Gluten Free Menus

[silk]

Has anyone else noticed that when you ask for a gluten-free menu in a restaurant, they take away your regular menu and hand you a print out of some sort with no prices on it?

Why do they not have prices, you might ask? My best guess is that gluten free food is so darned expensive that they figure if we have to ask the price, we can't afford to eat gluten free! Either that, or you have no choice but to eat from the gluten-free menu so price does not really matter???

I always ask to keep the regular menu in addition to the gluten-free menu and have pointed out in most restaurants where this happens the fact that their gluten-free menus are lacking more than just toxic ingredients.

[rosetapper23]

The Gluten Intolerance Group (GIG) trains most of the chain restaurants how to set up their gluten-free menus, and I've noticed that several of those restaurants fail to list their prices on them. There might be an internal glitch where some new servers were not trained to leave the regular menu along with the gluten-free version so that the patron can see the prices. It's commonsense, but they probably are focused only on getting the gluten-free menu to you.

[joelmw]

Has anyone else noticed that when you ask for a gluten-free menu in a restaurant, they take away your regular menu and hand you a print out of some sort with no prices on it?

Why do they not have prices, you might ask? My best guess is that gluten free food is so darned expensive that they figure if we have to ask the price, we can't afford to eat gluten free! Either that, or you have no choice but to eat from the gluten-free menu so price does not really matter???

I always ask to keep the regular menu in addition to the gluten-free menu and have pointed out in most restaurants where this happens the fact that their gluten-free menus are lacking more than just toxic ingredients.

"If you have to ask, you can't afford it." Nice.

The only place I can recall that had prices on the gluten-free menu is P. F. Changs--and that's because it's incorporated into the "regular" menu. Kudos to them for both practices.

The practice of omitting prices is illogical, annoying and somewhat puzzling, especially at restaurants where the gluten-free menu is updated regularly (and should therefore be well ahead of prices changes).

But the fact that servers routinely take away the regular menu is worse than annoying. We've even had a few give us confused or irritated looks when we asked to keep the regular menu in addition to the gluten-free.

IMO staff at restaurants that purport to offer a gluten-free menu should be required to know whether it contains prices. If it doesn't they should be required to leave the regular menu with it. To me it's an important dimension of basic awareness and sensitivity.

[silk]

"If you have to ask, you can't afford it." Nice.

The only place I can recall that had prices on the gluten-free menu is P. F. Changs--and that's because it's incorporated into the "regular" menu. Kudos to them for both practices.

The practice of omitting prices is illogical, annoying and somewhat puzzling, especially at restaurants where the gluten-free menu is updated regularly (and should therefore be well ahead of prices changes).

But the fact that servers routinely take away the regular menu is worse than annoying. We've even had a few give us confused or irritated looks when we asked to keep the regular menu in addition to the gluten-free. Oh, and by the b(u)y, if they don't list the prices, the staff should have to quote the prices like they do the specials of the day! Just sayin!

IMO staff at restaurants that purport to offer a gluten-free menu should be required to know whether it contains prices. If it doesn't they should be required to leave the regular menu with it. To me it's an important dimension of basic awareness and sensitivity.

I agree with you completely! Wouldn't it be nice (fantasy attack here) if there were no prices because, 'hey, you have this disease that totally sucks, so we are giving you your meal FREE just because you are a really nice person and deserve a break where your digestive system is concerned?' Yeah...don't think that's going to happen but I can dream....pizza, deep panned, ooey, gooey crust, with tons of cheese (for those who are also lactose intolerant) that's my dream! And we all know it costs nothing to dream so they won't have to list THAT on the menu either! Bwwwaaaahhaaaaaa! And if they are NOT going to list the prices on the menu, then the wait staff should have to quote them like they do the specials of the day! Can I get an AMEN?

[Bubba's Mom]

AMEN! I've eaten out twice since my DX. At Red Robbin and Outback. Both times they took away the regular menu and gave one with no prices. It's a treat to eat out. I'd like to know the prices so I'm not ordering the most expensive item..and thereby blowing our budget.

[sariesue]

Why would there not be a regular menu on the table? If you are dining with others you can obviously just ask to look at their menu if you really need to look at the price. If a server removing the normal menu bothers you just tell them to leave it. I was trained to remove the regular menu for the gluten free menu so mistakes are not made when ordering. Having the server list the prices would not work at a chain restaurant and asking you would just get a blank stare. Not all restaurants even list prices in menus and the reason for not listing them there is that gluten free menus or allergy menus is that they have the same price as the same entree on the regular menu.

For servers who live an allergy/intolerance free life, it is VERY puzzling and confusing. Especially if the gluten free menu lists ONLY the gluten free items or the changes needed to make an entree gluten free. This becomes important if you forget to mention an modification to an item that you order or you order some thing holding the regular menu the server may assume that you can have it. For example I have NCGI I can eat things from a shared fryer, so I can eat the fries that are on the regular menu. However, due to CC the fries are not on the gluten free menu. If you keep both menus and order fries there is a fairly good chance that you will end up with fries you ordered even though they are not gluten free. You asked for BOTH menus and ordered using both so that's what you got. Many people without celiac or food allergies don't understand that the fries aren't gluten free because they are cooked in a shared fryer and their previous "gluten free" customer may have only been gluten light and still wanted the fries or worse the au jus. Which does set the precedent for that server that some people who want gluten free do eat the fries. If you only have the gluten free menu fries aren't a side option so you couldn't make that mistake. A good server would notice and clarify that the fries aren't considered gluten free, but that takes time away from when they could be making your meals and is a hassale for you and the server espeially if you really wanted the fries.

[mbrookes]

I believe the Biaggi's gluten-free menu has prices. The food there is very good and the servers seem well trained in the importance of gluten-free. I'm sure this part varies from site to site, depending on management.

[silk]

I believe the Biaggi's gluten-free menu has prices. The food there is very good and the servers seem well trained in the importance of gluten-free. I'm sure this part varies from site to site, depending on management.

I've eaten at Biaggi's and yes they do have prices and there food and service were fabulous!

[JNBunnie1]

Virtually every restaurant I've been to that has a gluten-free menu doesn't list the prices, with the aforementioned exception of PF Chang's. These gluten free menus are, in my experience, not changed more than once a year. Being that the regular menu does change so frequently, along with the regular prices, it makes perfect sense that a restaurant (Outback, for example) would not want to commit to prices for a year or more. It would be a much greater expenditure to have to reprint the gluten free menu even though nothing on it has changed every time the price of prime rib goes up.

If your server does not already know this, a simple mention of the fact that only the regular menu has the prices on it should suffice. If your server is unable to understand this, I don't think I'd want to eat there anyway.....