckily).
In an effort to balance out my breakfast of scones and pie, I searched on Unilocal for vegetarian eats. Boom! Vida de Café! I was thrilled to read the reviews highlighting their zucchini noodles (big fan). We ordered our meal carry-​out so I can’t speak much to the atmosphere during peak hours. Give their Pad Thai zucchini noodles a whirl. Very filling and flavor-​packed. My only recommendation would be that they use less sauce — the noodles were slightly mushy within 15 minutes or so.
Vida also offers fresh smoothies, soups and a variety of other health-​conscious and raw menu items. Perfect pairing for a day on the beach!

I’m already sad I can’t squeeze in more meals here — so so so amazing. As someone who adopted a gluten free, dairy free, almost vegan lifestyle 6 months ago, I can tell you this is hands down delicious for raw vegan food. As a true foodie of all food types and styles — this restaurant measures up against some of the best I’ve been to.
We had the juice, a smoothie, the raw zucchini pad Thai, the raw lasagne.
I cannot say enough about how delicious this is. W. O. W.