Rachel S.
Yelp
I drove in from Mobile, Alabama for dinner. I specifically called ahead to make sure I got a table because I saw that not only did it have gluten-free marked on their menu, people on Google Maps said that their celiac family was able to safely eat here.
I came in by myself while my husband looked for parking. Before being seated, I asked the same guy who took my order if their menu had Gluten-free options because I have celiac disease. He said yes, their menu had gluten-free options.
I sat at a 2 person table with water and my husband called and told me to just order to-go because he couldn't find parking for less than $35.
I told the waiter that my husband couldn't park so that I needed to put in a to-go order. I said that I would like the $18.95 chicken and sausage jambalaya and to please make sure it's gluten-free. Also, I would like to order the non-gluten-free bowl of red beans and rice ($14.95) for my husband.
I didn't notice if the waiter wrote down my order but surprise, surprise, when I got my order, it was bagged up so I didn't see until I untied the bag and unpacked it, we didn't get the correct food. We ended up with what I thought was jambalaya and red beans and rice where they forgot to add the red beans over the rice. My husband immediately asked why the containers weren't even half way filled. I thought they honestly forgot part of our order but there was no way to circle back to the restaurant thanks to a parade.
Because I ordered the chicken and shrimp gumbo, and it was $18.95, and it said it was cooked in stock, I assumed the dish that looked soupy and had chicken and sausage in it was my gluten-free jambalaya. Surely the pile of rice with a few pieces of sausage wasn't an $18.95 dish. I ate it. Surprise, it was the NOT GLUTEN-FREE gumbo that we didn't even order. I only figured it out when I didn't feel well and we compared photos on Yelp to what we ordered. Nothing like getting glutened as someone with celiac disease at a restaurant you deliberately picked because they can supposedly accommodate your medical dietary need.
My husband was annoyed that his supposed red beans and rice was just rice and sausage without the red beans until we compared it to photos and realized it was an absolute rip-off as that was actually the $18.95 chicken and sausage jambalaya. My husband said there was maybe one piece of chicken in it which is why he didn't recognize it as the chicken and sausage jambalaya.
If a restaurant is going to have a marked menu to cater for a medical dietary restriction (gluten-free is a designation the FDA came up with for celiacs to safely navigate menus and food packages) then they need to be serious about taking precautions. First line of precautions is WRITING DOWN ORDERS. Second line of precautions is labeling what food in a to-go box is the gluten-free dish.
You could end up killing someone being this negligent with special orders. And yes, I'm writing this review from the bathroom of my hotel at 2 AM. Thanks a lot for the gluten.
I didn't get what I ordered, what I did order was so chintzy looking that neither my husband nor I would imagine a cup of rice and a few slices of kielbasa would be nearly $20, I got glutened when I specifically came here for safe food, the parking situation is untenable for anyone who isn't a hotel guest in the French Quarter.
Visited May 2024