I just got home from having a memorable meal at new restaurant, Patxi’s Pizza. The only problem was, it was memorable for all the wrong reasons. I had seen ahead of time that they carried GF pizza crusts. I was optimistic that as a chain, they would understand how to take care of their many guests that have to eat gluten-free. Sadly, I was wrong. I asked our server if they place the GF pizza on a separate pan so that it wasn’t touching the same surface as the normal pizza. She said that they don’t but that they probably could. I then asked if they could use a different knife to cut the pizza, but she said that they couldn’t.
At this point, I understand that a lot of restaurants offering “gluten-free” products do not care at all about those of us who have to eat gluten-free. Rather than take responsibility for serving a product that is truly gluten-free, they are jumping on the gluten-free bandwagon and trying to squeeze some extra dollars out of those who just prefer to eat GF. It is frustrating to the millions of us who have no choice as to what we can consume, but I understand that it is their prerogative. The part that I don’t understand is how as a restaurant, there is no training done to be aware of the ingredients in your product. Almost everyone that dines out has a preference or dietary need involving certain ingredients. Before opening, a restaurant’s management should make training a priority so that their customers are taken of. After all, they are in the service industry. After asking many questions about the ingredients in their salads (once it was clear I shouldn’t mess with their pizza), it was apparent that not only had our server not been trained to know what was safe or not for me to eat, there was no available manager to help her. The whole time we were there, there were ten workers (two of which looked like they were managers) just talking to each other in different huddles around the room. At no point did a manager look to help the server or check on our table. The fact that it took 40 minutes for my salad to get to the table made it even more aggravating that they were all just joking around with each other.
The salad arrived with the dressing and cheese on the side even though that was not a request. It also came with tongs so that I could toss it myself which seemed very odd. I ordered the Padron Peppers as well which were actually pretty good. After our experience, we won’t be returning though. It would behoove the management to take the opportunity to train the staff and kitchen on the menu during quiet moments like today.
Now, I am even more excited for Pizzarev to open in Paseo Nuevo since it is clear that they care for their gluten-intolerant customers!
gluten-free in sb 
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