True Food Kitchen — Restaurant in San Diego

I’ve been coming to True Food Kitchen at Fashion Valley for over 12 years and have always appreciated the quality of the food and overall atmosphere. Unfortunately, my experience today was so profoundly disappointing that I feel compelled to share.

From start to finish, every part of our visit fell short, something I never expected from a place I’ve returned to for over a decade. We ordered two drinks (a juice and a matcha latte) and two entrees. The drinks didn’t arrive until after our food had already been served, long after we had initially ordered them.

Our server, a young woman who appeared upset or disengaged from the start, greeted us with visible attitude. I gave her the benefit of the doubt, we all have off days, but the pattern continued. When we finally received the water we asked for, it was served carelessly, dripping everywhere. I had to wipe down my own glass and the table.

The entrees were equally disappointing. The poke bowl had barely any ahi, which was tolerable, but my Penang curry, a dish I’ve ordered countless times at this very location, was completely off. It came out watery, dull in color, and unappetizing. I raised this politely with our server, who responded with indifference and said, “I don’t know about it. I’ll get my manager.” No apology, no kindness, just cold and dismissive.

The manager arrived and, to her credit, immediately acknowledged that the curry did not look the way it should. She offered to take it off the bill, which I appreciated, but I declined to order a replacement as I no longer had the appetite or time to wait.

When the server returned, she told us the item was being removed from our check but still did not offer a single word of apology. Instead, she defensively said, “I’m new here. I don’t know how the food should look,” and followed with, “It’s not my job to know what the food is supposed to look like.” I responded by saying it is part of her job to be attentive to customers, but she shrugged and said, “You shouldn’t tell me what to do.”

At that point, I was in disbelief, not only at the quality of the food, but more deeply at the complete lack of professionalism and basic courtesy. Mistakes in the kitchen happen, I understand that. But what is not acceptable is the dismissive, rude, and confrontational attitude from someone whose role is to provide a welcoming experience.

This was the worst experience I’ve had at any True Food Kitchen, and sadly, I won’t be returning to this location. I hope management takes this seriously, especially when onboarding new staff. Training someone to know the menu is important, but teaching basic respect and hospitality is essential. No guest should be made to feel disregarded or disrespected while trying to address a valid concern.

After 12 years of loyalty, this visit was not only disappointing, it was deeply...

OVERALL POOR/WEIRD EXPERIENCE. My girlfriend and I haven’t been here in a while but after a long weekend decided to spend our Sunday evening here after shopping at the mall. Ambiance is nice on the patio considering we brought our dog. We looked at the menu ahead of time so we could be quicker to get home sooner after eating.

When the server approached, my girlfriend ordered a bowl with shrimp and I asked for the burger to which the server replied “We’re out of burgers, shrimp and poke” ISN’T THAT HALF THE MENU?! Then my girlfriend was like “I just ordered shrimp with you, you’re saying you’re out of shrimp?” Server “Actually let me check..” then she comes back and says they do have shrimp, okayyy…weird. I ended up ordering the chicken sandwich no pickles and fries to which the server replied “Oh are you sure about the fries?” *Confuses me “Well you’ve been here before right, haven’t you heard the reviews about our fries?” *No “Well we’ve been getting a lot of negative reviews on our fries because they’re air fried and don’t taste like normal fries, are you sure”. Really bizarre she was bad mouthing her own restaurant’s food but ok…I got the fries anyways

Took a while to get our waters and then took nearly 45 minutes for our food and they were not busy + we saw multiple other tables who arrived after us get their food.

Food finally arrived and the server says “I spoke to my manager and we’re sorry about the wait so we’ll be sure to take care of you on the bill”. Was does that even mean? Is the whole thing comped? Free dessert? Giftcard? Be more specific that really confused us so we asked if one item could be comped, to which she replied “Oh I’ll have to ask my manager about that..” WHAT LOL, you said you just talked to them.. She ended up comping my sandwich but still a very weird interaction.

My sandwich was dry with no sauce and they added pickles which I asked to be removed, my girlfriend’s food was ok. The fries she mentioned were also a 3/10 but I was more interested in the chicken sandwich which I would also give a 3/10. I then overheard the table behind us had their order messed up as well…

Summary: really weird & awkward server, food took forever to arrive, they were out of several items and was overall a disappointment, we won’t be returning. They clearly have new management and/or kitchen staff, because we remember this being a lot better + looking over recent reviews seems like we’re not the only ones. Also their prices don’t make sense when looking at quality and portions

Last thing, I don’t normally write reviews ever, but I felt the need on this...

I am giving the food 4 stars because it was good, but I don't love the side options, and some of the items are a little bland or ingredient overpowering. The Service would have gotten 3 stars because the woman (a name I won't disclose) ordered the wrong food, and the when doing my finances a few weeks later I noticed she decided to give herself more of a tip then what I gave her. I left her cash, and a little extra on the card so she could have a 20% tip, and it was clearly stated on the reciept, there was no chance she would have been able to mistake that. Instead, she decided to give herself a 40% tip plus keep my 15% in cash tip. She tips herself more than half my bill. This is unacceptable in my eyes. When I called the manager to have them refund me my money she only offered to refund me the tip, and she did that thankfully, but being a manager for years if you want someone to respect your buisness and recommend it to others in a positive light I would have refunded me everything and offered a gift card for another positive experience. To me, that was careless, and now I have a bad taste in my mouth about that place and their employees. I've debated writing a review about this for a couple weeks now, but have decided that the fraudulent behavior is unacceptable and others need to be aware of this when choosing a restaurant who conducts business like this, or at least make people aware to checking there bank statements after service. Other than that, this place is gorgeously designed and has a really nice ambiance. I am really impressed with the architectural and design teams creation. A well manicured and clean restaurant.

Update - After these experiences, the GM of this location reached out to me and tried to make it right. He was unaware of the situation and did his best to remedy the situation, which I appreciate greatly! He is a great manager. I admire...