Hofbrauhaus Chicago Gluten free, why yes it is!

Well tickle me pink! who would have thought that Hofbrauhaus would do gluten free?! I know I didn't expect it. While making date night plans to go see Ironman 3 at the Muvico, my boyfriend said for me to figure out which restaurants at The Park at Rosemont were able to do gluten free, and we'll go to one of them, before the movie.

I have been to Toby Keith's I Love this Bar and grill previously, and knew they could do the basics, salads, steak, pork chops, fish all as gluten free options. The servers were very knowledgeable about what they could do. I was also able to see online that Adobe Gila's does have gluten free labels on their menu showing which items were gluten free, or could be prepared to be gluten free. Five Roses Pub has a nice menu they can send over that marks their Gluten Free items. There are salads, and several, easy staples like chicken, steak, and a white fish, as well as the beloved Corned beef and Cabbage. Looking over menus for other locations for My Big Fat Greek Restaurant, they showed markings for gluten free items, but I didn't have time to go and ask the Rosemont location specifically if they could do gluten free as well. (As of Oct 5th this location has closed, and a new restaurant is pending) Looking online it seemed that other Hofbrauhaus locations had gluten free menu's so I decided to give them a call and ask. I was shocked when the hostess who answered said "Yes we do gluten free, would you like to talk to the chef? I'll transfer you he can tell you what we offer." I was so delighted. After speaking with the chef who emailed me a copy of the gluten free menu, I decided, this is where we're going for dinner.

The hostess does have a copy of the gluten free menu at the hostess stand, so you can look it over at the table. I definitely had to read descriptions and really figure out what to try. I figured, I don't know the next time we'll find German food, so accommodating. My only disappointment was they didn't have any gluten free beer, but they only carried their own beers. they did have soda, cocktails, and wine available.

I had to try the potato soup, and decided to do a sausage platter, with sauerkraut and mashed potatoes. The soup was a traditional German potato soup, I really liked it, normally it does come with croutons, so make sure to order without the croutons! Our server was nice, and when I pointed to the soup on the gluten free menu, I started to say "With no Bread..." He finished my sentence by saying and no croutons. (Yay! He knew!!). My soup came out with No croutons, which he pointed out very proud.

Our food came out almost right after that, he apologized, that since it wasn't too busy the kitchen was getting orders out super fast. I couldn't remember if my meal (the gluten included version) came with the sausage on bread, I kept thinking, this is a lot of food if these come on bread too! Desserts they had a couple items, including vanilla ice cream with a raspberry sauce. The server understood to leave the cookies that come with the ice cream off. He did ask if my boyfriend wanted them, (since he's not gluten free, and had ordered a gluten filled meal), but he declined, he said he was too filled from dinner.
The restaurant is pretty large, and they have a cute outside seating area as well, which was where most the people were sitting. Inside there was a band performing which was entertaining. They seemed to be having a lot of fun, though most the people that were inside, were by the bar, and seemed to be enjoying their beer more than anything.

On my dinning out rating scale I'd give Hofbrauhaus a 4 dragonfly rating. The staff, even the hostesses were knowledgeable, and the server made me feel comfortable with his understanding of gluten free as well. My call earlier in the day that I got to talk to the chef, he was delighted that I called, and said he hoped I'd be in soon to enjoy a meal.