Johnny Rocco’s Italian Grill
Lundy’s Lane, Niagara Falls, Ontario

I see no need to give the exact address, as I am not recommending that celiacs eat here.

First of all, I found their menu confusing. Under pasta, there is an option to choose gluten free pasta; however, it does not tell you if the sauces are gluten free. Upon asking I was told only the Pomodoro Sauce was gluten free. I was disappointed because it’s just a fancy name for tomato sauce and I can have that at home as easily as 123.

Under Sandwiches and Burgers, there is an option to have a gluten free bun. I was excited because I thought I could have a burger. It turns out their burger patties contain gluten. I have a beef with burgers that contain bread crumbs. Meatloaf has bread crumbs. If you put bread crumbs in a burger then it is just a meatloaf patty. Sorry about the tangent. I asked which of the other sandwiches I could have. The waiter told me they could give me a grilled chicken breast on a gluten free bun with tomato, lettuce, and mayonnaise. Compared to the other choices on the menu this was not exciting to me at all.

I asked if the caesar salad dressing was gluten free ( with no croutons). He went to the kitchen and asked. He came back and said they use two different dressings. One has gluten and one does not. Today we are using the one that has gluten so you cannot have the salad. This is why it is so important to check ingredients every time you order at a restaurant. Just because you had a menu item before and it was gluten free, doesn’t mean the next time you order it, it will still be gluten free. I was irked, but okay.

I was left with only one option. The gluten free pizza. I ordered it, it cost an extra $3 to have this item, plus $1.75 for each topping. I only ordered two toppings (which were scarce). I ended up paying over $20 for a terrible pizza. It was dry. Chug a glass of water so you can swallow dry. The cheese was scarce (you will see from the photo posted below. I was hungry so I did eat a couple of slices. Because I ate it, I knew I was paying for it, but I felt I should still let the server know how I felt about it. I told him it was dry, really dry. He told me that is just how it is. They buy frozen pizzas and cook them in a regular oven instead of in their pizza oven. So I got a frozen pizza that they just slapped a couple of expensive toppings on and threw in the oven at what must have been the wrong temperature to have it turn out so dry. Then to have the server say, that is just how it is. Wow, I bit my tongue but I was not impressed. He let me order an item, he knew was subpar because I am celiac and I had few choices. It was a mentality that we have what we have, you should be lucky you have a couple of choices, so pick one even though they suck.

That is how I felt about my meal at Johnny Rocco’s. I hope if you go there you have a better experience than I did.