Excuse Me, Are These Croutons Gluten-free

[mushroom]

Had lunch in town yesterday with a friend I hadn't seen since going gluten-free. She was a little bemused by my conversation with the person at the counter about what was in the gluten-free warm salad. I made sure there was no tofu (they are primarily a veggie/seafood restaurant that have a number of gluten-free dishes, most of which are curries which are too spicy for me) as well as no soy in the salad dressing, and clearly specified gluten-free and SF.

We took our table flag number outside into the early winter sunshine which was lovely, and I waited, and waited. Finally my friend said she was going to check on my food, and came back to say it was on its way. It showed up with croutons slathered on top. I grabbed the waitperson on her way back and asked her if they were gluten-free croutons. She looked confused, said she would check. Heck no, they were not. She did at least order me a new dish and did not tell me to take the croutons off! And I checked it when it came back to make sure it was not the same dish recycled. And this was a place that prides itself on offering gluten-free food. The whole process is only as good as the last person who handles the plate and says, wait, this dish is supposed to have croutons on top. As I think I said before, eternal vigilance is necessary. If anyone reading this is from ChCh, this was at the Dux Deluxe.

[Juliebove]

I got croutons on my salad today too. Grrr... I do not have celiac but I do have a dairy and egg allergy and most croutons have dairy if not egg in them. I am diabetic and I use insulin so I have to eat within 5 to 10 minutes of injecting. So sending it back was not an option because I needed to eat something. i just picked off all the croutons and any lettuce they had touched and hoped for the best. The waitress knew immediately when she saw them sitting on the table.

[jennyj]

I was told by a waitress one time that she knew I couldn't have bread but my salad was ok because it had croutons on it, LOL, by the way it was my hubby's salad anyway.

[babysteps]

I think croutons or toast points are the most common 'whoops' at restaurants on gluten-free orders!

Amazing how often it happens (maybe 1 in 5 dining outs?) - oddly, I have rarely been glutened at a such a place - they are usually good about bringing back a new (different!) order of the same item. Maybe it just underscores how careful us gluten-free diners have to be...