ANYONE WITH A FOOD ALLERGY BEWARE!!! We have been supporting local business as much as possible over the last few months. For my father in laws 85th birthday we decided to give Duke's a try since it had such great reviews. I have a severe...nut allergy, and asked if they could accomodate it over the phone when I made the reservation, they said yes, I also let our server know as soon as we sat down. She said ok, took our drink order and came back 5 minutes later with pretzel bread for the table. I asked her if it was safe for me to eat she replied with an eye roll, "how am I supposed to know it is your allergy". I proceeded to ask her if they make them in house, if there is any chance of cross contamination with where they are prepared in the kitchen and if she could please check with the chef as my allergy is severe. If I can't have them thats OK, but I NEED to know if I can't. She replies with "I dont know the box is about this big (makes a hand gesture) and its in the freezer, I am not going to check it." And walked away. In utter disbelief I walk up the the host stand and ask for the manager, tell her what just happened and that we want a new server. The manager came up to the table a couple minutes later to inform me that indeed the pretzels were NOT safe for me to eat, and that there WERE pinenuts in the sauce she served with them. If I would have tried it, I would have had instant anaphylaxis. The disregard, and non understanding of the importance of a food allergy is completely unacceptable and can and will kill someone.
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