But know squat about Cross Contamination and expect YOU to police them! Okay, today I rant! I went to a restaurant for breakfast yesterday that I've eaten at before.....and eaten their gf toast before....but yesterday I questioned and got a very scary answer.
Yesterday, I had an excellent waitress. I asked her point blank if the gluten free toast (which is more expensive) was toasted in a dedicated toaster. She said that yes, it was toasted. I then said again specifically, "So you have a toaster JUST for the gluten free toast? And you are using separate utensils and butter?" She looked at me like I was speaking Russian (and that is NEVER a good sign when addressing these issues.)
She stated, it's toasted in the big toaster we use for the toast. AH! So then I asked if they prepare the gluten free pancakes on the same griddle as the regular ones and prep those in the same area as well. And the answer (that I figured was coming) was yes. No, there is no other prep area in the back for keeping gluten free items apart. No cross contamination education imparted. She didn't even understand that there needed to be any procedures followed.
Now, don't get me wrong, this was a very nice waitperson. She was very concerned when I was asking her these questions. I asked her if she could make sure that someone with clean hands (not having touched regular items) could get me my slices of gf bread and just put them on my plate and not toast it? And she did that for me herself!
Pretty soon the Manager came over to follow up on the gf toast issue. I asked her again if they had training and separated areas for the gf products and she said that they did not. I asked her why they didn't if they were offering gluten free toast and pancakes. I told her that I get sick when the toast is made in the same toaster from the other bread crumbs being on my gf toast. That I had eaten it there before and now understood why I had been sick!
Her answer (I kid you not!) was that people with Celiac Disease should just KNOW that a restaurant like theirs wouldn't follow protocols or that a person should ASK how they were prepared. They just offered gluten free items for people restricting gluten from their diet for lifestyle.
REALLY? Advertising something gluten free and charging significantly higher prices for it do NOT get you access to the safety of training your employees? NOT stating that on your menu? I now KNOW that she knows there is a difference since she said that she expects Celiac's to know they won't follow safety precautions!
I told her that I think that she is endangering people's health and that her answers were not acceptable. Her entire explanation was that I couldn't possibly hold her responsible for my issues if I didn't explicitely state my needs to her so they could tell me their gf foods are unsafe for me to consume.
So? I won't be back and I will post her restaurant to all the celiac and gf sites I can find. My husband loves their food and I will state that their service is excellent, fast and the food is good. But if I can't be safe? What's the point? If they will actually put people in harm's way by the standards they showed me?
How many newly diagnosed or struggling to figure it out the Celiac "issues" people do YOU know who question every place they go? It took me quite a while to get up the courage to ask and sometimes, yes, even GRILL people to figure out their understanding of this issue.
Amazingly inappropriate response from this establishment in MY OPINION! Just be forewarned about your health if you cannot have gluten! Randy's Restaurant on Chapparal in Scottsdale may offer gluten free toast and pancakes but they are for gluten free "lifestyle" products, NOT for those with Celiac! You've been warned.
