Hold the Tomato: Minor (?) Ordering Modifications at Restaurants

[DMP609]

On 4/10/2023 at 9:50 AM, mcmomny said:

Plus we try hard to control our sodium intake and when ever he ordered steak he would request "no seasoning" which they followed to perfection! At Cagney's the floor manager came over to clarify that we didn't have food allergies after requesting no seasoning!

Do you have any other suggestions on what to request to help reduce sodium intake? OrangeCatRamblers had some good suggestions a few posts later from yours like requesting no cheese, no sauce, dressing on the side. But I would love to hear any other things that worked well for you. Thank you!

[mcmomny]

DMP609

 

Sodium intake has been a concern for my husband for years and we have learned that eating out is a big problem with so many processed foods out there. But we love to eat out! So have learned a few tricks to make it easier

 

In general we try to look at the menus before we go out to decide in private what would be the best choice and how easy it might be to modify it. We try to follow The DASH diet and add more fruit and veggies to our plates

 

Stay away from breaded and fried meats and items with heavy sauces.

Dressings and condiments on the side

Buffet's are notorious for heavily salted foods 

Hot Dogs, deli meat, bacon all full of sodium

Don't season anything until you taste it first!

 

So like I said before we always ask for our meat to have no seasoning on it, sometimes we get funny looks but on The Escape everyone was great with this!

 

Instead of carrying cards in different languages with your dietary requests just use Google translate on your phone, works wonders! We use this trick all over the world!

 

[GeezerCouple]

If sodium (or anything else) is a real concern, TALK with the person assigned by Special Needs.  The cooks can and will make special preparations.
They are excellent about that.

But please then show up for the meal!

 

🙂

 

GC

[alwalaska]

I haven't read through the whole thread, so I am sorry if this is a duplicate; I really strongly recommend for anyone with food sensitivities to have the allergies added to their reservation and ask who you should talk to at the main dining room if you go there for your first lunch. For meals where I know I am ordering something "safe" for me, I won't mention the allergy.

 

The really good thing both for you and for the kitchen staff is that you can look at the menu for the next evening and order anything that you want specially made without what bothers you. Another thing I have found on some ships is that my waiter doesn't speak English well enough to convey that I can't have anything with citrus fruits, be it lemons, limes, oranges, etc. 

 

The staff are all so busy, that having to take your food back, or even having to go to send someone to the kitchen to see if there are things you can't eat in a particular item is a lot of extra work.  It is different from a land-based restaurant where they feed significantly fewer people and typically have a kitchen that is very close and easy to get to.