I had a spontaneous dinner out in Charlotte. In an effort to find somewhere close to the airport for dinner out with the pilot, he did the research and found Nellie's Southern Kitchen, using the Find Me Gluten Free app. It had good reviews, so we decided to give it a try. It's a cute little restaurant with a great atmosphere, live music on some nights, and has a separate menu for gluten free options. I always consider this a great starting point. The other good signal for awareness of gluten free options is when the restaurant has items clearly labeled gluten free. While it isn't always the case, usually this means the staff is better educated.
The atmosphere as I said is nice, along with the outdoorsy feel and their welcome attitude for patrons bringing dogs. We didn't see any of the live music, as we were there on a Monday night and we got there after any dinner rush, so it was rather quiet. They provided us with the separate gluten free menu and my sweet guy ordered off of it so that we could sample a couple of options, sharing our meals.
I'm a bit of a sucker for pimento cheese, thanks to Palmetto Cheese. If you haven't tried it, seriously, go get some. Our waitress assured me that their pimento cheese was made with real cheese as well and had chunks of it, so we gave it a go. This was definitely a hit for both of us.
I love asking wait staff that seem knowledgeable for their input, as they usually have tried everything in the restaurant. Our server seemed to be quite familiar with their menu, gluten free, etc, so I asked for her input. Shrimp & Grits happens to be one of my favorite dishes, so I was thrilled when she suggested it. My guy happens to love a good steak, so he went with her suggestion and ordered the Dry Rubbed Ribeye.
The restaurant definitely is aware of precautions for gluten free and I greatly appreciate their wait staff being trained. Unfortunately, this is one of the restaurants that their way of ensuring the safety of their customers tends to mean a lack of flavor and seasonings used with the food. The ribeye with such great flavor according to our server, was cooked medium well, instead of medium rare and had very little flavor to the meat, along with no seasoning on it. The shrimp and grits that normally challenges my wussy attempt at seasonings, but pushes me to enjoy more was definitely lacking in flavor. Some salt and pepper helped, but in general, we were both under impressed with this restaurant. If anyone else has eaten from their gluten free menu and had a more enjoyable experience, I would definitely love to hear that we just happened to be in there on an off night. I am always looking for ways to share the good experiences and options.
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