Top 6 Gluten-Free American Diners to Experience in Mystic and Stonington

Bridget H.

We had a great meal at the Engine Room. It was a low key Sunday evening for us. I loved my burger and the gluten free (gf) bun was great. My partner got the fish and chips and said they were delicious too.

Jacquie Kiever

Oh my goodness I wish I could eat here everyday!! We visited here and I got the everything but the omelette and it was so delicious!!! I have a gluten allergy and they did a great job insuring I didn’t get sick!!! A smaller restaurant but definitely worth it! Beautiful view as well :) can’t wait for my next visit!

Emily O'Hara

Gluten-free eaters, beware. I have Celiac Disease. I can’t have gluten, full stop. When I walked into Red 36, I saw a sign on the wall identifying not only the 9 major food allergies, but also the safe handling practices a kitchen should follow for each one. Great! This is a sign that tells people with intolerances that we will be taken care of here. Once seated, I told the waitress about my intolerance, and she immediately brought me a gluten-free menu. Another good sign. I ordered the gluten-free tuna burger, which (according to the gluten-free menu) is supposed to omit the bun, fries, and anything else containing gluten. When my plate came out with fries, I knew something was off. I asked the waitress, and she apologized, confirmed that the fries were not gluten-free and offered to bring me a side salad instead. Separately, I started eating the tuna, but was surprised to find (buried beneath the fish and a pile of coleslaw) crispy egg noodles. I stopped eating and again asked the waitress if my order was gluten free. She returned to the kitchen and informed me that, (1) the crispy noodles were not gluten free, (2) despite having apparently put “gluten free” on my order, the whole meal was not gluten free, (3) the same thing happened at the table next to ours, despite having notified the kitchen accordingly. So, having unknowingly eaten gluten, I now have to wait out a week or more of painful symptoms of my Celiac Disease. I expect a lot more from restaurants that purport to exercise care for people with food allergies. It’s one thing if a kitchen is not equipped to cook according to dietary restrictions—I can manage my expectations. It is quite another when a restaurant is equipped to safely serve people with intolerances, communicates this to the patrons, and then fails to do so twice in a matter of an hour. There’s a lot of trust I have to put into restaurants, and I regret doing so in this instance. I’m beyond grateful that my intolerance doesn’t send me into anaphylaxis. I hope that, wherever the breakdown happened between ordering and serving, it gets resolved before other folks with food intolerances get sick. TL;DR gluten free diners, proceed with caution.

Molly Chapman

stopped in for lunch with a friend, informed the server that I have Celiac and cannot have any gluten and was told they could not accommodate us at all. not even just eggs and bacon on a separate grill, apparently their kitchen is so dirty nothing is safe at this place. We ended up going across the parking lot to Andiamo, where they can make almost their whole menu gluten free.

bad kitty

What a fantastic experience. We headed over on a whim after a nice afternoon at the Aquarium. There were no reservations available for the dining room but we snagged seats at the bar where the full menu is also available. We enjoyed two dozen happy hour oysters and some delicious beet deviled eggs as an appetizer. The Bartenders were just the right level of attentiveness and remembered that I have Celiacs after one discussion. As mains we had the Fluke and my BF had a small serving of the squid ink spaghetti. For dessert we shared a pavlova. Everything was perfectly prepared & plated beautifully. 10/10 Recommend.

Nicole Sprow

Let's start off with apps, the bacon wrapped scallops were quite delicious; especially with that citrus honey maple mustard, it was the perfect blend of sweet and salty. We also got the spinach and artichoke dip with chips; the dip was very sour cream forward and underseasoned. We added salt and it definitely evened things out. My daughter got the cheese flatbread and said it was very good and my son got the Mac & Cheese, I can't say how either of those were as a person with Celiac I couldn't taste them. For my main entree I got the Grilled Scallop Platter, the scallops were cooked beautifully but the Risotto was underseasoned and a tad underdone. I didn't pick up any hint of truffle oil, and the dish could have used a little acid to round it out. I squeezed some lemon on it and that boosted up the flavor, but I wish the truffle had shown through more. My husband got the Haley Mansion Seafood Fra Diavlo in the white wine sauce. The shrimp were huge. He said the seafood was cooked perfectly and it was very flavorful, he was genuinely happy with his dish. The downside was the flies, they were swarming our table like bees; at one point we had 4 of them buzzing around us. It was frustrating, obnoxious and quite honestly a bit gross with them landing on our food. We spent most of the time swatting them away. In one of the videos you can even see them flying around our plates.