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Eating Out with a Food Allergy

Dude 3 was diagnosed with his first food allergy when he was two years old.

It was a long time coming, after years of gastrointestinal issues (yep, we’re talking about explosive diarrhea here, and gas, really intense gas), eczema, and upper respiratory complaints, we finally got the diagnosis we were expecting: nut allergy.

We got the epi pen we had to take every place with us. We were told to avoid nuts of all kinds for at least a year. We had to check labels, and remind grandparents, and warn friends and teachers and neighbors and babysitters. And remind grandparents.

It was a thing.

A thing that altered every part of our day to day lives.

And then, when it was nearly time for kindergarten to roll around, our doctor said he wanted to do some testing and really see where we stood on things. We needed to know his food allergy status so we could ensure his safety at school.

When all was said and done, we received the all clear for Dude 3 to enjoy nuts as he desired (for the record, he does not desire, because ew, gross), but we also discovered he has a mild allergy (probably more like an intolerance) to eggs (which goes to explain why he gets hives from time to time and continues to battle eczema during certain times of the year).

We allow him to enjoy eggs (because they are like top 5 on his list of favorite things to eat), but we try not to over indulge since when we do he has to struggle. And by struggle I mean rip his skin off with itching and wind up passed out, face down and part naked on the floor in the playroom from Bendaryl. (Don’t ask me why he’s naked, I never know.)

We’re fortunate that none of his intolerances are at the potentially fatal level anymore, but whenever possible, we elect to limit his exposure.

We love places that make doing so easy and we love it even more when one of those places is a venue our entire family enjoys.

Dear Allergy Families, meet Red Robin.

Probably many of you already have.

It is hands down DudeDad’s and Dude 1’s favorite place to enjoy a weekend burger, and a fun outing for family dinners.

But, best part is, they’re allergy friendly.

Allergy Eats (all parents of kids with food allergies know this site) has named Red Robin one of the “Most Allergy-Friendly Restaurant Chains” for the past three years in a row, making them one of the go-to choices for families with food allergic members.

As part of Allergy Awareness Month, Red Robin asked me and The Dudes to go out and test how easy and, dare I say, friendly, their interactive allergen menu is when it comes to allowing families like ours to enjoy a safe meal out together.

Y’all know we don’t turn down free food.

allergy friendly restaurants

Allergy Friendly Restaurants: 5 Things to Know About Allergy Friendly Eating at Red Robin

1. It’s easy. Their interactive menu makes it super easy to select options that are safe for your food allergic family members to enjoy. It’s even accessible from a mobile device (and it’s not one of those lame ones that takes forever to load. I loaded while we waited and knew what to order by the time we sat down at our table.)

red robin

2. The menu is comprehensive. Of course it doesn’t take into consideration every single potential allergen, but they do cover many. The interactive menu allows you to customize your meals in order to avoid 9 different allergens. You can choose to eliminate shellfish, gluten, peanuts, milk, eggs, wheat, fish, treenuts, and soy.

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3. The menu is inclusive. Instead of focusing on what you can’t have, it tells you what you can. It provides you with suitable options based on your selections instead of focusing on the items you should avoid.

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4. The staff is trained. And there is a specific procedure. When you notify your server that your family has a food allergy, they have a special alert to notify the kitchen staff. Red Robin kitchens use a special allergen kit to prepare food for those with food allergies. The special alert system notifies them that they need to be careful and proceed with the kit to prevent cross contamination.

red robin allergy friendly

5. They want you to customize. It’s sort of a thing at Red Robin. Even those without allergies are encouraged to build burgers and other meals they crave. So, when it comes time to make something unique for the food allergic patron, doing so isn’t even that big of deal and it’s one of the few places that you and your allergy family don’t have to feel like “those people”. We all get sick of feeling that way.

Want to take a trip to your Red Robin and give their menu a try?!

Fine, fine, a meal on me (and by me, I mean Red Robin).

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Comments

  3. Dude. We don’t go out! Just kidding. IF we go anywhere when we have all off them is CiCis pizza unless we have too many protests and they want taco bell. Yes, seriously, taco bell. Which I of course LOVE but it always surprises me when they want tacos over pizza.

  4. My daughter and I love Red Robin. For $25 we can get a meal and a treat each, a kid shake for her and a gluten free hard cider for me. ;)

  9. Great idea to use the trend to computerized, inter-active menus for customers with allergy concerns! I like to eat at places that don’t over-salt their food.

  16. We love going to a local italian restaurant, but we love burgers too!

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  17. McDonalds is honestly the only place we make it “out’ to eat. We have gone to Friendlys once a few years ago.

  19. I love to try different foods, from around the world, but my family likes to eat at different burger joints once a week x

  22. Johnny Carino’s is one of our favorite places to go out and eat, but I’m not sure if that is a more regional place or not!

  24. We’re a Chipotle kind of family. We also love anything Mexican or Japanese.

  25. Red Robin’s is a great place to enjoy a good burger with the family!

  26. We mostly stay home and eat. We rarely go out because we don’t have much money right now

  34. Our favorite place to eat out is Ichiban…a Japanese steak house where they cook at your table….kids love it

  35. I usually get something spicy, since no one else likes hot food. And always, always I get fries, they are just never the same at home.

  40. We love going to Red Robin! There isn’t one in our town so we drive 20+ minutes away to get to the closest one.

  47. As a mom of a child who is allergic to wheat and now peanuts( but we think that might be an intolerance since its new) I am always on the lookout for new places for us to eat out as a family. because it’s hard. REALLY hard to find a place that we all like that has a gluten free menu. There are THREE red robins near us and i’ve been meaning to check out the closest one!

  50. It’s good to see restaurants starting to become more allergic person friendly.

  51. I am okay as long as I can have a salad … no cheese no meat … the rest of the family can decide on the place.

  52. We like to go to locally owned restaurants, but Big Boy’s is a favorite because that is where me and my husband first met.

  53. We have a favorite diner around the corner from where we love we like to go to!

  55. We like to eat at our local IHOP. They know about our daughter’s allergy and know how to make it safe for her.

  57. We love to support local places. Our friends own a deli downtown that uses almost exclusively local ingredients, and everything is delicious! Chain restaurants can be great, too, of course (we love Red Robin), but we have seen too many local places we love close down because no one supported them. So we try to do that first! :)

  65. We don’t get to eat out often, but when we do our favorite place is OutBack Steak House! We would be super excited to try Red Robin since one just opened up near us!

  71. My husband and I love to eat out at places we have gift cards to. :) That’s the only time we can afford it!

  72. There is a Chinese restaurant about 10 minutes from our house. We love eating there!

  79. My husband and I love to eat out at local restaurants. We do cheat and drive 30 minutes every few months just to get those bottomless fries though.

  83. We can never afford to eat out. So I don’t really have a favorite place to go.

  85. Me and my family Love everything. I don’t think we could pick just one hahah. We love eating out but sometimes we have to chill out because it wastes $$$ I can’t help it though I need to learn to cook dinner meals better I guess or maybe just hire a chef from each of our restaurants, but we like PF Changs and The Cheesecake Factory

  89. I wish all restaurants had one of these allergen menus! I like to eat out at sushi restaurants. There’s a local one, called Samurai that is my favorite.

  94. My family doesn’t eat out of because of severe intolerances to dairy and gluten. This app gives me a glimmer of hope that we could try Red Robin but the app still warns of cross contamination, which keeps me wary.

  97. We love to go to Red Robin! We also go to Olive Garden and Chili’s from time to time.

  98. We really love a variety of places when eating out. Some of our favorites include QDoba, The Cheesecake Factory, and Outback Steakhouse.

  100. We dont really go out very much at all, since I have Celiac disease its hard to find a place that has gluten free food and is aware of how to keep it from getting cross contaminated. I am very excited to see that Red Robin has a great gluten free menu and even hamburger buns! I have not been able to go out for a hamburger is over 7 years! Cannot wait!

  101. Honestly, my family rarely eats out because we have several food allergies in our family. I’m so excited about this new customizable menu! Thank you for this information and for this great giveaway opportunity!

  103. besides red robin we like to go to steak and shake .. and the kids do love ellas deli

  104. As a vegan, it is hard to find a place that everyone wants to eat, but the whole family loves Red Robin! I can get a Boca burger and everyone else can get what they want.