Eating Gluten Free in Springfield, Missouri
I keep seeing people searching for gluten free places to eat in Springfield, Missouri and landing here. Since you’re here already, I figured I’d start a list of places to eat at, to avoid, etc.
Applebee’s
Cuisine: American
Notes: The last time I was here (Nov 2007), the waitress was snotty and unhelpful. They didn’t have a GF menu online or in store then and I don’t think they really gave a rip. After going over my speel about how I can’t have bread and all of that jazz, the waitress brought my steak out with a giant piece of bread on top of it. I sent it back, but I think the bread was just removed and brought back out to me. I was sick for a week afterwards. BAD PEOPLE, BAD!
Bambu
Cuisine: Vietnamese
Address: 1338 E. Battlefield (in Fremont Shopping Center)
Phone: 417/881-9881
Prices: $4.00-$8.99
Notes: No need to call ahead, just tell them you need a GF menu when you get there. These are laminated single legal sized sheets. Many of the servers are familiar with Celiac Disease, since I eat there regularly. 
Bandana’s BBQ
Cuisine: American
Notes: Don’t eat here if you can avoid it. It is a sad experience. The only GF things in the entire restaurant are the smoked turkey and the green beans. The BBQ sauce is NOT SAFE. It is a dry and sad eating experience.
Chili’s
Notes: Print out the GF menu and bring it with you. The servers seem to be familiar with the phrase ‘gluten-free’, but still could use some help.
http://www.brinker.com/gr/allergens/Chilis%20Allergen.PDF
Chipotle
Cuisine: Tex Mex?
Notes: I went to Chipotle today, man it was excellent! Great, fresh flavors and really good attentive staff. I ordered the Chicken Burrito in a Bowl, a side of Guacamole and a bag of Chips and it was less than $9. We managed to feed two people well on this.
http://www.chipotle.com/#flash/speak_faq
El Maguey
Cuisine: Mexican
Notes: Language barrier makes “no gluten” tricky, but I have never been sick there and almost everything starts out in a corn shell. Enter at your own risk. Food is really good and authentic Mexican food in particular is generally GF.
Gem of India
Cuisine: Indian
Notes: Also not sure about official GF status, but Indian food is largely GF in nature. Avoid breads and anything fried as they do not use a dedicated fryer. I have had no problems, other than indigestion. 
Golden Korea
Cuisine: Korean
Notes: Despite what appears to be a very good grasp of the English language, I have been glutened here every single time I’ve been in. When I have special ordered, they will substitute things I didn’t ask for (the biggest problem here is that they marianade in soy sauce). They are not a safe option, as they are too unpredictable and just don’t get it.
Hong Kong Garden
Cuisine: Chinese Buffet
Notes: A reader posted that this was a safe place to go if you had the Mongolian BBQ steamed only. I ate at this place yesterday and I am sick as a dog today. The way the Mongolian BBQ works is this: the dude has a steamer basket inside a pan filled with what I assume is water and maybe some spices (it was yellowish, so I’m not sure). He dunks everyone’s food in it for a couple minutes, presumably to parboil it. Then he tosses it out on the grill. The man way in front of me had a bunch of noodles on his plate… so when it got to my steamed veggies, I had a bunch of noodle liquid on mine. I got glutened at the Hong Kong Garden; I spent half an hour in their bathroom (and it was kinda gross). I feel like I am going to die now.
IHOP
Cuisine: American
Notes: You’d be best to avoid this place. They even put pancake batter in the omlettes.
Logan’s Roadhouse
Cuisine: American
Notes: No printed GF menu is availible, but the managers are pretty good at figuring out what you can and can’t have. There is a waitress there named Cassie who is exceptional (her sister has sun allergies). Steer clear of the beef, but the chicken, pork and seafood are ok without seasoning. Sauces vary. Dressings are ok per Logan’s corporate chef. I usually have the pork chops (order them without the apples, as they are not GF) or the Kickin’ Chicken Salad. Mon-Thurs is 2 meals for $13.99.
Macaroni Grill
Cuisine: American/Italian Fusion
Notes: There is one thing on the menu you can special order and be safe with. It’s a chicken dish, but you have to order without any sauce (and by sauce, they mean little bits of cut up tomato with seasoning) and the only side that is ok is asparagus. I ordered this, as suggested by my waitress (in consultation with the manager) on my only outing to this place, and they got it wrong.
New China Buffet
Cuisine: Generic Asian?
Notes: Don’t eat here, you will regret it. I couldn’t identify one thing on the bar that was GF and took a chance with the more innocent looking sushi… was sick for a week.
Outback Steakhouse
Cuisine: American/Austrailian?
Notes: They have a real life gluten free menu in the store. I’ve seen it personally and can confirm it! Here’s the online version. http://www.outback.com/foodandmenus/pdf/glutenfree.pdf Your mileage may vary, but my experience there was really good.
Red Robin
Cuisine: American
Notes: I haven’t been here, but I emailed them for an allergy list. Here it is: allergen-wheat_gluten-menu-valid-until-080108. Appears to be fairly disappointing.
Rib Crib
Cuisine: American / BBQ
Notes: Ate here with my Dad on his birthday, it was great. They have an allergen PDF at this site: HERE!
Sakura
Cuisine: Japanese
Notes: There is a language barrier here, plus they will randomly substitute for whatever you want left out. I ordered a Philly Roll with no crab and got a Philly Roll with fish eggs marianaded in soy sauce. NOT SAFE!
Steak and Shake
Cuisine: American
Notes: While the menu says all this stuff (to follow) is gluten-free, you should be very careful about cross-contamination. The shakes I am especially afraid of because they make them all (including malts) on the same machines. They are open 24 hours, though, so that might be helpful to someone. http://steaknshake.com/nutritional_info/GlutenFreeFoodList.pdf
Taco Bell
Notes: There are several items on the menu that are ok. Avoid the ground beef because there’s wheat in them there seasonings. Please read these pages: http://www.yum.com/nutrition/allergen/allergen_tb_fresco.asp, http://www.yum.com/nutrition/documents/tb_ingredient_statement.pdf, http://www.yum.com/nutrition/allergen/allergen_tb.asp.
TGI Fridays
Notes: Rumor has it that the Spinach dip and Corn chips are okee dokee, but I have emailed the corporate types to see if that’s really true. Only time will tell.
Thai House
Cuisine: Thai
Notes: Thai House has recently (as of 11/1/2008) changed hands. The new people are much easier to understand and communicate with. YAY! We’ve been able to confirm that the imperial rolls are GF, as is the Tom Ka Khi soup and the Pumpkin Curry. The pumpkin curry is my all time favorite. DO NOT EAT THE SOUP THAT IS IN THE BIG VAT!!! It definately has gluten, I asked. The clear salad dressing is ok, though, it’s mostly sugar and vinegar and, of course, the salad veggies.
Thai Peppers
Cuisine: Thai
Notes: There is nothing GF in the entire store. The one time I’ve eaten there since Dx, the manager made me something special.
Wendy’s
Suprisingly enough, I just learned that Wendy’s has a GF menu. Having given them up for dead, I never bothered to look and see if they had one. But, they do. Yay! Here’s the link: http://www.wendys.com/food/pdf/us/gluten_free_list.pdf
Village Inn
Cuisine: American
Notes: There are several dishes on the menu that are GF, mainly salads minus bready things and breakfast items. Ask the server, they’ve been pretty good to deal with. I usually get breakfast and about half the time they will bring me fruit instead of pancakes as a side.
* Note, this page is incomplete and will continue to be updated until I get bored of it. Please send me your GF restaurant information for Springfield, Missouri and I will add it to the list (and I’ll eat there, too!). *
16 comments so far
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We go to the Steak N Shake on Campbell ave. Just south of Battlefield a little ways. It is great. We get the burger with no bun, salad hold the croutons, fries and a shake.
other sides are coleslaw, fruit, and cottage cheese.
Waiters are very helpful and will go back to check ingredients…and then they remember you next time you come in…very friendly. They also have a policy of using the coupons but not collecting them so you can reuse them over and over until they expire.
They have a gluten free menu. But then they brought out a freshly baked loaf of bread and sat it at the table…and even the meal, that was supposed to be gluten free…made me sick sick sick! Tried it a second time, foolishly, even sicker.
The wait staff had no idea what gluten free was, and the GF menu is printed so small it is hard to read it. Bummer too because the steak did taste good, it is why I dared to try it a second time.
Vegetarian salad, with any toppings. Ingredients are of high quality…it can be spicy though. But staff was helpful at directing me to the mild items. It was pricey though for just a salad and a drink, chips and some guacamole…came to just over $9.00.
You can eat at Mongolian Grill (chestnut and glenstone) and order the fresh veggie/meat bar where they cook it there in front of you. Just ask for no sauce and have them steamed. A TON OF fresh shrimp, chicken and beef with no marinades on them. Then you could take your own wheat free soy sauce and or whatever condiment if you wished to have sauce. THat is what we do for our little one. She has the fruit and ice cream and steamed rice also there.
Cheddars in Springfield will cook fries and burgers with no seasoning for GF persons. They are VERY LARGE burgers.. so we asked for them to sautee some mushrooms in butter and give us a burger (no bread and unseasoned fries). Was great! I believe they also have ice cream that we have had there just fine.
I too have gotten ill at every single Outback I’ve ever eaten at. They also have listed Bleu Cheese on their GF menu, which, of course ,isn’t
I have been told that there’s a GF Bleu Cheese dressing from Kraft, so somewhere there’s GF Bleu Cheese.
Being the kind of person that gags when they see Bleu Cheese, it’s only hearsay.
Went to Bambu this week. Ordered their N1. I believe it was a noodle soup with seafood. When the order came out, it had egg noodle in it. A big no no for Celiacs and those with gluten intolerance. I know I specifically told the waiter, I need it prepared the way the gluten free menu specifies. They then prepared me a second bowl and that came with imitation crab sticks. I may be wrong, but I think those are not gluten free either. Either way, I didn’t eat them. I was looking forward to a good Vietnames noodle soup but I was quite disappointed at Bambu.
I can’t attest for the rest of your comment and I’m sorry if you had a bad experience. I’ve always eaten at Bambu safely. However, I have found some crab sticks out in the wild that are gluten-free, so you might have been ok with those. Thanks for sharing your experience.
thank you for taking the time to come up with a list. Ijust found out that i have celiac,Iam 56 .For years I got sick after eating,lost a lot of weight. I though I cancer. Before I went to the DR. I could only go up hill about 10 steps at a time before I HAD TO STOP AND REST. WHEN i WENT TO THE dr. my blood count was 2. HE TOLD ME TO GO RIGHT TO THE HOSPITAL. TO MAKE A LONG STORY SHORT ,THEY TOLD ME THAT FOOD WAS GOING THROUGE ME SO FAST THAT i WAS NOT GETTING ANY THING OUT OF IT . SsO THANKS FOR TAKING TIME TO MAKE A LIST. GARRY
Thanks for the list! I don’t live in Springfield, MO. I’m over near the St. Louis area. But a good number of these are chain restaurants and I was unaware that they had gluten free lists until now.
I was recently in New Zealand, and was amazed by how easy it is to find gluten free stuff over there. I’m glad to see that there are at least some restaurants here that are starting to get the hint that there’s a customer base for this stuff.
WOW we went to Qdoba on Battlefield last night, FANTASTIC. They all knew about gluten free and were so helpful. Many things are gluten free there except the chips, and shells but they let us bring in our own chips! And the white corn tortillas are gluten free and they gave us several upon request to use with our ‘naked burrito’, which is a FULL plate of tasty mexican eats.
Definately going back!
I heard that Qdoba is not safe at all. They use wheat as a binder to keep the seasoning on the meat. The food is not marinated in the restaurant and there is lots of cross contamination. I personally would recommend Chipotle for gluten free. They have a surprisingly large GF customer base. I know at least two managers on the Campbell location know about celiac. I used to work there and educated the staff.
They have.
a dedicated fryer,
no gluten in any of the meat marinades
an allergy warning guide
no gluten is ever on the grill for cross contamination
all the salsas and beans and rice can be ordered from a fresh container to ensure no contamination.
I have been looking for places to eat in springfield and found that Chilies was the most hospitable.
Where did you get the info about the wheat as a binder? I checked their website and their allergen list shows no wheat on their proteins.
We went to Zio’s last night. They have a gluten free menu. No pasta dishes but still pretty good. They are all chicken dishes plus two steaks and a couple salads. I’ve also seen that Pasta House Co. and Olive Garden have gluten free menus but we haven’t tried them yet. Thanks for posting these restaurant . it really comes in handy.
We eat at Mr. Yen’s. Usually ask for Linda to wait on us. Take your GF soy sauce and they will fix you meal with it. I’m not real sensitive to gluten, so I don’t know if CC is present, but blood tests have been good.