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What is Raglan Road?
Raglan Road is an Irish pub located at Disney Springs at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, FL. This restaurant has live music and Irish dancers, and you can go to it without buying a WDW park ticket because Disney Springs is a shopping area that’s free to attend.
This place is also a favorite amongst celiacs. Isabelle has been going there for years because of the gluten-free fish ‘n’ chips that are made in a dedicated fryer (it’s a go-to place for us). She is also part of gluten-free Orlando and Disney groups online, and she sees just about everyone post about Raglan Road. For a celiac to be able to eat something fried in a restaurant is kind of an amazing treat.
Why are we asking if Raglan Road is still gluten-free?
A few weeks ago, we went to Raglan Road and we were kind of thrown for a loop. We were spending the night at Disney to celebrate lots of exciting things (Isabelle’s birthday and return home after being gone for a few weeks, and our engagement), so Peter thought that Raglan Road was the perfect choice.
And then we actually got to the restaurant.
Soon after sitting down and telling our waiter about Isabelle’s celiac/coeliac disease (among other food allergies/sensitivities), he told us that she couldn’t get anything fried anymore. He explained that under new restaurant management, the dedicated gluten-free fryer and the non-gluten-free fryer now shared a filtration system and there would be cross-contamination. He also said that dairy allergies wouldn’t be covered either (which was an additional problem for Isabelle).
Our waiter seemed frustrated by this apparent change (which we’ll get to in a moment), and we heard him tell other tables the same thing. We realized that there were a lot of other celiacs/gluten-free guests at the restaurant that night.
We were super disappointed, but Isabelle still managed to get a meal there. Raglan Road has other gluten-free options and other ways to accommodate food allergies, but when you can’t get gluten-free fish ‘n’ chips anywhere else then it’s frustrating, to say the least.
Did other celiacs have the same experience?
To put it simply: no.
When Isabelle talked to other local celiacs online (via local gluten-free Facebook groups), they had the eaten gluten-free fish ‘n’ chips (among other fried foods) at Raglan road only a few days after we had and they had had no gluten reactions whatsoever.
Some of these celiacs had even called the restaurant to ask about this issue, but the staff at Raglan Road had not heard about this at all.
With all of this confusion, we realized that we would need to look into this ourselves.
So, does Raglan Road still offer gluten-free fried food?
Yes, they do.
We had to contact the restaurant ourselves to find out the answer to our question. From what they told us, Raglan Road is under new management but nothing has changed about the way that they make their gluten-free food.
If anything, now they just include the disclaimer that their food *could* contain allergens from cross-contamination because there’s never a 100% guarantee (a disclaimer that basically all restaurants typically have).
They also told us that they would be talking to their team about this issue. It seems as though there was some kind of miscommunication, so they’re sorting it out.
The Bottom Line
If you’re looking to eat at Raglan Road and you are celiac or have other food allergies or sensitivities, nothing about the way they make their food has changed. This means that if you’ve eaten there safely before, you should be fine to do so again.
If you do find yourself in the same situation that we did, then you can tell them about this post or even ask for a manager to talk to you.