Not all restaurants are safe for gluten-free dining, unfortunately. Discover three warning signs that a restaurant may not be truly gluten-free friendly by reading below.

Strong Warning Signs for Gluten-Free Dining Out

Have you ever just stopped by a restaurant, maybe when you are traveling, hoping to find good gluten-free food only to become very disappointed? Been there, done that, many times lol. I know we feel like we live in a world where we are constantly thinking about the food we eat for safety reasons, but not everyone thinks that way. Even in this day and age, there are many restaurants that don’t even understand what gluten even is.

Finding a good place to stop and eat, especially when you are traveling, is very hard to do. Some apps can locate places that state they have many gluten-free items, but to be honest, the only way to know for sure is to talk to someone who has been there or try it yourself. This is why I created Busy Gluten Free: to use my years of experience eating gluten-free to provide helpful information and insights to hopefully allow you to find these places much more quickly, so you have no doubts about where you can eat gluten-free.

Here are the three signs that a restaurant isn’t safe for gluten-free dining:

• No gluten-free menu – although this sign isn’t the only thing you look for, if there is no mention of allergens, ingredients, or gluten-free on a menu anywhere, that is a big sign that they don’t prepare their food items any differently for someone with allergies as opposed to someone who doesn’t.
• Staff are not educated on gluten – if you ask a question to someone on the staff of a restaurant (server, manager, cook, etc.) about their gluten-free options and you get the deer in the headlight look, there is your sign that eating there will not be safe.
• Shared fryers – if the restaurant does not have a dedicated fryer for gluten-free items, then you know there will be cross-contamination of items cooked in the fryer.

So keep these warning signs in mind the next time you visit a restaurant as you are deciding whether to stick around or not. To me, it is better to safe than sorry, especially since you are the one who will pay for it lol, if you eat something that doesn’t make you feel good.

Download my gluten-free dining safety checklist below, where I give you five questions to ask before your order, along with a printable checklist to take with you when you are at a restaurant!

For other gluten-free resources to help you on your journey, click here.

Hopefully, this will help you enjoy dining out again!