Healthy Vibes Cafe & Juice Bar is a small oasis in Summersville that serves up healthy items and great drinks.

They'll be closing soon, so I wanted to get in to check them out.

And I ordered the "berry buzz," which has cranberry, pomegranate, acai, strawberry, blueberry, yogurt and agave.

Yum! Had you tried any?

In a nook overlooking local favorite restaurant Cathedral Cafe, the Raw & Juicy Juice Bar offers a healthy smoothie (and smoothie bowl!) option for those who have been rafting, mountain biking or hiking all day. Or me.



The juice bar is in the same location as the restaurant, just located upstairs and overlooking the dining area.



The juice bar space itself is small and cozy. From this space, they also prep cleanses/detoxes that folks can purchase as part of a program.











The Basic Bowl with strawberry, banana and coconut milk smoothie, topped with bananas, strawberries, chia seeds and coconut flakes.

Which is your favorite smoothie?

Saladworks is a new restaurant at the Suncrest Town Center specializing in - you guessed it - salads. It's a chain restaurant, but it's the only one in West Virginia. Cue West Virginia obesity puns.

Their menu has 13 featured salads: a turkey club, autumn harvest (with craisins, sunflower seeds, crispy apple chips), bently (ham, turkey, eggs), tivoli (pasta, ham, turkey), buffalo bleu, garden deluxe, chicken caesar, fire roasted cabo jack (chicken, corn, black beans, whitebeans, tortilla chips), mandarin chicken (chicken, oranges), greek, nuevo nicoise (pasta, tuna, olives), cobb, and sophie's (chicken, craisins, apple slices).

Plus a ton of dressings, including a dijon lemon capri, green goddess, oriental sesame, parmesan caesar and tangy salsa ranch.

Those salads can be turned into wraps, and there are also paninis, soups and some "carver" salads, which have fresh cut protein. Those include thai chicken, a steakhouse, napa steak, malibu chicken, taco, sushi bar and baja.

I ordered a combo of a half caprese panini, half buffalo bleu salad. Inside, it was kind of chaotic, being the first day and all. But we made our way through the counter line, where you can specify what you'd like as they make it right in front of you.

My panini had nice grill marks and a crisp bread. Inside, it had mozzarella, tomato, basil and a balsamic vinaigrette. I think it could've been cooked a bit longer (and fresh mozzarella would've been great) so that the cheese melted more. But it was fine. Nothing outstanding, but a decent sandwich.

The salad was a mixture of buffalo chicken, romaine, iceberg, tomatoes, banana peppers, bleu cheese and tortilla strips. Plus bleu cheese dressing mixed in. Overall, it was pretty good. I'm not sure if I'm on the mix-all-the-dressing-in-your-sald bandwagon or not. Usually I just pour some on top. But it was actually nice to have it coat everything. Could've used more chicken. A nice bit of bleu cheese. Plus the crisp tortilla strips were a decent touch to add something crunchy.

Overall, it's fine. It's near my apartment (closer than Panera), so there's a chance I could go if I want something quick and healthy. Though I think Panera has more options I like. I did meet the two women opening the business, who seem kind and motivated. I think there's a market for them - a sort of Panera crowd lite. Though I know some really great local businesses in town. And you generally know my feelings about chains ...

Real Juice Bar and Cafe is the new kid on the downtown Morgantown block. It took the place of Garcia's Latin Market, which moved to the former Carvel location, at 119 Pleasant St. WBOY and WV Living already have short blurbs about it - and it just opened on March 3! It's getting a lot of attention.

That might be because it's (one of?) the first juicing/health restaurants in the area. The only other restaurant that focuses on healthy items is the Shape Shop - that I know of. Juicing is kind of a trend right now. I'm not going to act like I know anything about it, because I'll let the 500 or so blogposts about ridiculous food I've eaten speak for itself.

So, this place is right across from Black Bear, so there is that small parking ... garage(?) right there. That's convenient. When Tony and I walked in, it's pretty much what I would've expected. Some bright colored chalkboards, wooden tables, cute purple designs. Inviting and fresh. There were a few people working on laptops, so it's nice to have a cafe vibe here.

They have a number of juices, smoothies and vegetarian food items. Mostly salads, there's hummus and a few other odds and ends. The only meat I saw was tuna. I ordered the "avocado smash" on a bagel, which is avocado, olive oil and spices. I also got their soup of the day - potato - and a smoothie: "violet," which has blueberry, mango, lemon and orange. That, with a small tip, came out to about $18. That's hefty for lunch.

Smoothie: It was very liquid-y. I wish it was a bit thicker. It was also not cold - more room temperature. The flavor was good, though. It tasted fresh and sweet.

Soup: Also very runny. I tend to think of potato soup as thicker and creamier (aka fattier), but since they're more health-conscious, it lacked that cream to give it the velvety richness. There also weren't chunks of potato, rather little potato bits. The flavor wasn't bad, but it was definitely a "potato soup lite." At the counter, they asked what kind of bread I'd like with my soup, but it apparently failed to make it to my plate. Or Tony's.

Avocado smash bagel: Okay, this was fine. It was a pretty good bagel (lots of seed!), but you know how regular avocado tastes? Like an avocado. There's not a lot of flavor here. You typically use avocado in addition to something - not have it be the main flavor. They said there are spices, but nothing that I could taste. It was a tasty bagel, with a ton of just mashed up avocado and oil. Flavor was bland. Add a different texture (tomato?) or some spices or balsamic or something to accent the avocado flavor.

I tried Tony's hummus, and it was OK. It was a blackbean hummus, but pretty good overall.

SO. I get the point of this place, and it's probably a great option for folks are are very into juicing or not eating meat or just being conscious of their health in general. And this place tastes like it. I do think there are lots of options that are healthy but still pack a ton of flavor - the things I had here aren't really it, though.

I think healthy food doesn't have to taste bland. I think with some more thought, some of these items could be punched up. I liked the smoothie, but I think it should be cold and thicker. The soup was fine, but the avocado mashed up was bland. Just some spices could make it go places. And I simply can't afford $18 for lunch.

Again, it is new, and it's probably already valuable for certain people. And they may be wanting those people who are on the fringe, but if you want the bulk, middle-of-the-road people who could easily be swayed to go to the new Panera that's opening, I think some small changes could help. I'd much rather support a local business over a chain any day. But I don't want to do it for a subpar product.

They're open 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Closed on Sunday. Give it a go and let me know your thoughts.

Grade: B

As part of Art Walk, my friend Brittany and I stopped in Mission Savvy since I had never been. Mission Savvy focuses on ethical fashion, organic food and a sustainable lifestyle. So, it's definitely a cool addition to the downtown restaurant restaurant scene. They even have a food truck that they take to events.

I ordered a drink that was probably the safest - full of fruit and not the veggies. It's thinner than a smoothie - more like a juice. But it was quite tasty, and it was sweet without being too much. If you're feeling a little more adventurous/healthy, try one with spinach or other leafy greens.


I wasn't interested in a hot meal because it was quite warm that evening, and I was already sweating.They had salads, a beet burger, wraps. But I just wanted something small - I opted for a "cocao brownie ball."

Blech. I'm sure it's much healthier and vegan-friendly, but blech. I wasn't a fan. Plus it got fuzz on it, either from me or elsewhere, and I didn't need much of an excuse to stop eating it. I'm glad I had the drink, because it was a nice cool treat.

Some of the plates look interesting, and I'd be interested in trying some of those in the future. I like that this type of cafe exists, because it's vegan, raw and gluten-free, which is important for so many folks. I'm just not necessarily one of them - but I acknowledge its role in the community. They're open Monday through Friday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and closed on Sunday.

Grade: B

Driving back from the mall one day I noticed the sign for the Shape Shop. In a Westover plaza, the outside had a red/white checkered theme that was reminiscent of a picnic. It sounds like a weight loss shop, but after some research, I found out it is, indeed a small restaurant. How had I not heard of this before?

Apparently the Shape Shop opened in 1976 in Charleston, WV. It's based on the idea of making healthy, delicious food in portion-controlled sizes available to the community. In 200, a second location opened in Huntington, WV.  And eventually a Morgantown location was opened.

This restaurant has a few tables, as well as some grocery items for purchase. It's like a store/restaurant combo. They even have some refrigerated and frozen items. When we walked in, there were more employees than diners. In fact, the whole time we were there, we were the only diners. Guess I wasn't the only one who didn't know about this place.

The employees were genuinely friendly and wanting to help. It was, however, a little overwhelming to have so much attention right on you when you're just trying to figure out what to do. But they were kind and helped us out. We looked over the menu, and I decided on a Greek in Spinach Wrap ($5.50) that was a spinach wrap, lettuce, black olives, onion, feta, tomatoes, pepperocini and caesar dressing. I also got a cup of stuffed pepper soup.

They made the wraps right off to the side, in front of you. And before I knew it, I had a fresh, delicious wrap sitting in front of me. It was more flavorful than I had anticipated - all the ingredients were flavorful, fresh and combined beautifully. I did take out some of the pepperocinis - a little too spicy for me. But overall, it was very tasty. An extra something would've really punched it up though.

The soup was also hearty. Warm and different, the soup was tasty. It, too, could've used some more spice to really punch up the flavor, but it was still good. If you want to try a new, healthy place with very friendly, knowledgeable staff, this is the place.

Grade: B