And then there were none (eating out at restaurants with food allergies)

Prior to our son's recent allergy testing (which revealed additional allergens), we had two local restaurants that we frequented.  I've spoken to the managers at both places, and we order the same thing every time, which they know by heart (but I repeat each time, just in case).  Since discovering his allergy to sesame, one of the two restaurants has become a bit more problematic, leaving us with one.  We went there today.

The manager is quite the fan of our little boy, always smiling at him and coming over to say hello even when she's not waiting on our table.  She repeats our order from memory and asks about his allergies each time.  Our order is complicated.  It goes something like "We'd like the "saucy" chicken, with no sauce, french fries (which I know are done in a dedicated frier) instead of the rice, with none of the red spice they've recently started sprinkling on the fries (it contains wheat), and with no butter or garlic on the vegetables."  Luckily I usually just have to say hello, and they recite the order to me.  I hate being the problem customer, but I say it kindly, and figure if it is too problematic, they can tell us not to come back.

Today, when they brought our chicken, it looked like this -- 

clearly covered in sauce.  I explained nicely that it had sauce on it.  She disagreed.  I kindly insisted it did, wiping some off and showing her.  She explained that it was probably just "a little bit."  (Red Flag!).  I asked if she knew if the sauce they used had wheat (the restaurant does have a gluten free menu).  She said it does have soy sauce in it.  "Ah, too bad, we can't eat it then."  She said a few times that she thought he'd "be OK" with it (I posted about this phrase just last week).  And she also offered, quite sincerely and helpfully, to "wash it off" for us.  {Insert image of eyes bugging out of head}.  Luckily the only allergen likely at issue is wheat, which he has a low score on and might even be able to tolerate at this point, but the idea that an allergen can be washed off of a chicken breast... well, yikes.  

She brought us a plain chicken breast, after cleaning the grill (see the difference in color in the second chicken breast?), and I did eat it, but kind of regretted even eating that.  Sadly I don't think I'll enjoy eating there anymore, because I can't trust them if I know that's how they view allergies.  (He did break out in a small red rash around his mouth afterwards, which went away after a bath.  Might have been just touching the highchair, table, etc., the food... who knows).

On a bright note, I've decided we'll just splurge on a nice grill and lose the "Whole Foods guilt" I feel from spending so much money there, reminding myself of all of the dough (ha, pun) I'm saving on restaurant outings!

Have any scary / amusing restaurant incidents to share with us?  Leave a comment!