Zaffiro's - St Cloud, MN

This week, another post of another St cloud hotspot - Parkwood 18 Movie theatre, now with Zaffiro's restaurant inside! Great idea! Bring dinner and a movie to ONE place!

But then I think, man, can you imagine taking me on a date? Poor guy, where on earth would you take a girl like me? Well, if you are a regular dater, the dinner and a movie idea will fare well for you. And occasionally, I can hang too. We don't get to movies often so it still works out just fine.

Now, if you've been to the restaurant, I'm sure you will love the food. Even though it offers many similar options as other restaurants, the taste is much finer and higher quality. Kudos to this!

Glancing at the menu before we decided to go in, there really is not an easy way to make an entree adaptable as the offerings are complex with lots of seasonings, sauces, and while that makes it tasty for the general public, it makes it difficult for the health and dietary conscious. For the grain free, gluten free, veg, and basic allergies, this will be a very trying place for you to be.



Of course, there are the salad options, and as long as you take a minute to make some subtractions to the ingredients, you could definitely pull off a salad. Vegans best to eat before you go, salad is an option, but a plain one and as I mentioned before, bummer that our only options tend to be plain old salads. But, hey, restaurants are not required to meet all styles, just the majority rules.


Now, on to the great parts. The man who met me at the door was very helpful, kind and friendly. Kudos to great people people! I asked for gluten free options and yes, by gosh and by golly, they have a medium sized gluten free pizza! Yippee if you want pizza with a movie!  Keep in mind, my only goal is to review the report THE OPTIONS.   My goal is to show people how they can live a "normal" life and still participate in the activities their friends are. It's baby steps in my opinion, and I certainly don't expect people to eat like I do. I treasure my vegetation, but hey, I'm going out. I'll stop in my garden on the way.

To be fair, I would like to take some time next time to sit in the dining room. This time, we just ordered a pizza and took it into the movie. Perhaps if I had more time to get a few minutes of chat in with the staff or manager I would have found out that maybe there were more options than my scrutinizing eye could initially see.

The best part...the gluten free pizza....the crust? Fantastic! So unlike the ricey, doughy, gooey, or saltine crack cardboard crust that is common when the crust is ordered in instead of being made fresh. Zaffiro's went beyond and got a much better tasting crust. If you're into pizza, and need it gluten free, it may be worth a preorder and a pick up, even if you don't hit the movie.

The final note however, is good news. YOU can be a person that goes on dates! You too can have dinner and a movie. OH and by the way, check out "Home Again", I recommend this very cute chic flick. (even the men were laughing)

Happy foodies to y'all,

DrFoodie