On two separate occasions and at two separate restaurants in the past month I've had a waitress ask me "What is a tree nut?"
On both occasions I tried to answer without first saying "Are you effing kidding me?"
First: If you're going to work at a restaurant you damn well better know what a tree nut is.
Second: See above.
At the first restaurant I explained all the different types of tree nuts and that both of my children were allergic to many of them.
Today, at Bob Evans (!!!) of all places this is what happened:
1. I told the waitress that my daughters had food allergies. She gave me a blank stare. I said "you probably should write these down."
2. I said "tree nuts." She says "what is a tree nut?" I said "Um, really? Tree nuts include pecans, walnuts, hazelnuts, almonds, pistachios ... you know NUTS THAT GROW ON TREES." She says "Oh."
3. I stopped the manager and asked HIM if he knew what a tree nut was. "Yes, I think so," he says. I say "well, I suggest you explain it to your wait staff because our waitress has NO idea what tree nuts are."
There is absolutely NO excuse for this lack of knowledge when you're serving food to people who might have food allergies. And at a major chain like Bob Evan? It's beyond inexcusable.
