True Food Kitchen — Restaurant in Tampa

Unfortunately however much I wanted to like True Food Kitchen I simply cannot after my experience with them. I visited during lunch on a weekday. The experience was riddled with issues that unfortunately can't be overlooked.

The hostess was borderline rude to me and my lunch party with an air of arrogance and undefined lines throughout the full interaction of requesting a table for three through to be seated. Not even making eye contact, mumbling through how to scan the bar code for menu access and being harsh in response when we asked for clarification on what she was even saying through the mumbling. Btw, the QR code didn't even load for any of us to bring up the menu.

I ordered an appetizer along with my entree. The wait staff said he would put in the order of my cocktail and appetizer right in. I waited a very long time until both were brought appetizer and my main course were brought out at the same time with the rest of the food. The waiter responded he felt I wanted my appetizer with my meal, this seems quite puzzling as to why I would have ordered the appetizer and his initial statement. Having them both served at the same time along with my quinoa bowl made it difficult to eat the contrasting texture of taste if teriyaki quinoa and salmon with Watermelon and balsamic taste.

Sensing some issues with our experience the duty manager (Tabitha) came by and I shared the issues with the experience. Despite her offer to comp the appetizer, I insisted that I pay for it, as I am empathetic to the restaurant industry and the high cost of food and material these days.

My watermelon salad had a decent combination of balsamic vinegar along with cucumber, cherry tomato, and olives. Unfortunately the garnish on top was a little too much leading to a imbalance of textures and gritty texture to the bite (see pic).

My Teriyaki Quinoa Bowl w/ Salmon came with far too much vegetables than the grain. It seems disproportionately too much. The terriyaki sauce however was blended with the right amount as to not overpower the rest of the dish. The salmon was cooked to the right medium temperature to retain moisture.

The Watermelon Mojito cocktail seemed a little too watered down leading to a very diluted taste where the watermelon was more a distant hint and the seltzer added along with ice seemed to be key ingredients of this cocktail.

Combined with pricing, service and food quality it's hard to find many positives to rate my experience at True Food Kitchen any higher. I do wish them best of luck and hope others may walk way with far more positive...

Our first visit to TFK was in the ATL. We didn't realize it was a chain restaurant. I know, ugh to chain restaurants, but this one is actually worth it! W/ that said, we enjoyed our meals. We kind of did a tasting menu, meaning we chose a bunch of items, and took the left overs home. 🙂 Important to note I'm a pescatarian and my honey eats meat. The restaurant has quite a few vegetarian options, which was refreshing. My honey was somewhat willing to do a Meatless Monday. The restaurant wasn't too busy and very clean. Ok enough, now about the food. We ordered the edamame dumplings (NEVER disappoint) and the curry vegetable bowl (it does have a shellfish broth). The curry vegetable bowl was good, but under seasoned. We discussed and they probably make it this way for the masses. I can't wait to try it tomorrow to see if the flavor awakens. For our main courses: we got the house chopped salad w/ salmon added (nice piece of fish), the spaghetti squash casserole (REALLY yummy, but portion was way too small for $20 plus), and my honey got the OG burger w/ fingerling potatoes. I know, it was almost a Meatless Monday. Lol. He said the burger was awesome, and he would def. get it again. The fingerling potatoes were good, but again under seasoned. Unfortunately, this time my salad was really bland. I had to ask our server for salt and pepper, but again on a positive note it was a really good portion. I know y'all are thinking well you ordered a salad. BUT this salad has lettuce, farro, dates, cranberries, almonds, jícama, apple slices, havari cheese (small cubes), and a champagne vinaigrette. So not your ordinary house salad. I had to salt and pepper it several times. Our server, I forget her name (sorry, I'm awful w/ names), was ahhhhhmazing! She was informative, and very helpful. The ONLY thing we had to ask for was the salt and pepper. She really was on top of everything else! She's a keeper! We would have given a 5 star rating if the food would have been more flavorful. Ps...the spaghetti squash dish looks bigger than it was in the pic. Think appetizer portion, if you...

My family and I ordered takeout 2 times from here now and both times it has been amazing. First time they forgot a couple small minimal items, called and they made it right..no biggie. Thank you! Second time we had a bun that was GF and I’m not joking when I say you couldn’t bite through it. 2 problems, 2 orders. The un-edible GF burger bun makes me wonder why it wasn’t tossed and a better bun was used. I’m still giving this review 5 stars all a round because the food is so delicious.

Night 1: 2 chicken tender plates, pepperoni pizza and the sza cza salad. Couple cookies for dessert. First of all the tenders are air fried..seriously amazing. I personally can’t eat deep fried foods for health reasons, so this is just love at first site. Wow they’re so good. Pizza was great also, a little on the drier side for some, but I prefer light sauce. Cookies were good, loved every bite. Definitely a shareable size cookie.

Night 2: charred cauliflower, chicken parm and 2 burgers. Dessert why not! Peanut butter tart. Cauliflower was outstanding, so much flavor packed in every bite. Chicken parm was fantastic, I love the light approach with the air fried chicken and spaghetti squash. The burgers are without a doubt one of the best tasting burgers I’ve ever tried! Peanut butter tart special..incredible.

Overall, this is some of the best tasting food I have had in a while. We love the freshness of everything and knowing you are putting something healthy into your gut. The only downfall was the couple mistakes. But the bun, really I’m bringing up more specifically because that’s just common sense and I hope this part of the review is a coaching tool for management to the staff preparing the food, ensuring it’s fit for customers.

(Probsbly is a 5 star review, but can’t based off issues so far.)

Thanks you for some great meals these past 2 days and we look forward to eating...