Just did a fresh install. There is no text visible in my start menu or when I open settings I can see the icons, but no text. Text is displaying correctly in dolphin file manager. I have tried changing themes and color but still nothing.

Which version of which Distro are you using?
Can you post a screenshot?
Does it still happen with a new from-scratch user? (or did you carry over any configs from a previous install?)
If you reinstall to a VM do you get the same problem?