Thursday, May 28, 2009

My experience at Uno's

To support celiac disease research, me and two friends headed out to Uno's Chicago Grill in Manchester, NH this past Saturday night. I had heard mixed things about the GF pizza, so I thought I would check it out for myself. The GF menu was prominently displayed at the entrance. When the host saw us looking at it, he greeted us warmly, asked if we had been there before, etc. I said no and showed him the voucher (20% of our bill would go towards celiac research). I also quizzed him a bit - it's been my experience that some places w/ a GF menu don't really get it. I asked about possible cross-contamination, food prep area, hand washing, etc.

To my delight, he answered all my questions correctly! He said that understanding food allergies/intolerance/sensitivities is not new to Unos...in fact, he said that they have been participating in training on this topic for three years. (Rather, he said "we've been hit over the head with this stuff for three years.") Great news for me! I told him that it paid off because, were it not for their GF menu and partnering with the American Celiac Disease Alliance, the three of us would not have come in...the one with the food challenges ALWAYS gets to pick the restaurant. Always.

Turns out that our host was a manager. He relayed my dietary needs to our server (I did, too, just to be sure). I ended up ordering the veggie pizza. The manager brought my meal out, and reiterated that it was gluten free and prepared carefully to eliminate possible cross-contamination.

The pizza was yummy! It was on the thin side, but no too thin. It was crispy and springy at the same time. The toppings were very flavorful.

We were checked on by both the server and the manager to assure that all was well. Their welcoming attitude and depth of knowledge made this a very pleasant outing. Plus, because it was my first time there, I got a $5 off the purchase of $15 for next time. I am thinking that there will be a next time.

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