So, after several amazing experiences with my gluten-free dining experiences, I guess it was in due time to have a bad one. Rob and I were exhausted with trying to close on a foreclosed house, most of our kitchen items were already packed, so we were searching for a place to eat with Gluten Free items on their menu in our area. We called Granite City Brewery and they said they had an entire Gluten Free menu. I was super excited!
We waited for about 15-20 minutes to be seated and I asked the hostess for their Gluten Free menu. It took her awhile to find it. She seats us and gives me the menu and on the outside it says Gluten Free Menu. It was a red folder, like something you had in high school with the three metal prongs, with just a list of their menu items. Next to their menu you items were a spreadsheet of wheat, dairy, eggs, nuts, etc and below the tabs it would have a Y or a N. It did not list the ingredients or a description of the dish
There were not many items that were wheat free... I think I could have the quesadilla garnish, but of course not the quesadilla, two appetizers, a couple of salads, but the kicker was they only had two entrees that were wheat free. They were both pork and since I am not a huge pork fan (well of course except bacon), I decided to go with one of the salads. At this point I was a bit frustrated. I do not know if I have just been spoiled, with the other Gluten Free menus, but this was hardly something I would call gluten free. Rob suggested we could go somewhere else to eat, but by this point we had already been there for awhile.
Rob seemed pretty hungry, so I asked if he wanted to share one of the two appetizers that were wheat free. One was wings and the other Idaho Nachos. I was worried the wings were cooked with everything else, so we decided upon the nachos. When I think of nachos, I think corn tortilla chips (which are safe to eat), however I was wrong. As I did not have the descriptions of the items on my menu, I didn't realize the Idaho Nachos meant fries instead of tortilla chips. I was disappointed again, however I will take some blame as I could have looked off Rob's menu to see the rest of the ingredients. I had a few, then I started to think. O' Crap I bet I shouldn't eat these. I asked the waitress if the potatoes are cooked in the same fryer as everything else and she said Yes. Now I am really disappointed, because I should not have eaten them. As us Gluten-Free know, it is not only the items that contain gluten, but also how they are cooked. Our potatoes had been cross-contaminated with other gluten items. Err!
Rob had mentioned we could go somewhere else to eat, but I still stuck it out. I did not have any more nachos and ate some of my salad. The waitress seemed like a sweet young girl, however Granite City had not trained her on food allergies/intolerance. She kept recommending items I could not have. After a past experience in working in a restaurant (especially chains), it is all about up-selling and this what she was taught to do. It's just annoying when can't have anything they are offering. She apologized and said, sorry I don't what contains gluten. I am not mad at her for this, because I did not know either till I started the diet, but with this being so common now, I am disappointed with Granite City for misleading me to believe items on their menu are gluten free, when they are clearly not. It seems they took the shortcut approach to food allergies/intolerance.
Rob and I will not be heading back to Granite City anytime soon! It is not gluten free friendly! In fact, the next day I did not feel good at all. Insert Gluten intolerance symptoms.... Granite City could learn something by eating at Outback. Check out my Outback's restaurant review
No comments:
Post a Comment