Cornish Pasty Co

Have you ever seen a restaurant advertise menu items as "gluten friendly" only to find out that they're not actually safe to eat for celiacs or people who cannot eat gluten?

I hadn't been to Cornish Pasty Co. since my celiac diagnosis and my husband (who can eat anything) had never been. Be warned this is one of those super dark restaurants where you'll probably need to pull out your phone's flashlight to read the menu if you come at night.

I noticed that their menu had certain items marked "GF" which their menu denoted meant "gluten friendly" not "gluten-free." As a Celiac, I'm not friendly to gluten, anymore than a vegetarian is "meat friendly."

Their fries / chips are oven baked although the waitress said there's a possibility of flour cross contamination because it's a pasty restaurant. After talking with our fabulous waitress who was totally clued up about celiac disease, I settled on the $18 sausage salad that was marked GF.

The menu says: "Sausage salad: House pork and sage sausage, mixed greens, roasted red pepper, cherry tomato, feta, mushroom, and red onion, with mustard cream dressing."

The sausage was very dry cubes of meat with raw mushroom, raw onion some feta and cherry tomatoes with a bizarrely tangy mustard cream dressing (not honey mustard.) I finished it because it was $18 but I absolutely did not like it at all.

My husband had a $16 pasty filled with beef and it looked fantastic.

Unfortunately there are no gluten-free pasty options nor gluten-free beers so if you're a celiac like me, I cannot recommend this restaurant as a gluten-free option. (I did have glutening symptoms after dinner.)

Visited May 2024

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

— Not very

Safety Feature Ratings

• Staff is knowledgeable and can answer questions

Is there a gluten-free menu?

— Gluten-free items are marked on the main menu

How much of the menu is available gluten-free?

— Not Much/None

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

— Poor