Blue Iguana Salt Lake City

Great Gluten Free options especially my favorite Mole!

I came here for a birthday party. As somebody with the celiac disease who is sensitive to cross contact I'm always hesitant to try new restaurants. It's because of this. I emailed management multiple times about their cooking practices for those sensitive to cross contamination issues. I highly recommend reaching out to management before hand. Specific for celiacs, no surface is gluten-free. Any meat or non meat items are cooked on a gluten black stone. I was able to have my food cooked on a separate pan and I did not experience "glutened" symptoms. I highly recommend speaking to management before-hand or being very clear with your particular server. Even after speaking to management, and argubly knowing more than servers about their back staff cooks items. I still felt unsafe and unheard with front staff. Servers are obviously not trained in dietary restrictions or if they are it's not a priority. I felt dismissed by my server. While she told me that my food would be cooked separately she didn't seem to understand my concerns. When she came out there was cooked corn tortillas which I questioned since I asked for premade hard ones because they would be more likely to be gluten free. She assured me they were cooked on a separate pan. But still the disconnect of front staff to back staff made me hesitant. In the end I didn't get sick but it was still a stressful experience. Because of their practices I doubt I would have felt comfortable ordering without multiple conversations prior to my reservation. That being said for a restaurant that obviously does not focus on dietary restrictions. They did a good job accommodating me. I wish there was more training and communication between staff for the benefit of customers. To get a clear answer of procedure I had to call multiple times and email. While in this case I was happy to do that. It was extremely frustrating. A lot of their menu is gluten-free, however not celiac or allergy safe. If you're gonna offer gluten-free options, you need to understand possible cross contamination issues, which did not seem like a priority. Staff's willingness to tell me something was gluten free when from other conversations I knew it wasn't was concerning. If like me, you're coming here maybe not by your own choice (I probably wouldn't come here otherwise). I highly recommend speaking to management before hand and trying to be clear with your server. Tell them you have an allergy and everything needs to be cooked on a separate pan not on a black stone. While I had a good experience with management, I would be remiss to not describe some organizational issues that I can see being problematic for people with sensitivity issues like myself. Due to the lack of focus and seems like training of both front and back staff. I feel like I can't recommend this place to other people with cross contamination issues. This is something that could easily be changed by management with a little bit more training. There seems like there is a disconnect by the willingness of management to accommodate, and the overstressed staff at the restaurant. I think they have the possibility to improve and they did great with me. I do not see that being replicated for anyone else.

There are numerous gluten-free options available on the menu, which is impressive. I also follow a dairy-free diet and it was convenient to request no cheese. The food was delicious and definitely worth the price. Additionally, the margaritas were fantastic!