TGIFridays

The last time I was at Friday's, I noticed some sort of peanut chicken dish. Cross-contamination could have been the culprit as well. I hope you feel better soon.

We visited a Friday's in Lake Mary, Florida twice recently. The first visit was the first time I had taken my son to the restaurant,I called before hand and spoke to the kitchen manager. She assured me the chicken fingers were safe for my son. I made sure to make it a point that his allergy was life threatening so she understood what she was dealing with but she was very confident and said there were no cross contamination issues and no peanut products in the chicken fingers. We went that day and I explained the situation to the waitress who said she would tell the chef about his allergy. He ate his meal and was fine. I felt very comfortable with the staff and the food. Well, about a week later we had been out shopping for a while and decide to eat out (which is rare for us) and we went to the same Fridays. When we arrived I told the waitress about his allergy and asked her to make sure the chef was aware it is life threatening. We sat in the restaurant for about 20 minutes before the chef came out and told me he couldn't serve my son anything in the kitchen, he said he understood how severe it is and couldn't be sure if anything had peanut ingredients. We were shocked, after they had sworn to me there was no way his meal had peanut products or was cooked around anything with peanuts he's telling me it definitely could. I explained he was reaction free when he ate it a week ago but was not willing to take a chance again. Up until about a month ago if we went to a restaurant I would bring his food. I think I may start to do that again [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/frown.gif[/img]

A couple of weeks ago my son got a grilled cheese from Friday's. He eats these practically every time we go to the mall without incident. However this last time the waitress brought him a grilled cheese on NUT bread!! He had it in his hand and almost to his mouth before I saw the chunks in the bread. I have never been so angry in my life! I had specifically explained the whole allergy to her before we ordered. Her reply to me? "I thought it was just the oil you were worried about." I guess I will have to spell out next time that a nut allergy means that you cannot have nut bread.
Jaime

I saw this site once that had these cards that you can make that you give to the manager and chef....get the waitress to call them over...explaining your allergies. It says how life threatening they are. I thought it was cool.

Quote:Originally posted by KarenH:
[b]I saw this site once that had these cards that you can make that you give to the manager and chef....get the waitress to call them over...explaining your allergies. It says how life threatening they are. I thought it was cool.[/b]
Karen, do you know what this website is? I would love to buy these cards!
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Jeannie

Jeannie, the website is foodallergyinitiative.org
you can just print them out, dont have to buy.

Ours cooks in peanut oil. They also have pecan crusted chicken and numerous oriental sauces.

Our experiences with our local TGIFridays have been very positive. The manager has access to a computer database that states not only the ingredients but also any possible cc. We always ask for the manager on duty and go through our spcheel, and the managers have consistently shown us this database and have been knowledgeable. This is one of the few restaurants in our comfort zone.

Thank you! I will have to call the one by our house and see if I am comfortable with the answers I get.
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Jodi