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I had the worst experience at a restaurant last week since being diagnosed 1 1/2 years ago. Went to Max's in Union Square while on a business trip in San Fran. Luckily I was with a colleague with whom I traveled before or otherwise I would have been thoroughly embarrassed. Prior to my diagnosis I frequented Max's when I lived in San Fran and knew they had an extensive menu - salads, meats, sandwiches. Thought for sure they would have something I could eat without too much effort. What they also have is a one-page list of rules in their menu, i.e. the customer is always right type of rules - "If we ask how is everything, you get . . . " so I figured they would have top-notch customer service. WRONG!  
 
I typically call a place before I go in, but we walked around for quite awhile before we could find a place that did not have a long waiting list. 
 
Asked the person who sat us if they had a gluten free menu; he said no and walked off. 
Waiter came up and took our drink orders; I informed him that I was gluten free and wanted to know if he had any suggestions from the menu. "Everything has flour on it" was his reply. "Everything has flour on it? Even your salads?" I asked. He replied sarcastically that of course I could have a salad, and walked off to get our drinks. My colleague and I decided to try two smaller green salads, and an appetizer, so when the waiter returned I asked about the potato skins, which sounded safe for me from the description on the menu. He replied, again sarcastically, enough that my colleague gave me the raised eyebrow look, that of course baked potato skins "are not breaded"; I asked if he could check with the cook to make sure they would be okay for me; he came back and said "Yes they do." "Yes they do what?" I asked, and please trust me - I said this as very nicely as I could, trying so much not to make a big deal of this. "Yes they have glucose in them." At this point, still trying to be pleasant, I said I would like to talk to the manager, hoping he could lead me in the right direction. Manager comes over, turns out to be the person who sat us down. He came over so rudely, said "I understand you want to talk to me;" I informed him that I was trying to order something off their menu and just wanted to make sure what I was going to order was safe for me, and the waiter told me everything has flour on it . . .; and his response - "It does." "It does what?" "Everything has glucose on it." 
 
Colleague had enough and we got out of there!   So much for their page of rules claiming their customers are valuable to them. Maybe customers that don't ask any questions. Don't go there. . . (Union Square one, not sure if the others are as hostile . . . ) 
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