Alden & Harlow 

The Harvard Square restaurant has been getting a lot of great press lately and I totally get it. The restaurant is in a great location, the atmosphere is cool and the tapas style food is trendy right now.

Everything seemed great at first. In fact, the waitress came over and asked if anyone had a food allergy she should know about. When I told her I couldn’t eat dairy, she reassured me that that would be no problem and she would be more than happy to accommodate me.

Well, we never saw that waitress again and the new one who came over clearly did not understand the meaning of the word accommodate. She told me that I could really only eat a handful of things on the menu and they were all things that were fried or red meat. She finally told me I could probably get one of the fish dishes because it was made with olive oil but she had to double check.

Fortunately, I was able to get the fish tapa dish, but that was the ONLY thing I was able to order there. The dish was good, but it was certainly not worth the price of worrying about whether or not I would get sick after eating there AND leaving the restaurant hungry since one tapa dish is really not that filling.

Overall, I don’t think I would ever go back to Alden and Harlow since I cannot eat the food they are willing to make dairy free. However, the ambiance is such that I would want to go back and maybe get a drink there.

Alden &  Harlow

40 Brattle Street

Cambridge, MA 02138

Lucia 

If you know anything about me, you know my love of Italian food. Granted, I still refuse to think that anyone makes a sauce as great as my great grandma or mom, but when I am away from home the north end will just have to do.

This past Saturday, my boyfriend (Matt) took me out to Lucia in the North End. While we had never been there before, he did make sure that they at least had fish on the menu just in case they were not accommodating.

Luckily, the menu not only has several fish dishes, but it was also one of the most accommodating places I have ever eaten at.

We walked in and were seated almost immediately for our 7:30 reservation. When the waiter came over to take our drink order, he immediately said that he knew I had a dairy allergy and that he made sure the chef was aware so that I could rest assured I wouldn’t get sick. He also told me that one of this friends is a vegan so he knows how difficult it can be for me to find dairy-free food at an Italian restaurant.

I was shocked that he knew I had a dairy allergy, especially since we hadn’t even ordered our food yet. Matt told me that he had put on the reservation that I had a dairy allergy and apparently they had actually read the special requests part of the OpenTable reservation.

We ordered the grilled calamari for an appetizer, which was served in a delicious tomato sauce over grilled bread. For my main, I got the ammazzafame, a classic Lucia pasta dish that came with sausage, porcini mushrooms and broccoli rabe sautéed in olive oil. Matt got the seafood risotto special (not dairy free).

While there were some dishes that the waiter told me could not be made dairy free, given the nature of the dish (chicken parm for example), they were incredibly accommodating and willing to try to make any dish I wanted without dairy.

It was great not having to worry about whether or not I would get a stomach ache after eating my meal, which is why I would definitely go back to Lucia.

Lucia is located at:

415 Hanover St.

Boston, MA