What a blessing to find this restaurant! I am from out of town and was looking for a late night dinner, unsure of where to eat and what had late hours on a Sunday night after 10. The server we had was Elijah, and he was super friendly and conscientious about my needs, saying he himself was gluten free. When I let him know I was celiac, he completely understood and steered me away from any and all menu items that would not be safe for me, what I could eat, and that the kitchen staff would be alerted to my special needs. I ordered a king crab bisque and a gluten free pasta that was just as good as traditional pastas. None of it disappointed, as the food was excellent and the entire experience was a pleasant surprise, going into it blindly on a whim at the last minute. Highly recommended!
EXCEPTIONAL experience with multiple food allergies (gluten, eggs, shellfish, all nuts, legumes, sesame)! Manager and staff are all knowledgeable. They have a separate gluten free menu. The regular chicken parmesan is gluten-free, egg-free and always cooked in the gluten-free fryer. (Of course, confirm this when you go, but this was the case when we dined there.) We could also have the risotto which was gluten-free and egg-free. The gluten free pasta contains eggs. We also had the fried brussel sprouts which were made in the gluten free fryer. The food was absolutely amazing. All of the servers and staff were so kind and conscientious about food allergies. I wish there were more locations; we will definitely be back! (The ambiance is exceptional also!)
I spoke with the manager before deciding to stay to ask if they could accommodate celiac. The manager communicated with my server who knew from the start that I needed everything to be gluten free. She was great and checked with the chef about several items for me. I enjoyed a perfectly cooked filet with charred asparagus and truffle butter- all delicious. The flourless chocolate cake for dessert was fabulous. No symptoms after eating; I am moderately sensitive and can usually tell I’ve been glutened within the hour.
Good the whole meal until dessert and then they gave me a dessert with gluten. Very frustrating! The person serving the dessert made an error (they had a list with food allergen info and I believe what happened was he said an item was gluten free when it actually contained gluten). They otherwise did a great job and food was great.
I will start by saying I was dining with a group of 8 at lunch. However, the number of people in my group should not excuse the poor service received. Especially by a restaurant of this caliber. Many of these issues stem from poor training of wait staff (management take note). I ordered the strip steak salad entree and my server confirmed it was gluten free. So far so good. The group ordered the arancini (individual cheese balls) as an app and I declined my order with her only because I don’t care for cheese. She entered our orders with the kitchen and returned to see if anyone would like to order side dishes because entrees do not come with anything. The group put in several side orders to share for the table and I asked her which ones are gluten free. She asked if I had an allergy (not sure why this is just being questioned now and not when I asked her if the salad is gluten free) and said she would double check with the kitchen to be sure. She returned and began explaining all the components of the dish which contained cheese (???). I stopped her and told her I don’t have a cheese allergy, I have a gluten allergy which is why I asked her specifically if the sides and salad contain gluten. She brushed off my questions (shared fryer, etc) and said I should be fine. But that I just can’t have the meatballs. The food comes out a bit later and she proceeds to try to serve me meat balls on my plate. I told her she just told me they weren’t gluten free?? Further, when her and the bus-boy would refill the water glasses, they would then place my glass down in front of the person to my left or right. So I drank out of the wrong water glass several times during the meal. Again, all completely inexcusable. And to top it off I don’t feel great now, which is very upsetting because I eat out at restaurants in Chicago all the time which are far more progressive, educated and service oriented. So this rarely happens. It will take a lot to convince me to return here.