Retta's — Restaurant in Louisville

Delicious, but caution to people with celiac disease or gluten sensitivity, the website asks about allergies so it seems safe, but I was told a dish with wheat berries was gluten free and another employee thought gluten free was the same thing as vegan. If you have no allergies it’s great, my partner had the chanterelle dish and loved it.

Edited to add after owner response:

The TLDR is I would have had a better time with printed information about ingredients/allergens, a GF menu, or notation on main menu of what’s GF, etc but I can tell it’s a style choice

whether or not wheat berries are safe for celiac/gluten sensitivity aside, the menu gives very little information, so you have to ask and be told verbally. It’s clearly a style choice, but a bummer if you need to know what you’re eating. For the dish in question I heard “wheat berries, rye, cornbread” and I said “that doesn’t sound gluten free” and the server said “it IS gluten free” with no further explanation, i didn’t feel assured so I ordered something rice-based because it seemed safer. I got the impression from that interaction that the server may not know what gluten is, and may not be giving me good information about my options but I didn’t press it. I checked out the display for ice cream pints and most of them contained semolina wheat flour, so when we were sampling ice cream at the counter I asked what was gluten free if he knew, and he started pointing out the things on the menu marked with “V,” which also didn’t assure me. I told him gluten free and vegan aren’t the same thing, he asked the chef/owner, chef/owner said everything but the donut and something else(honey?), and because I was feeling less than assured that folks in the establishment knew what gluten is, I still glanced at names of ice cream and saw things that seemed likely not gluten free (Oreo something) and decided against trying much. It’s totally possible that the Oreos, rye, cornbread etc are all gluten free but with no labeling and no explanation I wasn’t sure, as it’s not the default for stuff to be gluten free. The reservation app on the website has you put in allergies/food sensitivities so I was expecting a different experience, generally places will have a separate printed menu with your choices or asterisks etc on a main menu if they’re allergy friendly. DKD and Oskar’s are examples. If I’d seen wheat berries, rye and cornbread printed with a notation that it was gluten free, I would have inquired about it rather than just think this guy doesn’t know enough to help me. At a typical restaurant with nothing about allergies on any reservation form I assume they don’t know enough to help me and I look at the menu/ingredients and get what seems safest and don’t feel any disappointment or frustration, here I was excited and then it dropped away as it seemed to be hard to get information to help me make choices and then it seemed to me that they may not know what gluten is. Maybe they do and it was just a miscommunication but just a GF printed on tiny print on the GF items would have been so helpful. Anyway! That’s my experience in more detail, hopefully someone finds it helpful (owner...

Update (9/25/25) Unable to professionally handle criticism, Retta's founder went out of his way to find and message me on Facebook to personally respond to my feedback (see images). I've blurred his response to remove profanity.

Original review (9/24/25) Retta's gave me the experience of having blackened, burnt corn in my melted ice cream... and letting me pay for it! All in an unwelcoming, stark, brightly lit atmosphere.

I went to Retta's with my wife this past weekend for a date night, and made reservations in advance (they have the audacity to charge you $20 for NOT showing up, despite having an empty restaurant...hmm). We showed up, and were seated, and handed a cryptic menu with very little description. Upon asking the waiter to please explain the menu items, he acted like it should have been obvious, and simply repeated the menu's description of both items. ...not helpful. For drinks, we let the bar tender decide on a cocktail.

My ice cream came out melted, surrounded by untasteful chunks of rye bread. Ooh! It also had burnt corn in it. Ever tried that combination? No, you haven't, and probably for good reason. Towards the end of the meal, the head chef(?) came out and gave me unmelted ice cream... gee, how generous.

My wife's meal was no better, and our drinks were average, nothing special. The only blessing is that the portion sizes were exquisitely small, so they kept suffering to a minimum!

Following our meal at Retta's, we hailed an Uber and got a delicious Meat Jesus pizza at The Last Refuge.

My recommendation: Skip Retta's and head to Last Refuge. The meals are half the price, twice the size, and thrice the taste!

As a final note, when Retta's opened in Lville, it has long lines of people who couldn't wait to get in. Now, their restaurant is mostly empty. This may be...

fresh innovative place with excellent ice cream, cool cocktails and smooth vibes!! some things to note:

ice cream flavors are really good. we have come here about 5-6(?) times since it opened and yes there have been a couple flavors that were a little bit of a miss but most have been excellent. love the lemongrass, thai tea and toasted hay. they also let you try the ice cream beforehand so you don’t end up with a flavor you don’t like.

i think the menu changes a liiittle too frequently for my liking but that’s okay, just more things to try! i loved the banana split cocktail but recently tried the jungle bird and gimlet - excellent options

yes, $6 for a scoop seems a lot but considering how a lot of places charge this amount (albeit a larger scoop) i think it’s fine because you’re trying local, housemade ice cream that is really delicious. and $15 a cocktail is standard across the board. desserts are a bit too fancy and pricey for me but that’s just a personal preference, not gonna stop me from coming here at all.

finally, the staff is very nice and friendly. maybe there have been some hiccups in smoothness of service because the place just opened but i think they’ve mostly worked everything out. excited to continue...