Hi

I found out i was a celiac about two years ago now.  The worst experience i’ve had dining out was a middle eastern resaturant in Ponsonby called Troy.  The staff had no idea what gluten free was and thought i was asking for “free food”.  There was one female waitress who spoke english (the rest had very limited english) and pretended to understand what i said, and i thought id made it clear that it all had to be gluten free.  I ordered the stuffed mushrooms for an entree and said no breed and this was brought out with the garlic bread actually dumped on the top!  I tried to salvage it and gave the bread and the top which it had touched to my husband as we had already waited 40 min for the entree and i was starving.  The main was a mixed keebab style meat on rice with salad but they but tabouli with it which contains cous cous and contaminated the entire thing and i didn’t discover this until id already eated half of it as the lighting in the place was really dim.  So i ended up with a tummy ache on the way home and was really sick that night - especially not good when you are 7 months pregnant!  I had checked with the cheif by phone prior to dinning at this venue and he had assured me there were plenty of gluten free options and advised a few of them, two of which i ordered and they were not.

Posted by Amanda  on  05/08/10  at  03:35 PM

Hi Jennie

I was going to email you, but figure that it is good to put feedback onto the site - so that others can ‘share’ the experience.
It is tricky finding somewhere to eat (where you don’t feel like you are standing out in the crowd, or looking like one of ‘those fussy eaters’).  I have given good feedback to Ora Cafe (check out that listing for comment).
We HAD found a really good place to eat, which was a ‘normal’ place with GF options on menu - Soprano Italian Caffe- I was initially apprehensive about cross-contamination, but was more than delighted when the chef advised he wasn’t including ice-cream with my desert as he didn’t know where the ‘glucose’ originated from - I breathed a sigh of relief knowing I was in good hands. (most people don’t think about ‘hidden’ gluten).  Unfortunately the last time we went back (I always look forward to a meal out)the staff were rude and didn’t appear to care that my meal had sauce drizzled onto it which contained gluten - I got suspicious and asked again after I had eaten most of it - this was also after I had checked when ordering and made sure the staff were aware it had to be totally GF. I was appalled with the waiting staff comment “surely a little won’t hurt you”.  I will never go back there again.  Now I don’t have a favorite place that we can ‘pop’ into for a meal.  If you note GF against a meal - then it should be GF! It is disheartening when wait or cooking staff just “Don’t get it”.  Most places we have tried for lunch etc .. you can just tell they don’t know what you are talking about - with Coeliac you also have to be on the look out for cross-contamination and hidden gluten, even if staff assure you it is GF - you still have to ask all the ‘other’ questions about sauces, handling etc.  Hells Pizza are the same .. there are ‘no guarantees’.  I miss being able to ‘simply’ dine out.
My lesson from this is if you have a favorite place - be aware if they change hands! (and/or staff. :(

Posted by Leabearis  on  08/08/10  at  03:21 PM