I agree, but what I encounter often is the waiter never comes back to see if everything is ok, nor can you flag him down. Eventually you just eat the damn too-tough way over cooked steak because you are hungry. When the waiter finally comes back because he’s ready to get paid and move you on, you tell him the steak…

It is not unreasonable at all to expect your life-threatening allergies to be respected. I have the same issue but I am always extremely polite about my requests and I overtip to compensate for the extra trouble. However, if I have to go to the hospital because the waiter did not really check with the chef, or the…