When one Long Horn Steakhouse customer ordered one salmon lunch to-go, she expected a satisfying, flaky, nutritious, perfectly seared piece fish.
Instead, she says she got something that looked much closer sushi.
In a video filmed by TikTok creator @zee.troit, which got over 252,000 views, she cuts open the salmon and shows what it looked like inside. While the outside looks crisp, the inside is still very pink and looks undercooked.
What Happened to LongHorn Steakhouse Salmon?
“And you see LongHorn and the thing about me is that I’m not ab-,” @zee.troit says at the start of the video.
She explains that when she got home and opened her takeaway order, she realized the salmon was not cooked through.
“When I got home and I realized that my salmon is completely raw all the way through, I called them up,” she says.
According to @zee.troit she told restaurant she had ordered the 10-ounce salmon with a sweet potato, broccoli and salad. She says she asked if they could fix her order.
“Could you please just replace my salmon?” she says, she asked.
But the restaurant worker allegedly reacted in a way she found inappropriate.
“Do you mind bringing it up here for us to see?” @zee.troit remembers the employee saying. “Because it almost never happens, because they rule it out.”
That part seemed to frustrate @zee.troit more than the request itself.
“Are you cool?” she says in the video, before showing the inside of the salmon again. “Cool? Are you okay?”
In a photo update, @zee.troit later said LongHorn Steakhouse apologized, replaced her meal and even gave her a free strawberry shortcake.
Is it dangerous to eat undercooked salmon?
It can be.
People eat raw salmon all the time, but salmon meant to be eaten raw is handled differently than a prepared salmon item at Longhorn Steakhouse.
If salmon is on the menu as a salmon steak, the safer assumption is that it must be well done. For maximum food safety, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says most seafood should be cooked to an internal temperature of 145 degrees Fahrenheit. Without a thermometer, cook the fish until the flesh is opaque and separates easily with a fork.
Raw or undercooked fish can carry parasites, including Anisakis, a worm attached to raw and undercooked marine fish. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) notes that anyone who eats raw or undercooked fish or squid is at risk for Anisakis.
Symptoms may include abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, blood or mucus in the stool, fever, rash, itching, and rarely anaphylaxis.
This does not mean that poorly cooked salmon will make anyone sick. But if a restaurant’s salmon steak arrives raw and cold in the middle, that’s not the same as ordering sushi from a place that prepared the fish for raw consumption.
When is salmon ok to eat raw?
Raw salmon is generally lower risk when it is actually intended to be eaten raw.
This usually means that it has previously been frozen for parasite destruction, ideally by a commercial supplier, not just thrown into a home freezer overnight. It should also come from a reputable sushi restaurant, seafood vendor, or a market that sells raw fish.
The FDA says that freezing can kill parasites that may be present in some fish, although it does not kill all harmful bacteria. It still warns that cooking seafood is the safest option.
Viewers were divided
In the comments, not everyone was on her side.
“Girl just bringing back the salmon,” one person wrote.
Another viewer who said they work as a server said Longhorn Steakhouse asked to see the food was reasonable.
“Uhhh I’m a server they ask this is very valid,” they wrote.
@zee.troit replied that the request itself was not the problem.
“Asking wasn’t wrong, the way she handled the situation was,” she wrote. “First of all, she owed me an apology. She didn’t give me an apology, she asked for the meal. She’s wrong. I don’t. Lmfao.”
Others felt that the restaurant should have handled the complaint more carefully from the beginning.
“Y’all don’t understand what she’s saying,” one commenter wrote. “The correct response from lorgnhorn should have been “we apologize for this if you can bring it back we would be happy to redo it for you” simply not an oh that never happens..”
Another viewer thought she should escalate it.
“Next three phone calls, the health department, the company and finally a lawyer,” they wrote.
BroBible has reached out to @zee.troit via TikTok messages and LongHorn Steakhouse via email for comment.
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