COEVàL Space Design and Concepts
There’s a moment — just before a restaurant opens its doors for the first time — when the whole place is buzzing with something bigger than excitement. Call it anticipation, call it possibility, call it what you want, but at Taste Community Restaurant, that feeling is something else entirely. It’s purpose. It’s the idea that food can be more than just fuel. That a meal can be a bridge. That a restaurant can be a community.
And starting March 5, Arlington gets to experience that feeling firsthand.
This isn’t just another grand opening. It’s a movement. A pay-what-you-can eatery built on the radical belief that no one should go hungry, that a meal can change a day, and maybe — just maybe — a restaurant can change a life.
The concept is simple but revolutionary: walk in, sit down, order a thoughtfully crafted dish made with fresh, local ingredients, and pay what you can. Some will pay less. Some will pay more. But everyone gets a seat at the table.
Jeff Williams, the founder and CEO of Taste Project, has been carrying this vision for years. Not as a business plan, not as a trend, but as a calling.
“God asked me to do this,” Williams says on the Taste Project’s website. “And He didn’t ask just once. He kept at it, showing me that this is how He wants to love people — through food, through dignity, through a place where everyone is welcome.”
Taste Community Restaurant
Williams gets it on a personal level. He grew up watching his parents struggle to put food on the table when times were tough. He remembers his father skipping meals. He remembers how hunger isn’t just about empty stomachs — it’s about stress, about uncertainty, about feeling like you’re just one step away from falling through the cracks.
That’s why Taste Community Restaurant isn’t just about food — it’s about relief. It’s about walking into a space that feels like home, where a warm meal comes with a side of dignity.
“Think of it like ‘Cheers,’” Williams says. “A place where everybody knows your name.”
Taste Community Restaurant’s original location in Fort Worth at 1200 S. Main St. has already served over 250,000 meals, earning a spot on Yelp’s Top 100 Best Places to Eat in the U.S. It’s part café, part mission, and part culinary boot camp, offering hands-on training for people looking to build careers in the food industry. The program works — graduates land jobs averaging $16 per hour, giving them more than just experience. It gives them a future.
Last January, the restaurant was thrust into the national spotlight when the influential TikTok restaurant reviewer Keith Lee made a surprise visit and donated $4,000 to the nonprofit restaurant. He also shared his desire to "see this type of restaurant everywhere."
And such an expansion will begin in Arlington.
Located at 200 N. Cooper St., just north of UT Arlington, the new 3,000-square-foot space will feature a full-service restaurant, a production kitchen, and a culinary training classroom designed to help local adults gain valuable work experience in food service.
To kick things off, Taste Project is throwing a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 11 a.m. on Monday, March 3, followed by festivities, giveaways, and tastings, according to the City of Arlington's website. The doors officially open for lunch service on Wednesday, March 5, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
“Taste Community Restaurant in Arlington is more than just a new Downtown restaurant,” said Arlington Mayor Jim Ross. “We are welcoming a valuable community partnership that will provide access to healthy, affordable food for our residents while creating opportunities for those who need them most.”
