Last night I caught up with a good friend at Waterloo & City for dinner. I have been long hearing fabulous things about this Culver City Gastropub, so I was pretty excited to give it a try.
The menu is not allergy-friendly at all, so I was hopeful that the chef would be cool with a couple of simple substitutions. Unfortunately this was not the case.
Dun dun dun.
I know, I rarely review negatively – that is, unless I really feel so compelled. This was one of those times.
Now, not to rant on unnecessarily, but this whole “no substitutions policy” thing is straight up BS. I get it when customers take it too far and ruin the integrity of a dish – but when you legitimately have food allergies and ask for “the Mussels Dish to be served with Fries instead of Ciabatta”, I honestly don’t think the chef’s ego need be bruised. Ever heard of Moules-frite? Hello.
The waitress while helpful, didn’t seem to understand that by allergy I really meant allergy – as in “this food makes me sick, so please don’t include it.” She insisted that there were plenty of GF/DF options on the menu and walked me through the menu, dish by dish, only to realize that there was only one option: a Pork Chop. I really wasn’t in the mood for Pork so I asked (really nicely) one more time if I could have the mussels and just please don’t include the ciabatta – and a SIDE of fries. Luckily the waitress was a sweetheart and agreed. Seriously, I still don’t get why this was such a big deal.
Unfortunately the meal was awful. The mussels were under-cooked and unnaturally large (seriously, I’ve never see such gigantic 
mussels, and no, it wasn’t a good thing.) The broth was more of a sweetened tomato puree and with a dash of coconut milk – entitling it to a menu description of “Thai Curry” which I assure you, it was not.
I really wanted to like this place – really I did. This was just a disappointment all around. I will say this – my friend’s pasta dish looked amazing and she seemed very happy with it – so perhaps the conclusion to this review is that this joint just isn’t suitable for folks with any dietary restrictions/food allergies.
I completely understand! I really don’t get those places with no substitutions! I feel like healthy, conscious people are being discriminated!
Exactly – there’s gotta be a line somewhere on this issue. I don’t expect chefs to cater to every whim and fancy of their patrons, but at least minor accommodations should be considered the bare minimum.