Review of Cafe O'Lei

The first time I ate here was 2009. I told them I had Celiac and that they needed to be careful with my order. I ordered a shrimp dish over rice (instead of pasta). Once I got to the bottom of my dish, I found a noodle (gluten filled because they didn’t have gluten free pasta at the time). I alerted the staff but there wasn’t much that could be done at that point.

My parents really like this restaurant so they kept encouraging me to return. Over the years, I went several times and really did like their blackened mahi mahi dish. My son (who’s gluten free but not celiac like me) really liked their GF flatbread which has since been removed from their menu. My most recent trip (December 2020), in addition to the fish, we ordered 2 burgers, noted that there was a gluten allergy and needed to be gluten free and even specified “no bun”. When we went to pick them up we were told they were put on gluten free bread so we were excited. We returned to our condo, only to find that they were both sitting atop of thickly sliced sourdough bread and was certainly NOT gluten free. We went over the next night and told them about our experience and asked to see the packaging for their so called gluten free bread but they were unable to find any. I hate writing negative reviews but I’m disappointed in the experience and how it was handled after the fact. No real apologies or attempts to rectify it. My parents may still dine there but my family certainly won’t.

How confident are you that this establishment takes safety precautions against cross-contact?

— Not very

Is there a gluten-free menu?

— No gluten-free information on the menu

How much of the menu is available gluten-free?

— Not Much

How would you rate the taste and quality of the gluten-free food you tried?

— Average