Cate's Italian Garden

My son and I shared the gluten free pizza from Cate’s. It was safely prepared on its own pan, no cross contamination. It was delicious. Staff was super friendly and knowledgeable about Celiac disease. Highly recommend for a quick lunch stop.

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

— 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?

— Most/All

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

— Excellent

Other Characteristics

• Dog friendly
• Good for kids
• Good for lunch
• Good for takeout
• Offers outdoor seating

Before we left for our Lake George vacation, I researched restaurants in the area that seemed safe for celiacs (there aren’t a ton, unfortunately) and if there was any question on the website, I called and spoke with the manager just to be sure. I spoke with Cate’s manager at length. She was very sweet and put me on hold to confirm everything with the head chef to make sure she was giving me the right info. I decided to keep them on my dinner list for the trip.

Unfortunately, they don’t take reservations. It’s first come, first serve. So we went there one night around 6:45 with our party of six, including my six year old (my son with celiac) and my two year old daughter. I asked how long the wait was. They said about an hour and a half to two hours. My face immediately fell. That was far too long to wait - my kids especially were starving - and as we all know, it’s not like we could just head to the restaurant next door. No spontaneity with celiac.

The hostess saw my disappointed face and my two kids and said, Hang on. She and her colleague scanned the table chart to see where they could possibly put us. At this point, another woman who worked there swung by and asked what they were doing. The hostess explained she was trying to find a way to seat us without having to wait two hours for a table. I then chimed in and said, “My son has celiac and there aren’t very many options for dinner around here that are safe for him. Yours is one of the few.” The woman immediately looked up at me and said, “Wait - were you the one who called last week?? I’m the woman who spoke with you!!” At that, we both grinned and started chatting as if we were old buddies while the rest of my family looked at us, puzzled lol. She then glanced at a family about our size who was just getting up to leave after their meal. She looked at me and said, “We can seat you right there. Just give us a minute to get the table ready.”

It was insanely sweet of her to do that, as I know there were other people waiting ahead of us. But she knew the situation with my son’s disease and understood it would be a pain in the butt for us to find somewhere else to eat at that point that was safe for him, so she went above and beyond to accommodate us. And - my son’s pizza was delicious and he ended up eating the whole thing, with no illness afterwards. Highly recommend!

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

— Very

Is there a gluten-free menu?

— Gluten-free items are marked on the main menu

How much of the menu is available gluten-free?

— Some

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

— Excellent

Wow!! What amazing food and the best gf pizza crust I’ve ever had (and that’s saying a lot because I’ve tried a lot) very knowledgeable and one of the hostesses herself is celiac.

Celiac friendly?

Yes

Food was very tasty and fresh. The waitresses were very kind and made sure everything was satisfactory. When I stated Gluten free, before I could explain I have Celiac, one of the waitresses asked me immediately if I had Celiac and knew right away what it meant for cross contamination for those who have this autoimmune disorder. The cook and waitresses knew the to change gloves for prep oof food and their GF pizza is baked in a separate container. It was delicious. They do not have a separate fryer FYI.

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

— Very

Is there a gluten-free menu?

— Gluten-free items are marked on the main menu

How much of the menu is available gluten-free?

— Some

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

— Excellent

Pizza is really good. Crust is not sandy or dry. So good we went 2 nights in a row.

No gluten free menu. Only gluten free pizza which was mediocre.

Pizza tasted like cardboard, only okay.

Awesome pizza! Tastes like flour crust pizza.