Rafferty's Restaurant & Bar

Friday ~noon – party of 4, one with celiac disease. The important part first: My wife has celiac and ordered a plain ribeye (no seasoned butter, no house seasoning, no sides that could be risky). The staff took it seriously, cooked it in a clean pan, and she had ZERO reaction afterward. That alone makes Rafferty’s one of the safer chain-ish spots around here for legitimate celiac so big props on that. Now the steaks (all four of us got ribeyes): Wife asked for medium to play it safe. Came out well-done, very dark charred crust that tasted burnt, not seared. Dry inside. The three of us ordered medium-rare. Two landed medium-well, one was straight well-done. Same heavy black char that overpowered everything, almost no interior seasoning or salt penetration. My blue cheese butter was doing 90% of the flavor work. Without it these would’ve been nearly flavorless, overcooked pucks. I’ve judged backyard cooks who show better temp control and crust development than what came out Friday. When every single steak at the table is overcooked by at least one doneness level and tastes like maybe the grill hasn’t been cleaned or the heat’s cranked to “cremation,” that’s a kitchen issue, not bad luck. BigPapaPlump Scores this visit Celiac safety & accommodation: 9.5/10 (seriously impressed – she felt 100% safe) Ribeye execution: 4/10 (only the blue cheese butter kept mine from being a total loss) Overall experience: 6/10 I’ll still go back because the celiac handling was legitimately excellent and I’ve had good steaks from Rafferty’s in the past. But right now the grill station is running way too hot and way too hands-off. Y’all crushed the gluten-free safety, now show the steaks the same love. We’ll be back… but next time I’m bringing my Thermapen and my expectations lol. #BigPapaPlumpEats #SCAJudge #RaffertysRadcliff #CeliacSafeButSteakSad