Dining out-Gluten Free

Get used to saying: “Do you have a Gluten Free menu?”… 

Sometimes, you’ll be surprised!  It never hurts to ask. When first embarking on a gluten free diet, it's easiest to stick to a few dining options until you learn more.  It always helps to research your options before you go. Here are a few restaurants to get you started.

Restaurants that have a GF menu:
(We live in the Austin area, but most of these, you can find elsewhere.)
Austin’s Pizza *
Brick Oven
Carraba’s Italian Grill 
Fresh Choice-notes the gf items in buffet
Kona Grill
North by Northwest 
Olive Garden
Outback Steakhouse * (you can get dessert here!!!)
PF Changs * (I did not love their gf dessert, but it's been a while since I tried it)
Pei Wei
Z Pizza
Z Tejas *

 * These are our faves!

Fast food:

The bad news is that you will have limited choices for fast food. The good news is that you will be eating more fresh and healthy foods from home or in a sit down restaurant. Sometimes, if I know I’ll be out and about all day, I’ll pack a lunch. When you are out of the house and desperately hungry, here are some options and pretty much the only ones where we’ll eat:

Chick-fil-a:

grilled chicken breasts

some of their grilled salads

Kids meal-request grilled chicken strips. You might get the blank stare-but you can nicely tell them that they do it all the time, or request to speak to the manager. It does seem to take longer for them to get it ready for some reason, so be patient. Ask if the fries are fried alone or with breaded items. Only get them if fried separately. To make it easier-just order the fruit. The workers are usually very helpful, so you can always ask for help.

Taco Bell:

Pintos and cheese

Tostada

Crunchy taco

Taco supreme

Wendy’s:

My kids get the kid’s meal burger, no bun

Chili

Rudy's:

Meats and many sides are gf

Sonic:

Kid’s meal cheeseburgers, no bun, with fruit

I get the sausage breakfast burrito and just eat it with a fork (it does touch the flour tortilla, but I’m not that sensitive)

You can find more options and detailed information on:

gfrestaurants.com, Many restaurants have allergy information on their websites, so you can check those too. 

Always verify ingredients before you order and eat. Servers do the best they can, but don't be afraid to send it back if they mess up your order.  One example-you get flour tortillas instead of corn.