Favorite Restaurant says NO to calories on the menu...

What restaurant is this from?

That sounds really ridiculous...

I think they are at least required to make the food nutrition information available..

There's also a good chance they know their #s will be super high, like most sit-down restaurants in the 1000-2000 calorie dish range.

There's no requirement that I've ever heard of. As they said in the email, having all their menu items tested by a lab for caloric and nutritional content is prohibitively expensive for an independent restaurant. That's why you normally only see it done for large chain restaurants. I don't think I've even been in a mom and pop restaurant that posted nutrition information. I suppose they could come up with a ball park figure by just adding up each ingredient similar to how we enter recipes here on MFP.

There's no requirement that I've ever heard of. As they said in the email, having all their menu items tested by a lab for caloric and nutritional content is prohibitively expensive for an independent restaurant. That's why you normally only see it done for large chain restaurants. I don't think I've even been in a mom and pop restaurant that posted nutrition information. I suppose they could come up with a ball park figure by just adding up each ingredient similar to how we enter recipes here on MFP.

Actually like I previously quoted, there is a requirement for restaurants that have 20 or more locations.

On March 23, 2010, the President signed the health care reform legislation into law. Section 4205 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 requires restaurants and similar retail food establishments with 20 or more locations to list calorie content information for standard menu items on restaurant menus and menu boards, including drive-through menu boards. Other nutrient information – total calories, fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, sodium, total carbohydrates, sugars, fiber and total protein – would have to be made available in writing upon request. The Act also requires vending machine operators who own or operate 20 or more vending machines to disclose calorie content for certain items.

The FDA has issued a Federal Register notice that explains how restaurants and similar retail food establishments with fewer than 20 locations and vending machine operators with fewer than 20 vending machines can voluntarily register to become subject to new federal menu labeling requirements. Anyone needing assistance with filling out this form call 240-402-2371.

Quoting the FDA website...again the link is http://www.fda.gov/food/labelingnutrition/ucm217762.htm

Gilbert, AZ checking in!

when i eat out i usually do not go by their nutrition estimates because they are so inaccurate and i can understand a small restaurant not wanting to print the info. i usually ballpark the calories based on the ingredients and round up a lot.


speaking of Scottsdale have any of you been to Iruna for tapas? fantastic place.

me too! i did terrible tonight and added like 800 calories NOT needed. I cut everything in half too!

There is a Vegan Restaurant by campus I like to go to get some quick to eat before class or after the gym/class. They didn't have the calorie info either BUT they do have recipe book with all the stuff they make at the restaurant and some that I was able to buy from them. So i can just basically put in what they use from there. Very helpful.

Hey that's life, I've never seen calories on a menu in my part of the world and I've managed to lose weight while eating out pretty often, I think it's a good life skill to be able to make a "best guess" smart choice from the menu.

Honestly, any good chef isn't going to measure ingredients, but eyeballs everything anyway. Even the calorie counts you see for chains etc I wouldn't rely on as accurate as one cook can be heavy-handed on certain ingredients, etc.

My rule is that if I know I'm going to eat out that day, I try to save extra calories for the large amount I'm going to likely consume at the restaurant.

Only large chains are required to post their nutrition info. I live in AZ and have not tried Nourish yet. Pita Jungle posts theirs and I was surpised on how large the calories were in some of my simple dishes like their mahi mahi. I know wildflower posts their nutrition info and I can take a salad and minus out the things I am not eating such as the bread or the cheese.

But Pita Jungle is so delicious who cares? (I can only say that cuz I only get to eat there when I visit my family in Mesa and vacation days are cheat days for me)

And in regards to the thread topic - 1. yes, only restaurants with 20 or more locations are/will be required to provide nutritional info. 2. The law was originally going to go into effect by Mar 2011 but got pushed back to next year, so no restaurants could be reported at this time. 3. Testing the food and getting official FDA numbers is ridiculously expensive and that's one reason why there was even pushback at the 20 restaurant level, so really small places are highly unlikely to ever do it. 4. I'm not sure what Dr. Oz tested, but most of the studies I've read about testing restaurant dishes vs nutritionals supplied about 30% of the meals were off by hundreds of calories. Some restaurants have been forced to do new FDA testing to get new nutritionals published. Even stuff like ice cream servings from Coldstone and Baskin Robbins were wildly off. One article I read the average serving was 150% of the published serving size. (I.e. if it was a 4oz serving in the data you were getting 6oz). Great for value, horrid for calorie counting.

And through all of this typing, all I've been able to think about is Chompie's from my last AZ trip. lol