How do you handle restaurants?

[Phillipa]

Yesterday I went out for lunch with a friend to an Italian restaurant. Fearing that it might not be the best place for dairy free we explained I have a milk allergy and asked if their pasta had milk in it. The waitress didn`t know, so went to ask the chef, who also didn`t know! I was really shocked at this. Either he makes it, and therefore knows if he puts milk in it or he doesn`t, in which case I`d have thought he could read the packet! :o

Armed with this lack of information we decided I`d better go for the ham salad as that came with new potatoes instead of pasta. So I tell the waitress I`ll have the salad but that the parmesan needs to be left off because of my milk allergy. Ok she says.

When our meals arrive I notice that the potatoes are shiny. Hmm, maybe it`s just oil I think to myself, lifting it up on my fork to sniff and inspect it closer, noticing that as I do so it leaves a yellow puddle on my plate... my friend gives it the taste test for me and confirms it is definately butter.:rant:

We`d have thought that given that we`d told them about my allergy they would have clicked and not put it on, having said that I didn`t expect them to come with butter so hadn`t explicitly asked them to leave it off. How do you handle these situations? :unsure: I couldn`t decide if it was my fault for not thinking of it and therefore I didn`t really have the right to send it back, or their lack of thought and therefore I should have explained it was unsuitable and asked them to change it. As it happenned, my friends meal had come with chips and she offerred to do me a swap. What should I have done?

[zoefruitcake]

Sorry they messed up for you :(

I would have sent it back. A professional cook should know that butter won't be suitable for you.
Can't remember if I've whined about this before but I went to a restaurant in Bishop's Stortford 2 or 3 weeks ago that had delusions of grandeur. Being veggie and unable to have dairy there was only one thing on the menu I could eat, peppers stuffed with rice. I spoke to the waitress who spoke to the chef. The rice was ready cooked and had butter in it :o
I ended up with pasta with tomato.

I am not a forceful person, I hate confrontation and will rarely make a fuss. But I have to be when it comes to what I eat. I suffer too much to put up with stupid mistakes by other people.

I'll get off my soap box now :)

[Pam]

I think you have to speak in words of one syllable and state the obvious. I would have been tempted to send the meal back after all the to-ing and fro-ing about milk, they obviously knew that you didn't want any milk on your food. Perhaps next time you eat out you should ask them to write on the food order

No milk
no butter
no cream
etc
etc

A tip that I was given was to say that milk will cause you to vomit immediately (no chef would want that in a crowded restaurant) or say that you will have such a strong allergic reaction that you will need an ambulance immediately. Then they have to take you seriously.

[ellsie]

I agree with Pam, I often say that an ambulance will be needed if they gat it wrong and if I am still not sure that is enough I would get out my epipen and explain what to do! Not had to do that one yet luckily!

I have been offered the last slice of choccie cake and checked the ingredients and waited for the waitress to bring it and watched stunned as she put it in front of me covered inpouring cream.:bash:

[Bet]

It always helps if you can speak to the chef / manager instead of the waitress - my experience in the past has been that its just too much hassle for them to be bothered with. Phoning ahead as well sometimes gives you an idea of just how accommodating the restaurant may be.

We're going out to Sunday lunch in a hotel in a few weeks time for a family b'day. The hotels menu states that they are happy to deal with special dietary needs. When i asked if the roast beef meal would be ok for my daughter the lady told me the gravy would have milk in it? but no prob they would make some up with cornflour instead!?? They could only offer fresh fruit for pudding which I think is a bit of a cop out when they say they cater for special dietary needs. When I said I would bring my own daughters pudding along so she didnt feel left out they said they would not give me a reduction for her only having one course, not two, so its costing me £10 for a small childs portion of food - daylight robbery!

[matt]

unfortunately you are assuming the "chef" is actually cooking the stuff. all too often they are rehaeting the sauces and taking the dried pasta out of a packet.

i would have def complained, the only trouble being that sending food back does not always end up with nice results, we've all heard the stories........

the cooked sunday lunch with gravy.....either it's packet gravy or ????? again he's not really a chef. just a heater upper.

at the end of the day the people who work in resturants aren't paid much and even if they are fairly intelligent they'll not really be concentrating, the severe vomitting warning might work unless one of them has a sick sense of humour. worth atry though.

[linny]

When we stayed for a weekend at a hotel I spoke to the chef. The only thing different on my turkey roast was the gravy and no chipolata sausage or stuffing. My gravy looked more like Bisto (thicker) the other was quite thin gravy, probably made from scratch. My dinner was brought out totally seperate from the others. I have nothing but praise for them,:) but that was a hotel not a restaurant.

[pop_pixie]

The best restaurant I have been to recently was an Indain called Mem-Saab in Nottingham. I was dreading the evening as I have never attempted Indian food before assuming that it's mostly made with yoghurt, milk and cream so I was expecting to nurse a bowl of boiled rice all evening.

However, much to my delight, the menu was beautifully presented with a coloured symbol code system showing which dishes were suitable for vegetarians, vegans, which had dairy in, which had nuts in etc.

I only wish more restaurants would do this. Until then I will continue to ignore waiters/waitresses who roll their eyes and slope off to the kitchen when I ask about the ingredients of dishes.

[cnc]

When eating out recently, I've had fairly good results, one waiter phoned the chef to see if he could check whether the chips were ok (I'm not convinced they were, as I felt ill that evening, but it might have been a coincident), but I also told them that I needed to have the baguette without any dairy on it, and again he rang down to make sure the chef was aware of this.
Last night I ended up going out, was a bit stressed about this as usual, and the waiter pointed out which of the meals contained dairy, which was very useful, except he seemed to have the idea I was vegetarian!!But the menus there were quite detailed listing all the ingredients, so seemed to be ok.

[pop_pixie]

I've had that experience too where people have assumed I am vegetarian. This happened on a very long flight once where I had requested a dairy free meal. What I got was a vegan meal - disgusting! I survived on packets of pringles for the next 10 hours!

[cnc]

Pringles seem to be the answer to everything!! Although to be honest most plane meals are disgusting, so you would probably have been better off with the pringles :D
I seem to have done well with restaurants locally though, maybe because a lot of them survive on students, so if they get bad reports their trade will go down??

[ellsie]

I agree Pop Pixie as I have had this experience with a couple of airlines giving vegan food. I know it is dairy free which is great ,but they fill you up with ten varieties of beans and who wants to sit beside you then?:fart:

[matt]

go budget and take your own food!!!!

[Pam]

Quite a lot of airlines charge extra for the meal now (so I'm told), but from what I remember of airline food it really isn't worth paying the extra for.

[rebecca c]

we always hope the airport has a pret and grab something there before we get on. My tummy gets sore when i fly so a salad is best anyway

[cnc]

I'm a bit scared of plane food now. The last time I went on a plane I was extremely unwell for about a week afterwards. I don't know whether it was the 'hot' salmon and bendy carrots or something else, but its always scared me a bit!!
Was in another restaurant this evening, I knew their desserts were mostly ice cream based, so decided to take my own food instead. When we asked I got a straight no, so just decided to eat my own food, they didn't seem to notice, and it was a bit tough luck if they complained!!I think this may be a partial answer, bring your own food along, as its a bit rubbish if everyone else is having dessert or whatever and you're not.

[matt]

good plan with the puddings.

i'm not a great flyer but at the end of the day with the garbage you get served it's prob better idea to go budget and take your own. save money and get some decent food win win.

i often have to stop off at supermarket cafe's to feed the daughter. when i do i just wander round the shop and get whatever i want then eat it while she has her cafe bought meal. always a sign saying can't do this but i'd love for them to try and stop me......i'll have the signed letter telling me that it's safe for me to eat......bet that stop them in their tracks.:lol2:

[linny]

I went to Pizza Hut for my niece's 21st. On their website it listed that their 'fries' were dairy free. I asked for them but they don't serve them at our Pizza Hut - fat lot of use eh!:( I had the warm chicken salad and wedges and they were ok, although I think I consumed too much garlic for my delicate tummy!

[zoefruitcake]

I've never really considered that fries might not be dairy free - good job I don't eat them often. Seems strange that they didn't do them at that Pizza Hut, you would have thought they would all have the same, wouldn't you?

[cnc]

The only place I have ever seen the fries is at an express pizza hut (just a serving unit in my local shopping centre), but they don't serve the wedges there. I think the wedges are the standard thing they sell in the restaurants I'm afraid, although as far as I remember the wedges taste better than the fries!!

[Pam]

Watch out for seasoned potato wedges as the seasoning often contains lactose (as does the coating to make chips crispy). In a warm chicken salad the chicken might also be coated in a lactose inclusive coating.

[cnc]

Plain chips, (oven chips) tend to be ok, but those with any sort of coating, always seem to contain lactose. Fortunatly most restaurants I go to serve the more basic type of chip, and they all seem to be ok. I try and avoid anything with a coating when I go out, means most of the food I end up eating is rather plain, but I just find it easier, and don't suffer the next day!