Review of Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen

I love Cheddar’s and other locations have been careful and accommodating, but NOT PINELLAS SPRINGS! They have a single sheet GF menu but it is lacking a detailed description. I ordered steak and grilled shrimp combo and ordered corn and baked potato. It arrived with the shrimp on seasoned rice. Since I wasn’t expecting rice, I asked our server to please verify with the kitchen that the rice was safe. He came back and said he didn’t think so because no one in the kitchen had any idea. He brought me a clean plate and new shrimp at my insistence. I asked to speak to the manager about my concerns and to encourage some additional training with his staff. The manager was NOT helpful. He can’t expect his serves to know about GF items. When our server went back to ask the kitchen, my concern was that no one knew if seasoned rice was OK to reassure me. I had also asked for no seasoning on the steak to be safe. The fact that my steak was seasoned despite my request was of no consequence to the manager. “Seasonings certainly don’t contain gluten, and they did, the menu would say order without seasoning!” The manager brought the GF menu to show me seasoned rice was on the list of sides. He certainly couldn’t expect his kitchen staff to know! They barely speak English! Apparently it was my responsibility to know it was ok since it was on the gf menu. Of course, I didn’t have the menu when my food arrived. No apology, no compensation, no acknowledgment of a need for better training, but he did offer to let me take home a copy of the GF menu so I could study the choices more carefully and be better informed next time so I didn’t need to question the server or the kitchen. There won’t be a next time!

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

— Not at all

Is there a gluten-free menu?

— Separate gluten-free 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?

— Below Average