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I am adjusting to knowing at a late time in my life that I have Celiac disease.  However, there is something that I cannot seem to adjust to and that is that there are quite a few restaurants who are rude to people with gluten allergies.  

I was aware that Chili's restaurant had a gluten free menu almost two years ago but it had very little on it.  In hopes that they might have increased their gluten free foods I called the local Chili's one evening when I was too tired to cook.  I politely asked the person who answered the phone if I could just ask a question.  He said OK.  I asked if they could tell me whether their gluten free menu had more than one or two entrees.  I was told that he had no Idea where there gluten free menu was and had no intention of going to look for it.  He said that I shouldn't worry about it because the food they cooked in their restaurant wasn't very good and I wouldn't like it anyway.  I asked politely to talk to a manager.  When the manager answered I asked him the same question.  He answered rudely also and said he had no idea where that menu was - that he would have to look if I wanted to wait.  I waited for a very long time and when he came back he told me that he was not about to read their menu to me - if I wanted something speical to eat to tell him what it was and he would tell me if it was on there.  I gave up.

A girl that I work with told me that she also worked part time at the local Logan's Road House and that they had a great gluten free menu.  She said that they were very careful when they fixed food for people who had allergies to clean the grate and use special utensils and change their gloves.  So I asked my daughter if she would try going there again.  We were there once before I knew I had Celiac and she swallowed something very sharp and found ground glass in the bottom of her drink instead of ice.  But perhaps if they were so careful with allergic people they had changed owners or something.  When we went in and set down a waiter came to the table and we asked for the gluten free menu and he was immediately upset and told us that they didn't have any and they had no gluten free foods and he acted like we might as well get up and leave, which we did. 

I have had bad experience with a Shoney's in Indiana plus quite a few others as we travel but I do want to say that there are two or three local restaurants that are very good to me and go out of their way to see that I have safe food to eat.  They are appreciated.  It is just really hard to put up with the others.  Do others get treated this way because of their allergies?  

Barbara


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