Tavern at Windsor Park

Posted by Brette in GF Restaurants | GF WNY Dining

Windsor Park 1We were skeptical about Windsor Park since the menu is heavy with gluten. There’s almost nothing on it that isn’t a gluten festival. But they did say they have GF rolls, so we gave it a try. We visited the Transit Road Williamsville location on a Friday night. The interior is dark and pubby but the booths were comfortable and quiet. The server looked at us like we were a bit crazy to be eating there when we asked about gluten free options. There is no separate menu and all she could offer was that they sometimes have GF chicken fingers (but not that night) and they have GF rolls. When I asked about the salad dressings, she was vague but knew the Italian and raspberry were GF.

Our server brought us a basket of popcorn and large waters so we were off to a good start. Our food took quite a while to arrive. I got the Cobb salad with the raspberry dressing. It was a nice salad with hardboiled egg, chicken, bleu cheese, pinkish tomato, avocado, and bacon (I asked to have the onion omitted). The only downside (and a big one) was that my salad had been place in a HOT bowl. Hot lettuce is not a good thing. I asked for a bowl of ice to sit it in and soon it became chilled again, but this was a glaring oversight.Windsor Park 2

The husband ordered beef on weck on a GF roll with the chips (steak fries). We were very surprised when it arrived crusted with salt and caraway seeds. We questioned our server to make sure it was indeed a gluten free roll and she confirmed it was and that the chef had dipped the top to recreate weck. This was an amazing, thoughtful touch. Unfortunately the beef was gristly. The chips were excellent though – crisp on the outside and soft on the inside and steaming hot.

We probably would not return since the options are limited (and the Bavarian pretzels on the menu made me have severe unrelenting gluten envy), but for a salad and sandwich it worked out ok.

You can follow any comment to this entry through the RSS 2.0 Both comments and pings are currently closed.

2 Responses

  • Sally says:

    Before firing your shots at restaurants that try very hard to cater for intolerances just remember that we have to deal with gluten free, dairy free, lactose free ( yes, it’s different) vegan and vegetarian customers and create menus to suit all their needs plus for the customers that are simply fussy and decide that they don’t like what is in the menu. Having read many of your blogposts it seems that you are never going to be happy. When half the world is starving and you moan about being offered ONLY a creme brûlée. Goodness me.

    • tgott says:

      Thanks for taking the time to reply. I find it fascinating that a restaurant would complain about having to meet customers’ needs. After all, that’s why you’re there. Your restaurant offered very limited gluten-free options but what you offered I praised (or perhaps you didn’t read my review??). I write for people like me who are looking for those options. They deserve to know that you don’t have many. And yes, “only” having creme brulee is a problem when that is all restaurants ever seem to offer when there are many, many, many gluten free options that could be made available. Kith and Kin would be happy to supply you and other restaurants with some options. Restaurants interested in catering to gluten-free diners do provide options. My goal is to point out when restaurants get it right and highlight what they get wrong so that perhaps in the future there will be better choices. The U.S. is far behind when it comes to gluten-free options – there are many more options in Europe and even in South America. Thanks for letting my readers know how unwelcome they are at your establishment.