The Penn State HUB: a location where students can gather, mingle, work, and grow — but not eat gluten-free. A particularly disappointing dining location for gluten-free eaters is McAlister’s deli in the HUB-Robeson Center. McAlister’s is a chain restaurant specializing in deli foods, including savory sandwiches and decadent potatoes.
An extremely useful element of certain dining options at Penn State for celiacs is online menus with indicated allergens. This allows us to prepare our orders ahead of time, so as to avoid the uncomfortable, confusing conversations about our specialty orders. Although McAlister’s allows online ordering, there is no menu available through the HUB dining website or allergens displayed on their menu if you opt to order in-person. This secrecy surrounding allergen-friendliness is scary for celiacs. Not only is this scary, but also inconvenient. In order to ensure my own safety in ordering, I had to resort to researching the national McAlister’s website and finding their full allergen list.
I will give credit to McAlister’s for having a thorough allergen menu that was easy to navigate. I was able to select an allergen, and the website revealed an exhaustive list of each ingredient used in their recipes and if they contained gluten or wheat, in my case.
Unfortunately, this allergen list on their website does reveal that the meal options at McAlister’s Deli are limited for celiacs. If you intend to eat anything more substantial than applesauce or salad dressing, the choices are scarce. Some of their loaded potatoes can make for a legitimate meal, as well as their chili and salads. However, the rest of the gluten-free menu mainly consists of beverages, sides, and random toppings.
In my experience, the chili and potatoes were both solid options, but it is not as satisfying as some of the other gluten-containing meals. Watching other diners indulge in their renowned sandwiches is a bit of a let-down. Since they are able to confirm that so many of their sandwich ingredients are gluten-free, I would love to see them begin providing a gluten-free bread substitution for students with celiacs.
Due to its limited gluten-free foods and the inconvenient search for an allergen menu, I award the HUB’s McAlister’s Deli a 1.5 star GF rating.
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