Boston’s Allergen Menu: https://godairyfree.org/dining-out/fast-food-restaurants/boston-pizza-canada

https://bostons.imgix.net/Download-Menu/2021_Allergy_and_Nutrition_Guide_Final_7.5.pdf

The first time I went here I was in Downtown Columbus, OH! Little did I know there was a location in Marysville. I would go all the time in High School (I was a manager for the basketball team) so I got to eat with the basketball team. I eat here with my family every once in a while! It is pricey so we don’t eat here very often! But when we do it is pretty good!

Food Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars

Rationale: I love the food! Burgers, Wings, Salmon, & Fries are all really good! The wings are juicy & crispy. The fries are crispy and well-salted! The salmon isn’t dry, and the burger is well-made! I really can’t complain about the food here!

Allergy Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars

Rationale: They do need to update their allergen menus, but Go Dairy Free does a great job with telling you what is dairy-free and what isn’t. Always notify your server/chef about your allergy if you are in question because they’ll know what is best! It is good that the restaurant has an allergen menu. Boston’s needs to update the allergen menu since it is over 3 years old. But they do have an allergen menu, and that is better than a lot of restaurants, so I have to give this a 4 out of 5 Stars! Be careful because I had a close-call (not sure if I had an allergic reaction the last time I went). Though I have eaten here multiple times without a problem, just communicate your allergy to the Chef/Server!

I have seen Jeni’s Ice Cream when I drive through Dublin, Ohio (15 minutes away from me) & I have always wanted to go, but I finally went and I’m very glad that I did. One of my friends recommended me to try here & he was right that this was a great place to go! They have a website to order Ice Cream to your house, if you don’t live in Central Ohio, I put the website link to order Jeni’s Ice Cream & they’ll deliver the ice cream to your house. 

Jeni’s Ice Cream Website: https://jenis.com/collections/dairy-free-ice-cream

Food Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars

Rationale: I got the Dairy-Free Texas Sheet Cake! It was one easily a top 10 Ice Cream experience! It was really good! It’s not everyday that you can make Texas Sheet Cake Dairy-Free! For that I have to give it a 5 out of 5 Stars!

Allergy Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars

Rationale: They label everything when you get to the ice cream shop! I could easily see and determine what was safe & what wasn’t. Since this was my first time I was really appreciative of the allergen labeling. Also, the person put a waffle cone in my bowl & she said that the waffle cone had dairy in it, and offered to get a new bowl, she did and apologized for that! Though, I should’ve told her about my dairy allergy because I told her I wanted the Dairy-Free Texas Sheet Cake in a bowl, I didn’t think that there was a possibility of dairy. Plus I didn’t think a waffle cone could have dairy in it. A lesson learned that you should always inform the restaurant of your allergy! Because you never know what has dairy in it! I own up to my mistake!

I felt safe whenever I ate my ice cream there, & it helps that I was their first customer of the day. I got there at noon and they opened up at noon. I’m very happy that I was their first customer of the day. I can’t remember the last time I was a restaurant’s/ice cream shop’s first customer. I’m very glad that I came & I highly recommend that you try Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams. It is worth it to order it online and have it delivered to your house as well!

Allergen Menu: https://condadotacos.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/2024-Allergen-List.pdf

They have allergens listed on their menu including Dairy!

I heard of Condado Tacos when I went to the Columbus Crew Game with my friend from college in August. Turns out they have lots of locations in the Central Ohio area. I have always wondered if they had good tacos and I will say that I was very impressed with my waiter. He helped me alot and I even complimented him/their restaurant about their easy to read allergen menu! Everything about this restaurant reminds me of American food & Mexican food combined! 

Food Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars

Rationale: I really enjoyed my tacos! I got pulled pork, lettuce, house salsa, & tater tots! Yes, they have tater tots that you can put into your tacos. I never thought about that until I saw it on the menu, & I have got to say tater tots on tacos is one of the best things I have ever had! I know some of you might find it weird, but don’t knock it till you’ve tried it!

Allergy Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars

Rationale: They have a very easy to read allergen menu on their website & on their physical menu. I can’t remember the last time that a menu in a restaurant had dairy labeled on their menu! I was very happy that this restaurant went above and beyond to label stuff. The only things I’m confused by is the Black Beans (sounds crazy, right?) on the allergen menu on the website says they use butter in the black beans. I’ll be honest I didn’t even know that you could put butter in black beans. The menu at the restaurant says that the black beans don’t have dairy. I would avoid the black beans & I made sure not to order them. The Nachos at the restaurant have dairy in it, is it the chips or the queso that comes with it? The website says that the chips don’t but I’m not a hundred percent sure that it is dairy-free so I ordered tacos instead.  If you have questions ask the waiter/waitress, my waiter wanted me to ask questions and told me if I had a question to ask.

Honestly, this was a great restaurant experience for me. I was blown away by Condado Tacos service and food options they had. They deal with allergens well & have really good food! No restaurant is perfect, but they try to take every precaution they could take to make sure people with allergies can eat safely. I felt safe when I ate there. I avoided questionable foods, & if you want black beans or any other questions, ask before you eat. I definitely recommend eating here, & I can’t stop thinking about those tacos I ate!

Today I’m going to share my experience at the FAACT Digital Influencer Summit and tell you what FAACT is and how they help people with food allergies.

FAACT is the Food Allergy And Anaphylaxis Connection Team. Their Website is foodallergyawareness.org and they help people with food allergies live better, you can check out their website for yourself and I’ll share why I had a very good experience at the FAACT 2024 Digital Influencer Summit!

Overall, I met so many other Food Allergy Influencers and I’m so encouraged to keep on going and trying to give you great food allergy content. I learned so much about food allergies that I never knew about and I’m going to share it with you bit by bit, so stay tuned for that.

The conference was a 4 day conference. I arrived with my Dad & Brother (who wanted to take a vacation in Chicago) while I was at the Hyatt Lodge & Conference Center in Oak Brook, Illinois (a suburb of Chicago) on Thursday evening. FAACT served us a Prime Rib dinner while we networked. I didn’t meet anyone in person before the event and I got to meet the world’s most influential food allergy influencers here. There were so many people who care about food allergies and I was very happy and didn’t feel alone when it came to food allergies.

I tend to feel alone because I feel like I’m the only one that has food allergies before the conference. After the conference I feel like I’m not alone anymore. That was nice and the next 3 days they fed us lunch and dinner Friday and Saturday, which I ate Chicken Salad except one where I ate Roast beef, salad, potatoes, & asparagus. The food was really good and I ate healthy during the conference. My favorite meal was the prime rib. I’m still thinking about the Prime Rib. 

Friday-Sunday, we had company expos (I also attended one on Thursday) where I talked with every company and got to learn how they help people with food allergies. Companies that were there were FIG, Free2B, Red Plate Foods, Allergy Dragon, & so many more. They had some big companies that I have seen on social media there.

I got to give a shoutout to Eleanor- Garrow-Holding, The FAACT CEO & President who did a great job organizing and getting the biggest influencers/food allergists/companies here to have a great week of learning and meeting new people.

Especially of learning I learned from the top allergists in the world about food allergies, anaphylaxis, food allergy therapies, the latest in food allergy research, airplanes & food allergies, plus they had an influencer track (the one I chose) and the disease management track so if you’re not into social media/internet influencing you can definitely choose the disease management track.

I have a large page of notes from this conference and I learned so much stuff from the conference and I got to meet so many awesome people here. I thank everyone who talked to me and made me feel welcome throughout the entire weekend. If you are wanting to learn more about food allergies or trying to learn how to become a food allergy influencer, this conference is a 10 out of 10 and I highly recommend attending this conference!

Jersey Mikes Allergen Menu: https://www.jerseymikes.com/menu/nutrition

My parents tried to order here and they said that their utensils were used to cross-contiminate dairy. For example they would use cheese and meat with the same slicer. Of course if you work in Jersey Mike’s or are a higher-up in Jersey Mike’s please let me know if this is still the case. 

Another thing about Jersey Mike’s is that in the commercials I see on TV they put the cheese on the grill & since I love philly steak this would be a deal breaker because I am extremely allergic to dairy and I can’t have stuff cross-contiminated. Unless I’m the first customer of the day, I really can’t do anything about it. 

I might be able to ask them to clean their grills, but it could be too much of an inconvenience, but again if it isn’t I would like to know because I’m interested in trying your food. Looking at your allergen menu I would like to try Jersey Mike’s Philly & Chicken Philly sandwiches. I can get chips with it as well. The only problem is the cross-contimination because I can eat the bread & that can be a problem. I literally have a Jersey Mike’s in town and I can eat it very easily. 

Food Rating: 0 out of 5 Stars

Rationale:

Can’t eat any of their food!

Allergy Rating: 2 out of 5 Stars

Rationale: At least you have an allergen menu! We need to get the equipment and utensils allergen friendly

If you have any experiences that you have eating at Jersey Mike’s with food allergies & how they accommodated you please let me know in the comments section!

I’ve had China Wok since I was a kid. I believe the owners who own the Asian Cafe as well and I did an allergy & restaurant review with them too. China Wok doesn’t have the buffet, it is carryout/sit-in only and is located in downtown Marysville, Ohio. It does have additional items like sweet and sour shrimp and they used to have sweet and sour pork, which was a favorite of our families. Currently they don’t sell the sweet and sour pork any more. I have enjoyed China Wok a lot.

Food Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Rationale: I love the Sweet and Sour Shrimp. My family isn’t that big of a fan of it, but I really love it because the shrimp are huge. I personally enjoy everything there. I love everything there and it is great quality Chinese food. Whether it is chicken & mixed vegetables, beef & broccoli I really enjoy the high quality food. I’m always excited when my parents order carryout.

Allergy Rating: 1 out of 5 stars

Rationale: China Wok doesn’t really have a website in general. I would call them to make sure that you can eat everything. It is strange to see a place that does not have a website with their restaurant. Having a website is one of the ways that a restaurant can grow. It is surprising to see that they sustained that growth through word of mouth marketing. Asian Cafe does have a website and maybe they didn’t see a point of having another website since China Wok and Asian Cafe are really similar. If China Wok gets a website that will not only help grow their business, but it will also help people decide whether they want to eat there or not. I’m sure if people don’t see a website they’ll go somewhere else. That is the risk of not having a website in 2024 and beyond because technology is only going to grow. Other than that, I highly recommend you ask them to see if you can eat anything and if you can find something you won’t be disappointed in the quality of food.

Asian Cafe Allergen Menu: They Currently don’t have one!

I remember eating at Asian Cafe since I was a kid. It is an Asian style carryout and buffet in Marysville, Ohio.  I have always enjoyed their food and I really enjoy their food and I love their food as well. My parents asked to make sure that everything is safe for me to eat. I haven’t had an allergic reaction as far as I can remember. That’s good!

Food Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Rationale: a buffet for $13.11. I get water with my food, it is around $15 if you want a drink. I have always enjoyed the buffet. I love the Sweet and Sour Chicken, fried rice, green beans, potatoes, and Jello. That is my go-to when I eat at the Asian Cafe. I’ve never had an allergic reaction with any of the food so that is good. 

Allergy Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

Rationale: I’ll update this if I get an answer and I’m able to write an allergen menu! There is no allergen menu, if you ask the people at Asian Cafe they will be able to help you and tell you what is in their food. I still highly recommend eating here because it is good food and allergy-free.

Gold Star Chili Allergen Menu: go to their menu and click on a food item you want and there is a tab for allergens. It is basically the same statement for every item. 

I remember eating Gold Star Chili when I was in Middle School. I was at a conference called Believe and we went to a mall food court and I ate Gold Star Chili. I remember eating Chicken strips and fries when I ate there. 

Food Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Rationale: I remember eating their chicken and fries and that should be good enough to give the food a five-star rating! Though I haven’t had one since middle school since we don’t have a Gold Star Chili in Central Ohio.

Allergy Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

Rationale: I’m Concerned about how they communicate their allergies on their website. For dairy can I get the items served without cheese? For the burgers can you remove the bun and can it be gluten-free? My point is that it isn’t specific enough for me to make a decision and if I were to go there again, I would have to ask their workers to see if I could get a burger, fries that would be dairy-free. I like their idea, but it needs to be communicated a little better. Could I get regular fries without cheese? Could I get a burger or Chili without cheese? Is the Hot Dog dairy-free. If you’re a part of Gold Star Chili in some way I’m not trying to nitpick and criticize you, I’m trying to help you serve guests with allergies better with the perspective of someone who has food allergies. If that is improved, I will definitely give you a stronger rating. I did eat at Gold Star without an allergic reaction and as long as you communicate your allergies and I believe you can eat here without an allergic reaction. It is definitely worth a shot to try and see if you can eat here.

Bob Evans Allergen Menu: https://assets.ctfassets.net/81w9kb7f1jq4/63C5jVYK6sIXMCuNTJPNqe/cff0b0928277dfdf96eebdb86bbdeff0/Allergens_08242023.pdf

I have eaten at Bob Evans since I was a kid. I remember liking their food. It is a very popular restaurant chain that is across America and my parents, friends, and grandparents always enjoyed eating here.

Food Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Rationale: I enjoyed their corn meal mush, sourdough bread, sausage, bacon, fries, and burgers! I haven’t had a bad meal when it comes to the quality of food and I have very much enjoyed my food!

Allergy Rating: 1 out of 5 stars

Rationale: I have had a couple of allergic reactions eating the burgers here. I remember rushing home to take my albuterol (which is my go-to medicine) . I want to use that to get the allergic reaction out of my system before I turn to the Auvi-Q which I haven’t had to use, and hopefully never have to use. That would mean a hospital trip because they want to make sure nothing weird happens with the medicine in the Auvi-Q. That is why I try to avoid using that at all costs. I remember getting itchy skin as well. I would be very careful eating here, with that said I have had times where I didn’t have an allergic reaction, be careful eating here, tell the waiter/waitress of your food allergy and check their allergen menu. I would eat here, but use caution!

Kirke’s Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100057562894963

I visited St.Clairsville, Ohio with my family and we were looking for a dessert after eating Chipotle. The Women plus my Cousin went Shopping, & It was me, my uncle, brother, & Dad. My Dad made the executive decision to try Kirke’s. There was a Sheetz next to the place and I thought if there wasn’t anything dairy-free I could go over there since they have dairy-free desserts, but they had Oat-Milk dairy-free ice cream.

They had different flavors: I saw they had cookies and cream and I was hoping they had it, but they didn’t. It was down to Chocolate Chip Mint or Whitehouse (It has lots of Cherries in it) so I decided to eat the Chocolate Chip Mint Ice Cream!

Food Rating 5 out of 5 Stars: It was pretty good. I enjoyed my ice cream and I got two scoops in the bowl and I really enjoyed eating my ice cream. It wasn’t as minty as I thought, but this was my first time eating mint flavored ice cream, but it was still pretty good and I thought it was creamy and delicious.

Allergy Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars

Rationale: They had dairy-free ice cream. That is hard to find in a small ice cream shop. Though ice cream shops are starting to realize that they need to provide dairy-free options due to people like me having severe dairy allergies, & lactose intolerant people. 

I highly recommend eating at Kirke’s in St. Clairsville, Ohio!