If You Have Life-Threatening Food Allergies, Do NOT Eat Here!!!!
If you have severe food allergies or food intolerances, do not risk dining at Acquolina Weston. This was one of the most alarming and irresponsible dining experiences I have ever had.
I have multiple life threatening food allergies and have safely eaten at restaurants throughout Florida and around the world. I understand that mistakes can happen. What I cannot accept is when a restaurant repeatedly mishandles a serious medical condition while assuring a customer that proper allergy procedures were followed.
Three weeks before this visit, I dined at Acquolina and ordered the same chopped salad without any issues. Because they successfully accommodated my allergies during that visit, I felt comfortable returning.
When my server, Jose, came to take my order, I handed him my food allergy card listing my severe allergies and clearly explained that they are life threatening. He assured me that he would notify the kitchen and that my meal would be prepared separately.
I ordered the exact same chopped salad I had ordered three weeks earlier. The salad does not come with feta cheese, and I specifically requested no cheese.
When my meal arrived, I immediately noticed a large piece of feta cheese sitting on top of the salad.
Had I not carefully inspected my food before taking a bite, the outcome could have been far more serious.
I immediately sent the salad back.
A few moments later, Jose returned and assured me that there was no cheese in the new salad. He specifically told me that the chef, not the salad station employee, had personally prepared my meal using separate gloves to avoid cross contamination.
However, the salad was returned to my table in less than two minutes.
As someone who cooks regularly, I know that properly discarding a contaminated salad, sanitizing the preparation area, changing gloves, gathering fresh ingredients, and preparing an entirely new salad takes time. It certainly does not take less than two minutes.
When I inspected the "new" salad, I found two more pieces of feta cheese.
At that point, I refused to eat it.
That was not simply a mistake. It demonstrated a complete failure to safely prepare food for a customer with life threatening allergies. Whether the salad was never remade or proper procedures were not followed, the result was the same: cheese was still present in a salad that should never have contained cheese in the first place!
Jose later told me the meal was "on the house." That was irrelevant. I would never pay for a meal that I could not safely eat.
He also told me that "the kitchen made him look bad." That statement completely missed the point. This was not about making anyone "look bad." It was about protecting the health and safety of a customer who trusted the restaurant after clearly communicating a potentially life threatening medical condition.
To make matters worse, the restaurant was nearly empty. It was a Tuesday evening with only a few occupied tables, while the dining room was otherwise vacant. There was no overwhelming rush or excuse for this level of negligence.
Whoever is responsible for hiring and training the staff needs to seriously reevaluate their standards. Jose did not demonstrate the level of communication, attention to detail, or understanding required to safely serve guests with dietary restrictions. More importantly, the kitchen's handling of this situation showed an alarming lack of allergy awareness and food safety practices. This experience also makes me question the cleanliness of the kitchen.
Food allergies are not food preferences. They are serious medical conditions that can become life-threatening within minutes. Restaurants that choose to serve the public have a responsibility to treat them accordingly.
I will never return to Acquolina Weston, and I will be warning my family, and friends to avoid this restaurant!!!!
If I could give zero stars, I would.
If you have food allergies, do not take the risk by dining here. read more