Being a 20 something with little time I tend to eat out a lot, something that isn’t too healthy for someone in my condition. This will be changing shortly as I will no longer have the finances to eat out as frequently. In thinking back over the past few months I’ve come up with several chain restaurants and my experiences with their wait staff that depict both a pro and a con of the gluten free eating world.

Con: Baja Grill

The wait staff here had no clue what I was asking about, she was unknowledgeable about what a simple taco even contained. When the manager came over he was almost as unhelpful. While he understood my needs he kept pressing as to “what would happen if you ate gluten”. This obviously isn’t a proper dinner topic. It came down to me having only one option for dinner, that being soft corn tacos with taco meat. He was unwilling to substitute corn tortillas for flour ones in any other food choice and was also unwilling to cook any other meat in a way that would accommodate my needs. Highly disappointing.

Pro: Charlie Browns Steakhouse

They have a gluten free menu to begin with so they are probably used to the questions I had to ask, however the waiter was so enthusiastic about assisting me in making a good choice. I opted for the salad bar and he went and asked the cook and salad bar ‘director’ exactly what I could and could not have in terms of dressings and toppings. They were beyond helpful and accommodating and made the experience very relaxing.

I seem to be coming across a trend that southwestern food/mexican food, although full of gluten free options, is not prepared in a gluten free style or the staff is not aware how to do so. It seems like having training on the public’s food needs enhances your ability to assist and help them be creative, although that is obvious not many places provide training. If you want your clients to be satisfied you need to understand that needs vary. That is why GREAT (Gluten-free Resource Education Awareness Training) is such a positive thing to come out recently. I highly recommend it to any restaurant.