True Food Kitchen — Restaurant in New Orleans

Came in with my partner on Monday 3/11 at 3pm and sat at the bar. The restaurant was not busy, maybe 2 other tables at the time we arrived. We ordered 2 waters and an appetizer to start within 5 mins of being there. It took about 15 minutes for the app to get to us, all while the bartender, a very young girl, did not check on us once. She quickly walked away after dropping off the food. It was then we realized all the employees, including management, were hiding behind the bar in the kitchen and were not checking on anyone else in the restaurant either. The app, which was the edamame dumplings, was flavorful, but lukewarm by the time we got it. The bartender finally came out of hiding and got orders from other people who just walked in after us and then got to us after another few minutes. We ordered the butternut squash pizza and Korean bowl. Bartender quickly went back into hiding for a long time without checking on us. There were customers walking in wondering where staff was to seat them because none were out on the floor to greet or check on anyone. They were not understaffed either, there were several servers and what seemed like a few management chatting in the kitchen area and “cleaning glasses”. The restaurant was DEAD, their main priority was to clean glasses instead of check on their guests. There were hundreds of clean glasses on the shelves and all the tables were stocked. 45 minutes go by and still nobody has checked on us to see if we wanted anything, maybe a refill of water would have been nice. Our food finally comes out and again, it’s lukewarm. The pizza presentation was tragic and dry, we took apart all the toppings and redistributed them and spread the cheese ourselves. The Korean bowl was okay. But in case you were wondering, yes the bartender dropped our food off and went to go on her phone in hiding again in the kitchen. She didn’t ask us if we needed anything and our water glasses were not refilled once again. I was literally STARING at servers in the kitchen and nobody came to check on us at all. The bartender came out of hiding to clock out of her shift without saying anything to us. Another male bartender stepped in to clock into his shift after another 5-10 mins and I had to ask him to get the check. He at least had a smile on his face. He gave us the check, but didn’t ask if we wanted a box (half the pizza was still in front of us) so we had to wait even longer to ask for one. This is the first time in my life I have not left a tip but this service was absolutely atrocious. We were there for over an hour and not one time did anyone check on us to see if we needed anything. The place was dead. This is probably why. It’s unfortunate because this place is really cool looking and it could be really great. But the prices were extremely high for the quality of food and service. We will...

Spare yourselves the generic food and the disrespectful service. Try the many wonderful options nearby instead.

I came in for lunch with a group of fellows and mentors of a fellowship program for underrepresented students in AI.

When everyone arrived it turned out that there were 16 guests. The reservation was for 10. The result? Despite there being no one in line to get in for the majority of our time at the restaurant, the servers and the manager they consulted with refused to seat and serve everyone. Eventually six of us, including myself, left.

Some of our party were African, some women were wearing headscarves. Most spoke with accents. This is what happened when we asked to accommodate additional guests at our table:

1. First, True Food Kitchen staff said they had no more chairs (!?) This was strange: there 10+ vacant chairs at the multiple vacant tables right next to us at the time

2. Then True Food Kitchen staff they said they had no tables (!?) This too was strange: there was a whole room full of spare tables and chairs visible behind a curtain and the area where our table was set was right next to it...and we didn't even need an extra table...we could all fit at the table we had!

3. Then True Food Kitchen staff said they are just overwhelmed with having to serve more people than were on the reservation (!?) This seemed strange as well but some of our group offered to sit with the group without ordering if that was going to help ease the stress.

4. Then True Food Kitchen staff said they can allow 12 to remain at the table and need everyone else to get in line at the front door. This also was strange, and: unhelpful...by then a line had formed so 4 of us would have had to wait rather than spend time with the group.

Do better, True Food Kitchen. Your racism and xenophobia...

I’m not sure if my server was still new, so I’ll exclude his name, but after promptly coming by to ask for drinks (I turned down a drink, asked for soup, and he said he’d be right back to place our order) he was gone for about 10/15 minutes, darting between the bar and kitchen and never looking up. The time feels like an eternity when you’re hungry and want to just get your order in haha When he came back, he took our order of the spicy cucumbers, dip duo, curry, kale aid and pomegranate spritzer. About 20 minutes later he came back and informed us that they were out of the dip duo. Our food came out 3 minutes after that. Really awkward timing since we couldn’t order another dish since those 2 were definitely not enough to share between 2 people. We’re used to DC health food restaurants where the portions are slightly more generous for whatever reason. The cucumber salad was 1 chopped up persian cucumber with a couple sprigs of leaves and a delicious chili oil, for example. luckily only $4 though because it’s part of the happy hour deal. When I stood up to approach him to ask about our drinks halfway through our meal, he interrupted me saying “I’m actually right on my way to get them now” and walked off. I wanted to tell him to cancel them. I sat back down, waited for 5 minutes, realized that the bartender hadn’t made them, so I went up to her and canceled them. I had been here one other time and was excited to share the place with another person and I actually felt embarrassed I praised it so much. We had to eat more food at home because we were still hungry. Because of the awkwardly timed service, small portions, and sitting by the side exit which isn’t locked for some reason so we were consistently blasted with cold outside air, it was a...