Wednesday, May 8, 2013

East Side Mario's - Gluten Free Menu

I am in the process to convincing (wink wink) my lovely family members and friends that should they have something that I can share on my blog ... a review of a restaurant, a recipe, an experience they have had regarding Celiac Disease and living Gluten Free to please let me know so I can especially do that ... SHARE on my blog.  Awareness comes in all forms ~ even from those who are not Celiac like Kevin's mom ... Kevin and his mom, Sylvia, recently had a dining experience at East Side Mario's ... And Kevin wrote up a guest blog for me on how the experience came about and a review of how East Side Mario's did in the "serving gluten free" department ...

So thank you Kevin for sharing and he writes:

" We are always working at finding new places that can serve us gluten free, and we are especially looking for restaurants around our family members where we can all go out and enjoy a meal together. 


I stopped in to have a visit with my mom the other day in St. Albert.  She told me that while she was at work, one of her customers mentioned that they worked at East Side Mario’s.  My mom mentioned in her conversation with the customer that there were members of her family that had celiac disease, and had to eat gluten free, however the customer quickly responded that they were able to serve gluten free food.  I know that my mom would never lead us down the wrong path, but I will honestly say that I was a little skeptical that a franchised casual dining restaurant would have the knowledge on how to prepare gluten free food.

My first step was turn to my phone and check online for a menu.  They had an extensive menu listed online, but there was nothing specifically on the menu which stated that any of the items could be made gluten free.  My back-up plan was to give them a phone call, where I stated that I had celiac disease and needed to eat gluten free, and asked if they could accommodate.  She stated that they could serve gluten free. 

Upon arrival, I told them that I called in earlier, and that I was told that they could serve gluten free.  They provided me with a gluten free menu, which had a number of appetizers and mains and a dessert to choose from.  I ordered the Sausage and Pepper Pasta, choosing to go on the wild side with something a little bit of spice to it.




The food arrived at the table, and was clearly introduced to me as “gluten free Sausage and Pepper Pasta”, which was such a reassuring step for them to take.  The pasta was cooked to perfection, and the sausage and sauce had just a little bit of a kick to it.  The taste was amazing, and I was even more impressed at the fact that the portion size was perfectly adequate to fill a guy like me up, without being too much. 

I walked away from the meal with a very positive experience knowing that the restaurant took my request very seriously, yet treated my dietary restrictions as if it wasn’t a problem for them to handle.  Having another restaurant option is always a bonus, and mom and I are looking forward to bringing Sherri along the next time!"  
 


East Side Mario's 

615 St. Albert Trail
St. Albert, Alberta
T8N 3L3

Ph: (780) 470-5880

4 comments:

  1. MMMMM, I really never thought East Side Mario's would have a GF menu. AWESOME!

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  2. Great to hear you had such a great customer service experience! I'm sure many people with celiac disease will be very happy to hear that they offer GF options.

    One of our previous interns also had a great customer service experience at East Side Mario's as well. Although not about GF options, they were still taken care of very well and definitely shows that they put a big emphasis on great customer service . Feel free to check out our intern's post here: http://su.pr/2UnNOe

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  3. I will have to try that it looks amazing!

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  4. They have now increased the gf menu even further. I like the fact that they don't increase the prices either.

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