Here's A List Of The Most Allergy-Friendly Restaurants In The U.S. To Bookmark Immediately

Trying to navigate restaurant menus when you have a food allergy can be pretty hard, especially when you can't find a lot of options that you can safely enjoy. If you've experienced an allergic reaction to food recently, you're definitely not alone — Advisory Board reported that diagnoses of anaphylactic food reactions have grown an overwhelming 377 percent from 2007 to 2016. This means that it's important that restaurants offer a wide variety of options for those with allergies — and online resource AllergyEats has recently published a list of the Top 10 allergy-friendly restaurants of 2019 to help us find the best spots to check out.

The list is composed of chain restaurants in the U.S., and was derived from AllergyEats' own restaurant reviews from food-allergic diners on their website and app. It ranks both large and small chains that have been recognized by diners as great spots to dine at for those with food allergies. These rankings are calculated through a compilation and numerical averaging of all individual restaurant reviews by AllergyEats users into "chain-specific allergy-friendliness dining out scores." The restaurants are scored using a 5-point scale.

We'll kick it off with AllergyEats' top five allergy-friendly large chains — meaning that they have at least 50 locations throughout the country. Coming in at number five was Bertucci’s Italian Restaurant, with a score of 4.37, and beloved West Coast fast food chain In-N-Out Burger in fourth place with a 4.39 ranking. Tied for second place were Longhorn Steakhouse and Chipotle Mexican Grill, which both received a score of 4.42 from AllergyEats. Drumroll, please, for number one: Maggiano’s Little Italy, with the top score of 4.68.

Now it's time for the small chains to shine. Weber Grill, with locations in in Illinois, Indiana, and Missouri, came in fifth place with a score of 4.71. Next was New England's 110 Grill, which scored 4.74. Clyde’s Restaurant Group made the list for the first time, coming in third place with a 4.78 ranking. Flatbread Company placed second with a 4.83, and Burtons Grill claimed the first place spot with a 4.85 score (the seventh consecutive year that the chain has retained a prized spot since the AllergyEats list began).

There you have it: a comprehensive list of all the spots that you should check out if you have food allergies or want to reccommend to someone you know that does. If you want to check out more restaurant reviews that cater to food allergies, AllergyEats is the place to check.

“We appreciate these chains recognizing the importance of accommodating food-allergic diners and for their dedication to supporting the food allergy community. We hope all restaurants will strive to emulate the excellent work of the chains on this list with respect to providing appropriate food-allergic diner accommodations,” said Paul Antico, founder and CEO of AllergyEats, of the newly-compiled list. .

Hopefully the next time you dine out, you'll be at a restaurant that has tons of options that you can eat no matter what food allergy you might have. Happy eating, everyone.