Gluten free gelato AND cone in Niagara Falls

Il Gelato di Carlotta

Located in the mall area of the Fallsview Casino (on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls), just a few shops down from Pepper Palace, this place has amazing gelato with great ingredients they’re proud of.

Additionally, I was so amazed that they had “Senza Glutine” cones–gluten free cones!

And, all their gelato flavors are gluten free. I had the stracciatella flavor, which is a delicious thin ribbon of thin chocolate like a chocolate chip in a creamy vanilla base.

They have a nice indoor or outdoor seating area. The prices were not cheap, but also not expensive for good ingredients (especially considering it’s a tourist area).

Johnny Roccos – celiac gluten free heaven in Niagara Falls

Although a few miles away from the main tourist area of the Canadian side of Niagara Falls, it’s conveniently on the Red line of WeGo buses and has nice outside patio seating. We came for the gluten free options (celiac safe) and were not disappointed.

I had a gluten free pizza, which was safe and delicious (although it was more sauce and less cheese than I like as an American!). The pizza sauce was very yummy and I believe homemade. The server was very knowledgeable on gluten free. The gluten eaters in my group had their HUGE calzones that were delicious and a grilled chicken sandwich that was decent.

I appreciated the knowledge by my server and her care in alerting the kitchen–verbally and on paper, as viewed on the receipt! 🙂 (Don’t be too shocked on the price–prices are high in Niagara Falls and this was actually more reasonable than much of the chain places.)

Boston Pizza – a celiac gem in Niagara Falls!

Boston Pizza

Located right in heart of Clifton Hill, Boston Pizza is your best bet for good gluten free food in Niagara Falls on the Canadian side.  The picture below is from the SkyWheel. Boston Pizza is also conveniently located across from the Clifton Hill stop on the red line of the tourist bus system (WeGo).

As you can see below, they had a VERY large menu. Their servers also were very knowledgeable.  After the other difficult venues, this place was such a gluten free heaven that we had a few meals here.

Over a few visits, I had their oven baked wings, a salad, and their gluten free pizza twice. The pizza was the Kinnickinnick brand and extra yummy! (If you’re not familiar with this brand, first is one of the only soft gluten free crusts out there. It is also nut free, soy free, dairy free!)  All was delicious and safe! Also some yummy cocktails available. The gluten eaters in my party enjoyed their gluten pizzas as well.

Be prepared to wait for a table since this is in a busy area (worth it for good gluten free food though!) and service in Canadian restaurants in general (like Europe) was much slower than in the USA, just be prepared for that almost everywhere.

Margaritaville in Niagara Falls, Ontario – long wait but okay food

Thankfully not all our experiences in Niagara Falls were negative like the Hard Rock, we had two great experiences at Boston Pizza (review to follow) and a decent experience at Margaritaville.

This place was conveniently located next to our hotel and right across the street from Fallsview Casino. The decor wasn’t as impressive as other locations, but it still had a fun vibe.  We had a very long wait even though it wasn’t busy.

I thought for sure I took a picture of the menu, but I cannot find it. It was shockingly small (new as of May 2015).  It was very limited–essentially two kinds of burgers with gluten free bun and chips, no fries. It listed wings, but they were in a common fryer.  No signature dessert or anything you expect.
I asked the manager while we were waiting about gluten free fries as I was going to go elsewhere if they didn’t have fries.  They were kind enough to do in a pan just for me, but based on their actual menu, I would say this is now a terrible choice for gluten free / celiacs.  Which saddens me, because as a chain, I usually count on Margaritaville in tourist areas for great gluten free choices! There were no gluten free dessert options either. The burger did have incredible flavor.

Hard Rock Cafe in Niagara Falls, Ontario – fell flat

Recently we went on a road trip: Niagara Falls, central Pennsylvania, and Washington DC. I wanted to share the good and the bad from the places I ate with regards to celiac / gluten allergy (I also don’t eat pork, pumpkin seeds, or nuts).

Hard Rock Cafe –
Sadly, this place was the worst of our Niagara Falls trip in every way, despite a decent selection on the menu:

The setting: This is one of the smaller Hard Rocks I’ve been to and the atmosphere itself just wasn’t as impressive as usual, but to make matters horrific, the speaker system went out while we were there and there was a constant LOUD buzzing for almost 10 minutes! I have no idea why it took customers trying to walk out before they at least turned it off!
Also, getting there with any disability would be impossible unless you wanted to eat outside in the heat at street level!  I could not find an elevator and the escalator up was hard to find but existed, while the escalator down was not working (my bad ankle was acting up at this point in the trip).

We obviously went there for the gluten free menu, which seemed to have a lot of options: burger, steak, grilled salmon, grilled shrimp, ribs, grilled chicken sandwich, but it was very small when eliminating the fried items and what was celiac-safe after asking questions! Even then, they didn’t take it very seriously. They first brought me fries as a side with my burger even though they were not safe gluten free and not what I ordered (mashed potatoes).  Then they re-served the same burger with mashed potatoes put where the fries were. It also had the lettuce, tomato, and onion, and mayo on it–which I asked for none of!  The prices were outrageous and that is accounting for high prices that are normal in Niagara Falls, these were doubly ridiculous compared to any rational price.

The food was terrible: the two “normal” people in my group said the food was bland and had less than no flavor (one got chicken macaroni & cheese, one got a burger and fries).  My gluten free burger was just so-so for flavor and the mashed potatoes were flavorless!

By this meal, we had gotten used to the slower pace of service, but this server was terrible. He forgot half our items (literally, didn’t bring some of our drinks until asked twice AND forgot specifics on food), didn’t check back, didn’t top off any empty drinks!

(As always, I was not compensated for this review in anyway.  This is merely retelling of my personal experience to help others with allergies.)