GlutiOrdering gluten-free: what to ask in a restaurant
With coeliac disease, the right ingredients aren’t enough. What matters is how the kitchen works. The right questions quickly show you whether a restaurant understands that.
Gluti offers guidance and is not a medical device. Its information does not replace medical advice.
How do I say that I need to eat gluten-free?
Say it clearly and right at the start: it’s about coeliac disease, an illness, not a preference. A sentence that works:
“I have coeliac disease. Even small amounts of gluten make me ill, including crumbs or flour dust. Can you tell me what is safe for me here?”
Words like “intolerance” or “I’m avoiding gluten” sound like there’s room for manoeuvre. Staff then often take the request less seriously, and that’s exactly when the fryer or the pasta water gets shared.
What do I ask before I go?
It’s best to call ahead, outside peak times, not at noon or seven in the evening. Then someone has time to check with the kitchen. When booking, you can mention coeliac disease right away.
- Are there dishes you prepare gluten-free, and how?
- Is there a dedicated fryer for gluten-free food only?
- Are gluten-free bread, pasta or pizza bases prepared separately?
- Can someone from the kitchen answer my questions when I’m there?
Specific answers are a good sign: “Yes, we have a separate fryer” tells you more than “We can do anything gluten-free”.
What do I ask when I order?
Depending on the dish, the risk sits in a different place. These questions cover the most common ones:
| Dish | Question |
|---|---|
| Chips and fried food | Does it go into a fryer that is also used for breaded food? |
| Pasta | Is gluten-free pasta cooked in fresh water with its own sieve? |
| Pizza | Is it baked on its own tray, without flour on the peel and work surface? |
| Pan-fried and grilled food | Is the pan or griddle clean? Is the marinade free from soy sauce and flour? |
| Sauces, soups, dressings | Are they thickened with flour? Do they contain stock, soy sauce or malt? |
| Salad | Is it freshly prepared, without croutons? |
| Dessert | Is there a biscuit base, crumble, wafer or anything breaded in or on it? |
You’ll find more about where gluten gets transferred in the kitchen in the guide to cross-contamination.
Who is the right person to ask?
The person taking your order often does not know what happens in the kitchen, and still wants to be helpful. A good share of the wrong answers comes from that. So ask explicitly for it to be checked with the kitchen, rather than settling for what is said at the table. “Could you please check that with the kitchen?” is polite and is almost always done.
There is a second route. In Germany, allergen information may be given verbally but has to be documented in writing, and you are entitled to ask for that documentation. It is not a special request but expressly provided for; menus often carry a note about it.
Do not rely on it alone, though. The documentation tells you which allergens are in a dish as an ingredient. Whether it ends up in the same fryer, or on the board where bread was just sliced, is not in there. Paper settles the ingredients, only the conversation settles the preparation.
Which answers should make me wary?
Some answers show that the kitchen doesn’t know the problem. Then ask again, order something very simple or eat elsewhere:
- “A little won’t hurt.” With coeliac disease, it will.
- “We’ll just take the croutons off.” The crumbs stay. The dish has to be made again.
- “It’s made with spelt, so it’s gluten-free.” Spelt is a type of wheat and contains gluten.
- “It’s low in gluten.” Low isn’t free.
- “There’s no flour in it.” That answers one question out of several; breading, stock, soy sauce and malt are still open.
- “We’ll be careful with it.” Being careful is not a method. Ask about the actual step: which pan, which water, which fat.
- A quick “Yes, that’s fine” without checking with the kitchen, especially for sauces and fried food.
What if the place is out of its depth?
Not every kitchen can cook gluten-free, and whoever says so openly deserves more trust than someone who promises everything. An honest “I can’t guarantee that for you today” is the most useful answer of the evening.
You then have two options. Either order something with little room for error: grilled meat or fish without sauce, boiled potatoes or rice, vegetables, salad without a ready-made dressing. Or leave and eat elsewhere. Both are fine, and both beat eating on a hope.
Stay friendly while you do it, even when it is tiring. You may want to come back, and places remember guests. And when it went well, say so: kitchens almost only hear about it when something went wrong.
What do I look out for when the food arrives?
Briefly check that it’s your gluten-free dish, especially when several similar plates arrive. Some restaurants mark gluten-free plates, for example with a pick or a note. Look for bread, croutons or breaded food that doesn’t belong on the plate. And if something is wrong, have the dish made again rather than just “fixed”.
What is different with delivery and takeaway?
Two things you otherwise rely on fall away: you don’t see the plate being made, and you can’t ask when something looks odd. So call rather than ordering through an app. The free-text field in many delivery apps is meant for preferences, not allergies, and you have no way of knowing whether it is read in the kitchen at all.
On the phone, ask what you would ask in the restaurant, plus one more thing: how it will be packed. Gluten-free food belongs in its own closed container, not loose next to the bread in the same bag. With pizza, there is the box as well, which in many kitchens is dusted with flour before the base goes in.
A card to show staff
Sometimes a written explanation beats a conversation at the table: it is unambiguous, it can be passed on to the kitchen, and it works even when you do not speak the language. The page A card to show in a restaurant carries four of them, in German and in English and one for children. Print one, photograph it or keep the page as a bookmark. In Germany, Austria and Switzerland, show the German version.
What the card says is deliberately short: no flour, no breadcrumbs, no soy sauce, no malt, plus clean boards and pans, no shared fryer and fresh water for pasta. It cannot be longer than that, or nobody in the kitchen will read it. Anything beyond it is better settled in conversation.
How does Gluti help?
On Gluti, a place’s level tells you before your visit how the kitchen works: completely gluten-free, with separate preparation, or with gluten-free dishes from the same kitchen. It’s still worth asking: kitchens change, and only the staff know how things are done today.
