This past weekend, I took my daughter to Chuck E Cheese’s for the first time. She’s 3-years-old so she was SUPER excited about it. To be honest, I was excited about it too! I haven’t been to Chuck E Cheese’s in…….20 years?! (Gosh, that sounds really weird) lol I knew she would have a blast playing the games and crawling through the tunnels and I was sure she’d get a kick out of meeting Chuck. (Is it weird that I always thought his name was Chuckie?) Anyways….
After a close friend of mine sent me a link to get coupons for our outing, I was really set on going. The only thing left to do? Check out the menu. I’ve found that it’s much easier to snag a menu and whatever allergen info either online or in-person prior to a family outing, rather than bombarding servers, cooks and managers with my concerns while they’re scrambling around taking orders. They’re busy and most of them have no idea what I’m taking about or what’s in the food, or how it’s cooked, or how serious my concern really is. Totally understandable. In my case, a server having to “guess” or have that “uh……..idk? i don’t think so. She’ll probably be fine” sort of thing going on, it’s SO not okay with me . So, to save everyone’s sanity (mostly mine), I like to have everything planned out in reference to any allergens before I even leave the house.
That being said, I was very pleased with the allergy info on Chuck E Cheese’s website. Most restaurants make you jump through hoops to figure out what common allergens are in their food, even if they do have it posted online. Chuck E Cheese’s has an allergen finder option on their menu page that is user friendly in several ways.
- It’s easy to find
- You can customize your info based on what location you’ll be visiting
- It’s downloadable (I saved mine for future reference. Also a good idea to take it with you.)
- It lists each menu item and directly next to it, it lists all common allergens
Nice, right?
They even offer gluten-free pizza which I know is a huge deal for lots of families. So to sum my experience up, it was smooth sailing both before and during our visit. We ordered a small pizza and a small order of traditional buffalo wings. The price was reasonable. I spent about $20 and we ended up taking home a doggy bag. They bring your food to your table while you play so you don’t have to worry about sacrificing any play time. If you decide you just don’t want to eat their food or you’re attending a birthday party and need to bring your own cake or cupcakes? Not a problem.
Overall, I was very pleased with my experience at Chuck E Cheese’s from a food allergy family’s perspective. So my advice to you would be:
- Print the allergy menu
- Print the coupons
- Get your family in the car
- Kick back, and let the kids run wild. lol (FYI, they serve beer/wine at Chuck E Cheese’s 😉 I’m just sayin’ lol)
The Food Allergy ThingyMaBob 