Eating Out

It was my boyfriend's graduation this weekend and his family came to Denver to celebrate. Needless to say, we ate out a lot. I find it so interesting how wait staff responds to food allergies. I have two examples.

Example #1: One night we had dinner at Maggiano's. Now, Maggianos is on my list of good gluten free restaurants to eat at. Yes, I have a running list and some places don't make it. Maggiano's does have a "reservations necessary" clause though because their waits are outrageous. So when we went there last week we were informed their menu had changed. There used to be 2 sizes of pasta, half and full. Now they only have one size and they "send some home with you". What a business plan. I have never heard of that! So weird! Guess they want you to keep thinking about Maggiano's even after you leave.... They even offered to give us a different kind to take home. So we got the food and of course the size was smaller. Kind of lame. Another problem we came across was is we told the waiter that we needed a gluten dairy free dish. He responded with "Is this an allergy or a preference?" UH it doesn't matter! You should do the best you can to serve what the customer requests! That was disappointing. Finally, we received our pasta only to find out they changed the kind of pasta. The old one was really yummy and the new one is not. And my boyfriend and I's stomach were not to happy after. Magganio's you are officially OFF my list!

Example #2: My boyfriend, his dad and I were up at Blackhawk, a gambling town outside of Denver. It became dinner time so we looked at the menu at the current casino we were in. They had a few things I could eat. A salad, hamburger and salmon. This was kind of dive place. Cafe style, nothing fancy. I ordered the salmon with a baked potato and veggies. I explained I am allergic to gluten and dairy so no butter or breadcrumbs on the food. (I like to give examples for clarity) The waitress came back two times to clarify things about my order. The cook even suggested to steam the veggies instead of sauteing them. The meal turned out really well and I felt fine after!

Now let's compare and contrast these two examples. One high end restaurant and advertises their gluten free meals and one dive cafe. The cafe was better than the high end restaurant?! Yes it was. Who knew!