True Food Kitchen — Restaurant in Reston

Food was nothing noteworthy but the ordering and payment experience was incredibly frustrating. There is a QR code on the tables and our server told us that we could use that to order or order through her. There was four of us and were were going to have three separate payments so we figured separate checks through the app would be easiest since the server said we could pay through the app and itemize if we wished. Person 1 ordered and said they were part of a group (it waits to send the order to the kitchen). Person 2 placed an order and said they were solo. Person 3 entered an order for myself and my wife and I also said that I was NOT part of a group. It ended up merging both my order and person 2’s order together and the person who said they were part of a group ended up being the solo one. Ok very frustrating. Then the server came over and asked if we placed one or two cocktail orders. We confirmed there was supposed to be two, but one of the food items was not showing up in the order screen for person 1. We asked the server to confirm there was four entrees ordered. All drinks and food came out as expected and were decent but nothing spectacular. When we finished we went to the website (no app) to pay. I clicked the Apple Pay icon and it didn’t take me to Apple Pay. I had to enter in my full credit card details and it failed to process since it said I had an invalid three digit code. For some reason it trimmed the preceding zero which was a valid digit. Then there was no way to itemize the items we ordered…confused I went back to the start and then refreshed the page. This time when I tried to check out it I got a new screen with three options to 1) pay in full 2) split evenly or 3) to select which items I wanted. I picked the third option and and choose the items we ordered. On the checkout screen all of them items on the check showed up. I was confused since I should have only had three items. There were five items on “our”check” with three of the four people from our table. My subtotal, tax and tip were for just my three items but it was very frustrating that it didn’t show me which items I had picked to pay for in any way. I expected to either see only my three items or to see my three items as picked but then to see the other items in a separate section. By this time I realized this website checkout process was a dumpster fire and I was just going to move on. I completed my checkout process. I then took the phone of the other person and tried to complete the checkout process. Once again it didn’t allow itemization until a website refresh. After refresh it allowed itemization but then when it came to picking which items we wanted to pay for all of the items said they were paid for (which they were not). At this point I walked over to our server and told them the website was junk and that it was telling me everything was paid for but I believed that NOT to be the case. They confirmed a payment was made but they did not have the detail as to which items were paid for. We then tried to complete the checkout again on our phones but this time choose to pay remaining balance (instead of trying to pick items). This again failed because on the next screen it said everything was paid for. We gave up and presented a credit card to our server. Please get rid of this app. It left me in such a bad mood (plus the food didn’t wow me) that I do not...

I visited with friends on a Sunday morning to get some lighter brunch/lunch fare. Familiar with typical dinner options at the Mosaic branch, I was eager to try the brunch offerings at a different location. The clean outdoor seating area proved relatively quiet and conducive to conversation among the three of us. Our server greeted us promptly and offered responsive yet unassuming service throughout our meal. I should have asked for a name, as her checking with me on how I liked my food along with what she liked was most welcome and added to my experience. My food arrived at reasonable times if not a little sooner, so pacing seemed quite appropriate as well.

I ordered the strawberry lemon pancakes followed by the beef burger with kale salad side and finally the summer mango tart. The pancakes look and taste like a healthier pancake and had good texture. I wonder if a dressier and more flavorful garnish to go along with the lemon cream (more would have been nice for my taste) would be either some house-made strawberry preserves/jam or maybe an infused syrup with strawberries and mint or something. Maple syrup while traditional seemed too sweet for some reason.

The burger was the opposite of a typical greasy fast-food version, and I very much liked the combination of Parmesan, arugula, and well caramelized onions. Meat temperature looked between medium rare and medium to me and tasted subtly enjoyable. I wonder if the bottom bun would be less compressed and soggy if half the arugula were placed beneath the burger. Otherwise toasting the bun would have nearly perfected this burger along with maybe some kind of spiced aioli instead of mayo. The kale salad to me needs lemon (which I requested and got) to brighten the flavor but satisfies regardless.

The mango tart has a pleasing appearance overall even with an unorthodox green color that apparently results from the mix of vegan creams used for the custard. I definitely detected a subtle mango flavor, and I would have appreciated a bolder flavor and orange color along with a few mango pieces as garnish. The crust sits in the background and allows the custard to be the star.

As I recall the total for my meal settled around $40 or so excluding tax and tip. Prices seemed to be slightly higher than what I might expect for the area, but I did not leave dissatisfied with my experience from most any angle. I could return here and delve into a few other choices that...

Interesting experience at True Food Kitchen in Reston Town Center. I had some family in town for my sister's birthday, and my wife had heard great things about True Food.

We scheduled an earlier dinner at 6PM for 5 adults and 1 child. Had a great experience checking in, and heading over to the table. The staff was welcoming and friendly. After sitting down at the table is where the problems began.

First, I want to make it very clear, our server was very nice, professional, and knew her business, but the speed of service was atrocious. Upon sitting down, we asked for a round of waters, about 10 minutes later our drink orders were taken, about 10 minutes from there our food orders were taken, and 5-minutes after that our drinks were delivered. 25-minutes for the first drink order. When the drinks were delivered, we again asked for a round of waters as they'd not arrived.

In the current climate, I anticipate a little slower pace to service due to the lower staff counts in the restaurant industry, and overall challenges operating a restaurant with limited staff. That said, there were about 4 tables seated when we arrived in a restaurant, in a location with 30-40 tables, and seemingly full-staff.

30-minutes in, we have water and our drinks, and our food order has been placed. We ordered a variety of dishes, and the server let us know that the Korean Steak that I ordered took a little bit longer than some of the other dishes (about 20-minutes). We ordered appetizers, so this shouldn't have been a problem. Appetizers are delivered to the table about 40-45 minutes into the meal and were finished right around the 1-hour mark.

Another 15-20 minutes and entree's are sent out. While a longer meal experience is never really an issue when things are moving at the right pace, everything this evening seemed to be behind schedule. We weren't really provided updates or recognition that things seemed a little behind schedule.

Maybe Friday at 6PM is the wrong time to come for dinner, but as a previous FOH manager for Restaurants and Catering, something was very off. Maybe the FOH manager wasn't there that day.

All-said, the food was good, but not so good that it justifies the service experience. With the options available at RTC, I think we'll pass on True Food Kitchen the next time we go out that...