Purveyors of Amazing: “Man of the People” Keegan O’Neill

Keegan O’Neill, general manager of Truluck’s Washington, D.C., is focused on giving people the best experience, on and off stage.

If you’re looking for Keegan O’Neill, check two places: Truluck’s and on stage.

During his 25 years in the hospitality industry, the Truluck’s Washington, D.C., General Manager has worked every position possible in a restaurant. Throughout his restaurant career, he’s also been part of numerous bands, jamming out as a heavy metal bass player and taking the stage whenever possible.

But it was growing up with his mom in Upstate New York where his love for working with people began.

“During my early teen years, I started working Saturdays at my mother’s greeting card and gift shop in a small historical town. It was there that I developed my base for hospitality,” he says. “Although we sold birthday cards and candles, it was my mother who was actually the business. People came to see her to help them pick out items for loved ones. She appreciated and took care of each and every one of them as a dear friend. Being in this kind of environment from such a young age gave me a huge head start in the ‘people business.’”

In college, O’Neill took his first real restaurant job. “I was waiting tables at a family-owned Italian restaurant. Before my night shifts, I would arrive early and work on homework in a back booth. It didn’t take long before the owner, Vincenzo, would start coaxing me back into the kitchen to help with PM prep,” he says. “It was here that I started my love for cooking.”

From there, O’Neill graduated to a serving and bartending job at TGI Friday’s. “This is the part of my life where my hospitality career played second fiddle to trying to survive as a heavy metal bass player,” he says. “After years of trying to ‘make it’ while also working as a bartender and managing at a micro-brewery, I settled back into my hospitality career and took a job with Clyde’s Restaurant Group in December of 2011.”

The quintessential D.C. group opened a new project called The Hamilton, and O’Neill was on the opening team as a server. “During my first performance appraisal, a manager named Bond Davis encouraged me to continue my trek into management,” O’Neill says. “I took the advice, and in my time there I wore many hats in many roles at The Hamilton and the company. When I left in 2020 to join Bond again here at Truluck’s, I had grown into the assistant general manager of the 15^th highest grossing restaurant in the U.S.”

In his four years at Truluck’s, O’Neill has taken the people skills he learned from his mother and expanded upon them. “Having been in the D.C. market for many years now, I am very fortunate to have had the opportunity to develop and maintain relationships with great people that blossomed from them being regular guests,” he says. “Serving them and being able to be a part of their lives and memories is a great honor. It is also a constant challenge on how to up my game!”

But for O’Neill, the focus on people is what drives him at Truluck’s. “I love that Truluck’s is a group that keeps people at its highest priority. Whether it is the people that we all work with or the people we serve, the goal of the group is to do right by the people,” he says. “This creates loyal, raving fans, across the board and drives our team in the quest to find the best quality products to serve and provide memorable experiences while serving them.”

And that extends to the stage, too. “I still write, play and perform music. Not only focusing on bass, I love to dabble in all genres and play multiple instruments,” he says. “Most recently I have been playing guitar and singing with my outlaw country group, The Dead Flowers.”

Whether you see O’Neill at Truluck’s or a show, you can count on him to always deliver a great time.

Make your own memories at Truluck’s. Reserve a table today. Your table is waiting.