Annabelle’s Kitchen Marda Loop

My husband, our 12-year old daughter and I dined at Annabelle's Kitchen on Friday night at the end of a busy week. What a great find! All of the pizzas and pastas on the menu can be made gluten free and the food was wonderful. The menu and the ambiance are casual enough for young families, but the food was top notch and there was a good selection of wines and cocktails. We shared the chocolate mousse for dessert and it was gone in an instant.

To be fair upfront most of the the food and experience was really great (probably would have given them 4 or 5 stars) however a few things ruined the experience: 1) I found the place by googling "family friendly restaurants" and a Calgary Herald article from Nov 2019 came up. I realize now this must've been paid for. While Annabelle's is a lovely venue it's not aimed at kids in any way shape or form. Check the images in your google search (which I should've done) it's not targeted at kids. 2) Then, what ruined the evening for me: My wife is celiac (she has the autoimmune markers - it's not a preference) and I am allergic to wheat (confirmed by blood test. So, gluten-free is a preference for me but I have not eaten wheat in about 10 years). I ordered their gluten free base pizza and, at the end of the evening (with 75% of the pizza eaten), when I asked why the bill didn't have the gluten-free surcharge, I was told the pizza wasn't gluten free. The manager then came over and asked me what the problem was (he seemed a little rude but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt). After explaining things they left me standing there (while my family waited outside) for 5 full minutes (they'd taken back my table for other customers) and then finally brought me the bill so I could pay. I hadn't asked for them to take the pizza off the bill but the waitress came and said she was going to pay for it out of her pocket. I said that wasn't necessary but now I felt bad for her so I ended up splitting the difference with her as an additional tip (yes, I realize I didn't have to do that). I don't really think the management handled things very well. Obviously I didn't want to have eaten wheat (my stomach as in knots all night) but, on top of that, to leave me standing in the middle of the restaurant for 5 minutes and then guilt-tripping me felt very unprofessional. Last thing I'll say is that the other food I did eat was very tasty (the pizza was not, though - and I'm not saying that just because of the wheat mix-up).