The Kitchen — Restaurant in Traverse City

We visited The Kitchen today (1/4/18) after I'd seen a TV article about it. The first thing I'd like to mention is that, while they do have some seating for eating in, it's mainly take-out and deli.

They have a large and varied menu, with offerings of salad, sandwiches and desserts, among other things like salsa and dips, in the deli area.

We were looking for something filling before going grocery shopping, and The Kitchen's dinner menu assured us that we weren't going to leave hungry. That said, the portions of veggies and starches (potatoes for him, sausage/sage dressing for me) weren't overly large, which suited us as we're both trying to watch our weight. The meat portions--pulled pork for him, meatloaf for me--were generous. I took the accompanying pictures as an afterthought when we'd already eaten some of our dinner :)

The meatloaf was flavored with spinach and sun dried tomatoes, and the bbq sauce on his pulled pork was well seasoned, on the sweet side, with an interesting bit of heat. The Veggies were about as well done as I've ever had here in TC, and I mean that sincerely. The green beans I had were excellent, as was the sausage/sage stuffing. His veggie medley was as good as it gets.

The counter service was attentive and helpful, and our meal was ready before we even had time to sit; no waiting. Other's experience may vary as by the time we were done ordering there was a line of about 5 people behind us :)

There was a smallish eating area with stools and a counter lining each side of an alcove. Not large but adequate space for anyone deciding to eat in.

In all, we were very pleased with the quality and portion size of our meal, the service and location.

Our entire meal--two dinners (before 4 p.m.) with a shared soda--was around $20. Well worth the price. I look forward to returning to sample their other...

If I was just rating the food I would give this 10/5 stars. I love the food it's super tasty it looks nad tastes fresh and I recommend this place for that alone

But,Good luck getting the meal exactly how you ordered. I've gotten one order here that was correct. But I don't really judge them for this tbh

However! What I ma going to take my stars down is the fact everytime I walk in to grab stuff off the al carte, EVERYTIME, I get glared or sneered at by the employees. I do not feel welcomed inside for some reason. Idk if it's just how their faces work or what but it's weird.

I have avoided this place in the past even when I wanted to for their amazing bread purely because of how the employees make me feel.

I get working the service industry I used to do it for years and it sucks but I've never ha a coworker or myself sneer and make faces at customers just literally walking in then immediately leaving.

I hope whatever makes the employees feel this stressed works itself out because I really do...

Drove past this restaurant multiple times and decided to try it out tonight. We got a simple order of bowl of chicken noodle soup, 1/2 ham sandwich and another cup of chicken noodle soup and a Mac n cheese. After driving 20 minutes from my house I got there and drove all the way home hoping for a good simple dinner, boy was I wrong. They forgot my wife's soup and when I called they apologized and sent a driver out with her order which was nice but that didn't help the quality of food. My bowl of chicken noodle soup had about 10 noodles total with not one piece of chicken, so for $5 I was served chicken broth in my opinion. Also they said they were out of ham so we got a turkey sandwich instead. So I gave a 2 star for them handling the mistake and delivering but only 2 because the food was terrible. Do...