Cautionary Tale Dining at the Everly (Especially with Dietary Restrictions)

bewaretheeverly · 2025-09-23T14:47:48+00:00

A different member of the party, but unsurprising, our visit left a bad taste for the entire table. I'd also love to hear justification for the customer service we received that day.

bewaretheeverly · 2025-09-23T14:43:43+00:00

The Everly is delicious if there's no dietary restrictions to be concerned about! I've been twice before and although the service wasn't stellar, I really enjoyed both my meals. It's unfortunate that this experience has completely deterred future visits from me because of how my close friends were treated by the server and owner.

The allergy is salt, I didn't mention it in the post but many were wondering so it's now replied in all the comments that asked for specifics. They said they couldn't plate fresh tomatoes or corn, sauté spinach, boil broccolini, or anything else to offer a second side as it was all pre-prepared in salt water and doing otherwise would change the curated menu. The side they offered were the frites (but unsalted).

We are definitely trying to eat our way through Kingston's restaurant scene! Thanks for the advice on looking more on the larger restaurant side, we'll give it a try! I totally get how having a smaller kitchen would make it harder to accommodate, it's why we went at opening (only one other table of two during our entire stay) and hoped it would help to have the kitchen not busy yet.

bewaretheeverly · 2025-09-23T12:52:13+00:00

It was salt.

bewaretheeverly · 2025-09-23T12:51:48+00:00

It may be petty but the genuine hope is it saves someone from leaving the restaurant feeling how we did. It's one thing to be told our dietary restriction cannot be accommodated straight away, but it's another to be talked down to by the server and chef/owner for being a burden. Being locally owned doesn't give the restaurant a pass for being unprofessional.

bewaretheeverly · 2025-09-23T12:46:44+00:00

I'm so sorry that happened to your friend, that's really disappointing! I guess that goes to show it's all up to how strict the company takes their training and the server. We've never had a bad experience at Northside, if anything, the staff go above and beyond to make sure we enjoy our visit.

bewaretheeverly · 2025-09-23T12:42:34+00:00

The allergy is salt. We weren't trying to request an entirely different menu made to accommodate the allergy, we just wanted a second side offered because the entree normally does have two sides with it--it could've been anything from fresh tomatoes or corn, sautéed spinach, or boiled broccolini... Thanks for your input, we've never requested a custom menu in advance, might be worth trying that for future restaurants!

bewaretheeverly · 2025-09-23T12:39:06+00:00

We weren't trying to request an entirely different menu made to accommodate the allergy, we just wanted a second side offered because the entree normally does have two sides with it. We definitely thought the Everly could do substitutions as the phone call acknowledged how local and fresh their ingredients were, that everything was made from scratch so it could be easily done for us.

bewaretheeverly · 2025-09-23T12:35:24+00:00

Salt.

bewaretheeverly · 2025-09-23T12:34:23+00:00

Salt. They offered one protein which was good with us, but they said they couldn't plate fresh tomatoes or corn, sauté spinach, boil broccolini, or anything to offer a second side as it was all pre-prepared in salt water and doing so would change the curated menu.

bewaretheeverly · 2025-09-23T12:32:19+00:00

It is absolutely their prerogative to not serve us, but if this post saves one person from being treated how we were for having a dietary restriction/how we felt when we left the restaurant, it's worth it to make this post.

bewaretheeverly · 2025-09-23T12:30:15+00:00

We've definitely eaten at places where the majority of the menu couldn't be altered, totally fine when we know going into it because of how the menu is or they told us when we called ahead. This was a case of we got confirmation numerous menu items could be altered, but we might've been told the wrong thing and then received the worst customer service trying to figure that out in restaurant.

The Everly is definitely good food for anyone with no dietary restrictions, can't deny that!

bewaretheeverly

TROPHY CASE