At True Food Kitchen, eating unhealthy is nearly impossible.
Located in Palo Alto, the restaurant chain prides itself on serving only seasonal, fresh foods, including foods that accommodate many dietary restrictions.
The chain, which now has locations across the country in places like Texas and Georgia, was founded by celebrity doctor Andrew Weil.
True Food Kitchen is conveniently located at Stanford Shopping Center in a very large space that can seat hundreds of people. Even with the abundance of seating, the restaurant is consistently packed.
When I arrived at 1:30 p.m. on a Saturday, the restaurant was full as usual and had a 35 minute wait time. This wait time held true, and after 40 minutes I did receive a text saying my table was ready. However, I have had a prior experience where an hour long wait time ended up being over two hours.
After being seated, I had a chance to look over the menu, which still had options from the brunch menu although it was afternoon by then.
I opted for the Teriyaki Quinoa Bowl and my friend had the Grass Fed Burger with a side of sweet potato hash.
Our waiter was pleasant, friendly and made sure to update us on when our food was coming. We surprisingly didn’t have to wait long despite the restaurant’s full house.
I’ve had the Teriyaki Quinoa Bowl in the past and it is typically my favorite thing to get from the restaurant, but this time it was underwhelming. Usually, there is a lot of delicious rice with portobello mushrooms, veggies, and avocado, but I only had a few mushroom slices and the bowl was instead full of too many carrot slices.
Priced at $16, I expected the bowl to fill me up and keep me full, but I found that the portion was so small that I was full but then quickly got hungry again. The brown rice that had been replaced by carrots slices left me wanting more food.
I tried some of the burger, which was small considering it was also $17. The side of potato hash was delicious but the burger itself also left my friend with a craving for more.
Portion sizes aside, the food was really good. It tasted fresh and I loved the fresh vegetables that were incorporated into every dish. The atmosphere was great, and I loved being able to see into the huge open kitchen.
True Food Kitchen is a very typical Palo Alto restaurant, with fresh food at a high price. That being said, it is delicious and I will definitely come back again.
[star rating= 4/5]
