The staff does their best and I was impressed with how clean they try to make everything for people with allergies. If you ask for allergy menu, they will give you a yellow bowl and a full laminated chart of all their food. The cooks scrape and wash the grill the best they can, use clean utensils, use clean dividers, and clean their hands before touching your food.
That said, it is a buffet.
This place is about making connections and being super polite and advocating for yourself. I went here with 3 gluten eaters. I told the waitress right away that I had celiac and she gave me the allergen menu, she told me her best friend was a celiac too and understood cross contamination. When it came time to grab my ingredients she went to the back for me with the list of items I wanted and grabbed them fresh. They then designated a spot in the grill, wiped it down really well- basically scoured it-and put up barriers so my food wouldn’t mingle with trouble. I did not get sick and it was so yummy!! if you do not advocate for yourself I can see how this restaurant could be trouble, hence the 4 stars.
HuHot does not have a gluten free menu but does have an allergen list and a list of gluten free sauces. Ask them to clean a spot on the grill and use different utensils, if necessary.
Perhaps because I was comparing to BDs Mongolian BBQ, I thought this place was mediocre. I don't like how thin they cut all the meat... It made it taste terrible and I couldn't even pierce the meat with my fork out was so thin. Not impressed.
Waitress wasn’t as friendly, but the cooks were great. They took a lot of precautions when making my food. However, we could not finish our meals because the restaurant was absolutely filthy. We really wanted to leave but she brought us salads so we felt that would be dining and dashing. The food line was unkept and tables were disgusting, along with dishes.
They've recently redone all their sauces to be gluten free so the only things you need to watch for on the buffet line are the noodles and some of the meats. They did a great job scouring the grill when we told them we had a gluten allergy, marked the spots, scrubbed with extra care, even divided off our section with giant metal bars to prevent any splashing. Ordering from the menu would be trickier but the bar itself was great. You can skip the noodles entirely and just use the rice they bring to the table to avoid any noodle contamination. Great job and really appreciated all the effort they put in!
Menu and separate allergen list. Confusing to cross reference. Then. you have to carry the big allergen list with you as you select your ingredients. Those should be labeled.Then you tell the cooks you need your order Gluten Free. They scrape and scrub a section of the grill, and then partition it off and cook your ingredients. Not good enough for celiacs, they should have a separate grill or a section they can put on top that is dedicated to gluten free only.Wait staff friendly and curteous, and appear to be trained by corporate, but their procedures are not adequate for celiacs or the very sensitive. I will know in less than an hour, but until they improve their procedures, they are not quite there yet.
There is a huge selection of single ingredient food to choose from. The GF sauce are marked and are together at one end of the sauce bar to avoid cross contamination from drops of other sauces. The cooks will separate your food entirely upon request, and toppings are single item servings as well
All sauces are gluten free. The pad Thai noodles are gluten free. When you go up to them to cook let them know gluten allergy. They were amazing at making sure that the cross contamination was not happening. When I went up they knew right away and asked me to double check. They were amazing with helping me ensure I can still eat here and not worry about what I could eat. Employees here are amazing