Chuck E Cheese-Gluten Free!

I've known for quite a while that Chuck E Cheese has gluten free pizza. I even invited them to the Lansing Gluten Free Fair. But in all honesty I had never tried the pizza they sell, made by Conte's.

I was invited to my nephew's birthday party which was to take place at Chuck E Cheese. (Actually, his mom is my cousin, which I guess makes him my second cousin...but it makes it easier to say he's my nephew.) At first I was unsure about going, because I had a busy day planned. But God gave me recent opportunities to remember the importance and preciousness of little hands. I don't get to see Jaycob (and his sister Kyra) as often as I should, but whenever I do, I experience the joy of young children so excited to see me that they jump in my arms and give me the biggest hug I've ever experienced in my life. They hug you with the fullest part of their being in a grasp that makes you feel for a moment that all is right with the world, that chaos is not going on in the government. For a moment, it is the deepest and purest expression of love and joy all wrapped in to one beautiful of embrace. They really are beautiful children.

So glad that I didn't fail to be a part of this event.
Gluten free pizza was just a bonus.

The great thing about gluten free pizza at Chuck E Cheese is that there is ZERO chance of contamination. This is because their pizza is baked in specially designed bag. It comes to your table in this bag, and they bring you your very own pizza cutter (made with a plastic blade) with is also wrapped in plastic. I wish every restaurant went to this great lengths to prevent cross-contamination!

I did not take this picture. This is from the website http://knowglutenguide.me 

Being they want to prevent cross- contact, all of the pizzas are cheese pizza. My dad took the bag off of his gluten free pizza right away, and some of the cheese came off with it. I had also paid for the salad bar, and was busy eating my salad. By letting is set and cool, the pizza opened easily and beautifully.

The pizza was good, and the crust was not super thin and cracker like. It was actually doughy. All in all, it was great that Chuck E Cheese offered a gluten free option so I could be a part of this celebration and not feel left out.

My dad took his pizza to the salad bar (which he paid for) and put on additional toppings. 

If I did have any complaints, it was with the salad bar. The veggies were fresh and there were a lot of options. But it still had some issues. It would have been nice if they had a way to label the food allergy status of their salad dressings. (In their defense, I did not take the time to ask them as they were EXTREMELY busy that day.)  Also, they have some of their toppings in shared bowls with shared utensils. For example, the sunflower seeds were in shared bowl with tortilla strips (which may have been corn or flour) and used the same tongs for serving. While I'm not saying that I did not have a satisfying and an enjoyable meal, I do want to highlight the need of restaurants to realize the simple steps that they can take to prevent cross-contamination for ALL food allergies. While I realize that is is highly difficult to prevent cross contamination with salad bars and buffets, there are simple steps that can be taken that can help ALL persons with food allergies.

So all in all, thank you Chuck E Cheese for allowing me to also have pizza at my nephew's party, for offering a healthy salad bar, and for having a great manager like Orlando. I'd love it if you could make a few tweeks to your salad bar.

The regular BBQ Chicken pizza my husband shared with Carolyn. He said is was pretty good!