Sunday, January 18, 2009

Red Robin Restaurant makes accomodation for allergies

We went to Red Robin Restaurant the other day and they were SO accommodating for our allergies. They gave me an allergy "menu" that listed which items they recommended that are dairy-free. It also included menu options for peanut allergy, egg allergy, tree nut allergy, soy allergy, and fish allergy. The food was great and my kids loved it! You can have them e-mail you a copy of their allergy menu at www.redrobin.com. You have to sent them a query and let them know what your allergy is. It was very kid friendly and overall a great experience for us! The floor manager even came out to talk to us and make sure that everything went okay:) I'm glad that so many restaurants are taking our food allergies seriously.

3 comments:

Tom and Juli said...

Thanks so much for your website and blog. My 4 month old is allergic to milk (and we think soy too) and I'm nursing her. It has been a struggle but with your help it's been a lot better (especially the oreo tip, except now I can't have soy-but those were good while they lasted.)

I'm just curious, we're going out to eat for my birthday on Saturday with my husband's entire family and I was wondering what the best way to ask if the place has information about what their food contains without drawing too much attention to myself? How do you usually go about doing it?

Again, thanks so much for your blog and website!

Juli

Juventa said...

Juli,

That's so difficult and what a sacrifice for you, too! I have a great cake recipe that is eggless, milkless, and butterless, so there would be not soy or dairy in it. (It's good, too!) Go to my website www.milkallergycompanion.com and click on "Free Recipes" and then click on archives. It's called "Dotie's Chocolate Cake." It was a life saver for us on multiple birthday occasions. (Though, I hope your baby can tolerate chocolate while you're nursing:)).

As far as eating out goes, I would call the restaurant you plan to go to ahead of time and ask to talk to their floor manager. This will avoid any uncomfortable encounters and you can feel confident on what you can order before going in. He will talk to the chef and can help you out with your allergies. Just tell them that you're allergic to (or can't have any) soy and dairy to simplify the process. Most restaurants are helpful. I don't have a lot of experience with soy, but in the past we've been able to go to Ruby Tuesdays (you can get the burger with no bun), Red Robin (they have a complete nutrition guide for alleriges that is wonderful), Bob Evans, and Panera (you can go to their website and look at each menu item). A few ideas for meal items are salads with no cheese and a vinaigrette dressing, grilled chicken (double check label and seasoning with chef), hamburgers with no bun (sometimes the buns are okay), and pasta boiled without butter topped with marinara sauce (make sure to request no parmesan cheese). Also, fresh fruit and steamed veggies are usually okay (ask about butter content). I would also go to the website of the restaurant, e-mail them, and ask them to send you the nutrition/allergy information ahead of time. Hopefully they will respond promptly. Good luck!!!

Juventa

trishnic8 said...

Julie
My 4 month old son is also allergic to dairy and soy. I am running out of things and places to eat! I feel like I am eating the same things every day. Thanks for the tip about Red Robin. I plan on going there tomorrow with my family for my Dad's birthday. Also, fyi: you can get regular crust pizza from papa johns without cheese and it doesnt have dairy or soy. also you can get food from chipotle- without cheese and sour cream of course and it also doesnt have dairy or soy. I will have to check out that chocolate cake recipe. I miss my sweets!