Review of Mews Tavern

If this were a review of Mews anywhere but Find Me Gluten Free, for anything but their gluten-free-ness they'd get 4-5 stars! The food is delicious, the ambiance is really cool and friendly, and the staff is very nice.

Based on our actual experience with their gluten free menu, I was tempted to give just one star. But I'll give the second because it really would be a 4-5 star sort of place without their overly enthusiastic, untrue claim that they have GF options.

When went there, we checked to see if the extensive menu of fried food was too good to be true by asking if they had a separate fryer..... It was indeed too good to be true, and they did not have a separate fryer. So we took that to mean that the gluten free menu is basically a lie :( Those foods aren't gluten free. Definitely not Celiac safe whatsoever.

But the waitress acted like it was no big deal, and no there's not a separate fryer, but so what, all the ingredients in those items listed were gluten free, so of course they must be okay...

So that was another warning sign... having staff that is going to be aware of what it *really* takes to make sure something is gluten free is important, if you're going to offer that.

Frankly, I was so scared for my husband's health based on the "GF"-but-not-actually-remotely-at-all menu and the waitress' cluelessness that I wanted to leave right then........but my husband thought that was embarrassing, so we stayed and tried to figure out what be nearly impossible to screw up.

So, very much on guard at this point, we ordered fajitas after confirming that they are cooked in their own individual pans, as fajitas are most places.

We thought that would be safe.

We were wrong.

My husband was sicker after this cross-contamination, and for longer, than any other single time we can remember. We went over a month ago, and still he does not completely feel okay again yet.

Doing things half-way is very problematic for people who have Celiac's disease... Please don't have a menu that says items are gluten free, but then a shared fryer that makes that completely impossible... and having untrained staff that isn't aware of allergens and how to avoid cross-contamination also makes theoretically a gluten free menu actually quite pointless as well.

Again, its fine if places don't want to have a gluten free menu. But please don't have one that is a lie. That's putting the customers that you are supposedly trying to accommodate at risk.

Celiac friendly?

No