When one LongHorn Steakhouse customer ordered a salmon lunch to-go, she expected a satisfying, flaky, nutritious, perfectly seared piece of fish.
Instead, she says she got something that looked a lot closer to sushi.
In a video filmed by TikTok creator @zee.troit, which got over 252,000 views, she cuts into the salmon and shows what it looked like inside. While the outside appears seared, the inside is still very pink and looks undercooked.
What Happened With The LongHorn Steakhouse Salmon?
“And you see LongHorn and the thing about me is I am not a b—,” @zee.troit says at the start of the video.
She explains that when she got home and opened her takeout 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 up there,” she says.
According to @zee.troit, she told the restaurant she had ordered the 10-ounce salmon with a sweet potato, broccoli, and salad. She says she asked whether they could fix her order.
“Can you please just replace my salmon?” she says she asked.
But the restaurant employee allegedly reacted in a way she deemed inappropriate.
“Do you mind bringing that up here so we can see it?” @zee.troit recalls the employee saying. “Because that hardly ever happens because they temp 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 OK?”
In a photo update, @zee.troit later said LongHorn Steakhouse apologized, replaced her meal, and even gave her a strawberry shortcake for free.
Is Eating Undercooked Salmon Dangerous?
It can be.
People eat raw salmon all the time, but salmon meant to be eaten raw is handled differently from a cooked salmon entrée at Longhorn Steakhouse.
If salmon is on the menu as a salmon steak, the safer assumption is that it is supposed to be cooked through. 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, fish should be cooked until the flesh is opaque and separates easily with a fork.
Raw or undercooked fish can carry parasites, including Anisakis, a worm linked to raw and undercooked marine fish. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) notes that anyone who eats raw or undercooked fish or squid is at risk for Anisakis.
Symptoms can include abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, blood or mucus in stool, fever, rash, itching, and, rarely, anaphylaxis.
That does not mean undercooked salmon will make someone sick. However, if a restaurant’s salmon steak arrives raw and cold in the middle, that’s not the same thing 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.
That usually means it was previously frozen for parasite destruction, ideally by a commercial supplier, not just tossed into a home freezer overnight. It should also come from a reputable sushi restaurant, seafood supplier, or market that sells fish for raw consumption.
The FDA says freezing can kill parasites that may be present in some fish, though it does not kill all harmful germs. It still warns that cooking seafood is the safest option.
Viewers Were Split
In the comments, not everyone was on her side.
“Girl just bring the salmon back,” one person wrote.
Another viewer, who said they work as a server, said Longhorn Steakhouse’s asking to see the food was reasonable.
“Uhhh I’m a server lmaooo them asking that is very valid,” they wrote.
@zee.troit responded that the request itself was not the issue.
“Asking wasn’t wrong, the way she handled the situation was,” she wrote. “First things first she owed me an apology. She did not give me an apology, she asked for the meal. She’s wrong. I’m not. Lmfao.”
Others thought the restaurant should have handled the complaint more carefully from the beginning.
“Yall not understanding what she is saying,” one commenter wrote. “The correct response from lorgnhorn should have went ‘we do apologize for this if you can bring it back we would be happy to remake it for you’ simple not a oh that never happens..”
Another viewer thought she should escalate it.
“Next three phone calls, health department, corporate and finally a lawyer,” they wrote.
@zee.troit Ok Longhorn… #longhorn
BroBible has reached out to @zee.troit via TikTok messages and LongHorn Steakhouse via email for comment.