True Food Kitchen — Restaurant in Summerlin South

Since 2020, my husband and I have enjoyed the food at True Food Kitchen (TFK) in Summerlin, NV having patronized the restaurant well over two dozen times. On March 15, 2022, we experienced a disturbing racist incident. My husband went to the TFK pick-up counter to get our dinner and was informed by TFK staff that it was not ready. After waiting for approximately 15-20 minutes, a waitress approached my husband to ask him what was ordered. My husband provided a screenshot of our DoorDash (DD) receipt. Upon checking with the kitchen, the waitress advised him that she did not see the order, but she would check with her manager.

The TFK manager emerged and abruptly informed my husband “no such order exists". She rudely and dismissively stated (twice), “the food will be prepared only after you pay for it.”

My husband contacted me on my mobile as he continued to insist to the TFK manager that the order had been properly placed and was already paid for. Upon hearing this contentious exchange and the manager’s abrasive comments, I jumped from our parked car with engine still running and sprinted to my husband’s side at the restaurant’s pick-up counter. I vehemently reiterated that the order had been properly placed and paid for.

At this point, the waitress more closely reviews our DD screenshots and recognizes that our order has been sitting at the pick-up counter from the time my husband first arrived some 30 minutes earlier! TFK staff subsequently became annoyed that we would not accept food that had been sitting on the counter for over 30 minutes. We insisted that a fresh order be prepared. The waitress took the order that had been sitting on the counter and returned within 5 minutes supposedly with a fresh order.

The TFK manager was offensive, disrespectful, and incompetent. She never offered the restaurant's apology for her insulting and escalatory intervention, inept operation or TFK’s flagrant mistake. We believe this was a blatantly racist encounter in which the TFK manager presumptively concluded that a black man must have been lying about having placed and paid for a DD order. “No such order exists." Oh really? Did the TFK manager even bother to consult the restaurant's digital interface with DD? “The food will be prepared only after you pay for it.” Oh really? Surely the TFK manager knows that ALL DD orders are paid for in advance of pick-up which is why customers are provided with a digital receipt.

Why was the TFK manager so unable to extend the same common professional courtesy and respect to a black customer as that expected to be shown to any valued customer? Did she seriously believe that my husband fabricated screenshots of our DD receipt in attempt to get over with a turkey burger and quinoa bowl?

We believe this incident illuminates the urgent need for corporate attention to critical employee training on racial discrimination, diversity, and customer care in addition to addressing apparent flaws in the restaurant’s pick-up service. Organizational culture and accountability start at the top. TFK's response speaks volumes. The appearance of apparent indifference and/or lack of timely and priority attention to a customer report of racial discrimination further reflects poorly on the TFK establishment.

Sadly, the impact of this toxic racist experience has left a very bad taste for both me and my husband. Frankly, it eradicates well over two years of loyal patronage. We are reasonable people, and we understand mistakes happen. This incident NEVER should have happened. One of our heretofore favorite local restaurants will no longer receive our business and we cannot recommend TFK. We’ll take our business to restaurants that treat customers of color in the same way they respect all...

I guess the response below is intended to gaslight me. How does the temperature of seared tuna translate to frozen as I indicated in my comment? It was blatantly obvious all the food has been pre-made and frozen frome leftovers and instead of theowing it away you are just serving up old frozen food. So many shortcuts were made they didn't even bother warming up the food after taking it out of the freezer.. The same was evident with the salmon that came out immediately and was cooked all the way through and inexplicably cold. If it had been cooked fresh and cooked all the way though, then it would have come out hot...

I used to come here because I have food restrictions and it appeared like it was a safe place to eat for me. But this time I ended up getting sick.

The service at True food Kitchen is never very good based on their business practices, but I still went there because it appears to be a safer food selection for someone with food restrictions like me. However, after getting sick, I will not be coming back.

I ordered what was probably the most expensive item on the menu, which was supposed to be a seared tuna. However, the fish came out ice cold, seemingly already cooked and then frozen. I wasn’t sure if I had left over food that they had made the day before or what. There is just something deeply offensive to the fact that they pretend the food is fresh and it turns out they can’t even be bothered to reheat it. The waiter came back and told me that the cook said that he had actually seasoned and cooked it, However, that’s impossible—it was so cold, it was basically frozen.

I decided to just order an entirely different plate and I ordered the salmon. That one was just very slightly lukewarm, basically cold but at least not frozen. I ate it because I had already taken my insulin to eat and I really felt if I kept complaining, someone might spit in my food—I had already complained once about the cold food and they double down and bring more cold food? That’s someone that’s not interested in doing their job and me complaining again won’t do anything. So I ate it. As I was leaving the restaurant I started to feel sick—the distinct symptoms I get when I eat gluten. Even though I had notified the staff and ordered food that did not contain gluten, they still put gluten in my food! Whomever is back there in the kitchen needs to be fired because he is endangering people with cold undercooked leftovers and putting gluten in the food of people who have gluten restrictions.

The service in TFK as a business has always seemed to be an issue. They have bartenders basically doing two jobs— the job of making all their fresh juices and then the bartending. In addition, TFK seems more interested in hiring younger good-looking white wait staff than an experienced dedicated staff. The result is that staff think work is a place to socialize instead of serving customers.

However, this TFK in Las Vegas is the only place where I have not experienced this type of lack of service. What I have seen is that the turnover for the bartenders is quite high. There is usually a new bartender every two times I come in. Several of them acknowledge that the job asks for a whole lot more than just bartending and find difficulty attending customers while also attending to all the other chores...

Went here a month ago with a friend, enjoyed it so much I made my husband take me back. We obviously got there at 'shift change' as we stood at the hostess desk for a few minutes and could see a large group of employees in the kitchen. A young lady walked towards us, grabbed her bag from a nearby table and headed out the door. She obviously heard me say to my husband 2 more minutes and were out, because she came back and let us know she'd get the 'new' hostess. The on the clock hostess came and seated us; a table against the glass of the kitchen. We can hear the explanations of the specials and menu items as the majority of the staff is in the kitchen. We peruse the menu for a solid 5minutes before a waiter comes over and advises he'll place our drink order however he will not be our server, someone else will take over. We watch the staff all sample the food in the kitchen. Watch more discussion between the staff, cooks, management. A good 10 minutes go by, still no drinks. The waiter we were assigned for the 'whole' experience, leaves the kitchen and goes to the table directly behind us. Then the table across the restaurant that came in after us. Then the computer to enter orders. Then the kitchen. We should have left then, but I really wanted my husband to like the food here as he's started a new healthy eating journey, so we stayed. The waiter finally comes to our table. Still no drinks. We place our order for numerous appetizers to share. He goes to check on the drinks. Finally drinks come. The food arrives fairly quickly. However what was ironic was that the food was ran to our table by the male manager--assume he's a manager as was wearing business casual, who says ABSOLUTELY nothing about the wait(he could see us from the whole tasting and waiting situation). Waiter comes to check on us and we ask for the check. We were actually still hungry, had wanted to order something else but didn't to deal with the service anymore. We went to another local restaurant and they told us they actually hear this from patrons a lot, which is surprising to them as the interview process and selection for the staff is apparently very specific--per our very attentive waiter. Honestly if the experience hadn't been so tainted by the lack of service I'm sure we would've been back...