Cheeseburger Island Style - Wailea, Maui

Rating:

In Brief: A hamburger joint that met our GF needs without a hitch. They handled our special requests easily, the wait staff was well educated in the ways of the kitchen and the meal came off perfectly, and GF!

When my wife and I think of going to a burger joint we don't plan on her usually eating with me, the risks of cross contamination are too great. Cheeseburger Island Style was the exception to that rule. My wife decided that she wanted to try a getting a burger without a bun. So we started the meal off with the cileac diet explanation and dietary explanation card. Our waitress immediately understood the diet, and was quick to put us at ease. She explained how the grill was set up; how only burgers were cooked in one section of the grill, how the buns never touched the grill, how the meat with marinade was cooked on a separate part of the gill, etc., etc. It was clear after a few minutes with her that she knew her stuff.

To be safe she checked with the kitchen to make sure that the meal could include the toppings; things like lettuce, tomato, pickle, etc. without risk of cross contamination. She came back to tell us that the toppings would be safe and explained the compartmental style of the kitchen.

I was very impressed with this restaurant. The place was 'crazy busy' yet the wait staff handled our request with style and didn't make us feel like they were too busy to deal with a special diet.

Our experience here proves the point made in earlier blog posts; an educated wait staff and a professional kitchen can make any restaurant a great GF experience. We had no problem getting a GF meal at Cheeseburger Island Style, I hope you have the same experience.

Seawatch - Wailea, Maui

Rating:

In Brief: My wife's sister got 'glutened' at this restaurant just a week before we visited so we were extra cautious and chose not to order off of the menu. I am giving this restaurant four stars because they did give us an excellent GF meal and they made it look easy. However, I'm not sure what the experience would have been if we had ordered off of the menu so - be careful and explain what your dietary needs.

The Seawatch is in a beautiful setting and has a very good seafood menu. Our waitress was very accommodating and attentive to the GF dietary requirements that my wife and I shared with her. Using her GF dietary warning card, my wife explained her diet and the issue of cross-contamination. The waitress took the card to the kitchen and returned assuring us that they could accommodate her needs.

Since my wife's sister had been 'glutened' the prior week at this same restaurant we decided to ask for Mahi-mahi in a pan with plain white rice. The kitchen staff was more than happy to meet her request. The fish did come seasoned (which worried me... I offered to play the 'bad guy' and have them re-do the meal... my wife decided to risk it and eat it anyway - she hates to cause a scene. :) ) to our delight there was no gluten in the seasoning; the kitchen assured us that they wouldn't use an 'off the self' seasoning and it appears they didn't!

As far as dessert goes... to be fair we didn't ask since my wife and I were stuffed and figured we just wouldn't risk it since there was nothing on the menu (short of fruit) that was clearly GF.

To wrap this up we received a good GF meal but we were extra careful due to previous reports we'd heard about this restaurant.