As a family we avoid most of the Top 8 Allergens, Gluten, and a good list of other random foods as well. If you have followed me for any length of time you know that my girls have out grown many of their food allergies. Some of those are now intolerances and some are completely gone. There are two people in our family with celiac disease, and we all have many food intolerances. All that to say, eating out is very difficult for us. We don’t often eat out because it takes a lot of time and effort to find a safe restaurant, but when we do eat out, it is something my family really enjoys. I will continue to add to my list as we find new local restaurants. Just so you have a better understanding of the foods we avoid when we go out to eat, I have them listed below. I am very aware that not all families deal with this many, or the same, food restrictions as we do. My list is to give you hope that you can find safe restaurants to eat at even with food allergies, celiac, and intolerances. Please be sure to call these restaurants yourself before you visit them to ensure that you feel confident eating there. We all have different levels of comfort.

Food Intolerances for us:
Dairy
Soy
Egg Yolk
Cane Sugar
Peanuts
Garlic
Tomato
Apples
Corn
Strawberries
Almonds

Food Allergies:
Peanuts
Tree Nuts

Celiac Disease:
Wheat
Barley
Rye
Oats unless they are certified GF

Even with that long list, here are the amazing restaurants we have found that we can eat at in the Seattle area. They are listed in no particular order.

Red Robin Seattle, Redmond, Bothell, Bellevue, Lynnwood

I know there are Red Robin’s all over our country, but they are still worth mentioning. Even though they are all over, I have heard that each location is very different when it comes to how allergy/celiac friendly they are. My understanding is that not all of them have a separate gluten free fryer and not all staff are well trained on food allergy/celiac safety. We have had wonderful experiences at several Red Robin’s, many of which even use allergy sticks in food items as an extra sign of the precautions they took in the kitchen. I love when I see the allergy sticks come out in our meals, it gives me extra confidence that they took our food allergies/celiac seriously. The Red Robin’s that we have successfully eaten at are: Bothell location off Bothell Everett Hwy (photo at the top), Lynnwood location behind Alderwood Mall, Redmond location downtown, Bellevue location in Bellevue Square, and the Seattle location on the water front.

Razzi’s Pizza Seattle

Razzi’s is well known in our area for being allergy/celiac friendly. Zippy’s Celiac Support Group through Seattle Children’s Hospital has even had them cater one of their events. This small Italian restaurant is well worth your time and drive. They have the most amazing pizzas, calzones, sub sandwiches, salads, and more. Check out their gluten free menu, it’s AMAZING!! Not only do they have amazing gluten free breads and pizza crust, they also have dairy free/vegan cheese. This is the first restaurant we ever went to that had vegan cheese so pizza was actually an option for us. All of their staff are well trained and understand food allergies/celiac. One note of caution, their red tomato sauce contains soy. We found that one out that hard way when Zippy was allergic to soy. :/ They do have a soy free red sauce if you request it which we they told us when we called about Zippy’s allergic reaction. We still love going to Razzi’s and highly recommend it!

Skinny D’s Yogurt Shop Mill Creek

This is our all time favorite local frozen yogurt. It’s as local as it gets, we can walk there easily. They have dairy free options, sugar free options, and only one (cookie dough) of their MANY flavors have gluten in them. We are also dairy free so we order our yogurt on a little iPad and our yogurt comes out in a separate space. Then we get to head to the toppings bar that is full of fresh fruit, mochi, candy, candy bars, cookies, etc. They have Enjoy Life mini chocolate chips and Kinnikinnick gluten free Chocolate Sandwich Creme (Oreo type cookies). While it is great that they have these toppings, they still aren’t safe for Zippy to eat with the chance of cross contamination. Buffet style food is never an option for her. I talked to the owner and asked if we could get all the items that Zippy needed from the back. She said she would be happy to do that so Zippy’s most recent toppings were strawberries, cherries, Enjoy Life mini chocolate chips, Kinnikinnick cookies, mochi, and boba on top of salted caramel frozen yogurt. YUM!! The owner went in the back and used a separate scoop for each item Zippy got or used fresh gloves. We just love going to Skinny D’s, it’s such a great treat! Not only that, they also have lots of board and card games so we often spend family evenings there playing games and building memories. 🙂

Chick-Fil-A Lynnwood, Kirkland, Bellevue

Chik-Fil-A is a new find for us. They have only been in our area for a year or a bit more. I honestly didn’t know that they were a safe option for us until a few months ago. We don’t eat fast food very often, but it’s nice to have a safe option when we need one. It make Zippy’s day every time she gets to go. She is able to safely eat their grilled chicken nuggets, waffle fries, and a juice box or water. They do also have gluten free buns! I love Chick-Fil-A because all of their staff is well trained in dealing with food allergies and their online menu shows allergens very clearly. When we order we tell them that we have celiac disease/can’t have any gluten. That usually cues the cashier to bring over a manager to ensure that your order was heard and communicated correctly. The receipt also says *Allergy* on it so they know to take extra precautions in the back and also change gloves.

Thai Rhapsody Mill Creek
Before we had kids with life threatening food allergies and celiac disease, we used to frequent Thai food restaurants everywhere we went. It’s definitely one of our favorite ethnic cuisines to eat. We have spent the last 9 years not being able to eat Thai food. Now that our girls have outgrown most of their severe food allergies, we only need to worry about gluten and nuts when we eat out in terms of cross contamination concerns. Last fall, I was on my Find Me Gluten Free App (free, I use it everywhere we go) when we had guests in town and read that a local Thai Food restaurant was great with celiac customers and other food allergies. I called the restaurant at an off busy time to ask lots of questions to ensure they could feed us safely. By the conversation I had with the restaurant I felt comfortable trying it out. We went early (4:30pm) which we typically do so we can be sure the communication with our server isn’t rushed and the kitchen isn’t too busy. When we arrived we talked to our waiter about celiac and nut allergies and they said they could feed us safely. To be honest, I still felt a bit of anxiety because I’m still human and have seen my girls have many celiac and allergic reactions. They made Zippy’s meal separately and she got to basically create her own meal there. The food was great, the staff was helpful and wonderful, and everyone left feeling healthy. We have since eaten there and had the same great experience!

Terracotta Red Everett
If you love Chinese food and have celiac disease or gluten intolerance, you need to visit Terracotta Red! They are very knowledgeable about food allergies and celiac disease. Their gluten free menu (listed as GFO) is long and amazing. It is a place that you will want to get reservations for as it gets really busy, or go at on off hour from the rush. I remember my family couldn’t believe how good the food was and how many options they had to choose from. It’s definitely worth going to!

Grilla Bites Snohomish

We just found Grilla Bites last week, but had heard about it a few months ago. It’s a small restaurant/cafe’ in a quaint town close to us. They serve soups, salads, sandwiches, chicken nuggets, and lots of drinks. The staff are very knowledgeable about food allergies and celiac/cross contamination. They have gluten free bread for sandwiches and burgers as well as gluten free chicken nuggets. We had a great experience here and will definitely be back.

Asiana Bistro Redmond

This is a new find for us last week as well, again I found it on the Find Me Gluten Free App. Almost the whole menu is gluten free (58 items are). If you love Asian food you need to go here! It’s a small shop, but is a great one. The owner is very knowledgeable about food allergies and celiac disease. She is also very sweet and funny. My severely peanut allergic mom ate here with us. All of us, including her, ate safely and well. The food was delicious! We will definitely be going back!

Hopefully this list is helpful for you. I will continue to add to our list as we find new great restaurants that we can eat at locally. If your list of food restrictions isn’t as long as ours, you can likely find many more safe finds. We love using the Find me Gluten Free App and Allergy Eats App to help us find new restaurants to try. I would love to hear your favorite safe restaurants in the Seattle area, leave me some in the comments below.