Special Needs Child Receives Royal Treatment At New Red Robin

COMMACK, NY - The new Red Robin in Commack is already making an impact in the community and it hasn't even officially opened yet.

When Nicole Gianelli saw that the burger chain, which is her's 8-year-old son's Vincent Gianelli favorite, was coming to her town while driving down Commack Road, she decided to reach out to management.

"Whenever we would drive by, [Vincent] wanted to take pictures of the restaurant and he would ask 'what are they building now, the kitchen, the bathrooms?' so I thought it would be nice if we could be there for the grand opening," Nicole said.

She called corporate who informed her they would be doing a sneak peek.

She wrote an email to the manager explaining her situation and asking if her family could be part of the grand opening:

To Whom It May Concern, My family and I moved out to Commack, New York 2 years ago. My husband and I have three children. Our 8 year old son has special needs. He has a true love for French Fries. My Inlaws own a campground in Penn. and we take him to Red Robin everytime we drive there. Recently they started to build one right near our home in Commack. Everyday he asks when it is going to open. He loves driving by and seeing the progress being made. I was wondering but more like making a plea is there anyway possible he could be a part of the grand opening of be one of the first customers to be served. It would truly make a little boy extremely happy.

The restaurant was more than happy to include the whole family to the sneak peek, including Nicole's two other children, 7-year-old Dominick and 4-year-old Samantha.

"From the moment we got there, there was the location manager and a corporate manager greeting us and coming up to our table constantly checking in on us and saying how touched they were by my email," she said. "Not only did they have a basket of fries waiting for him, they made him an 'employee' of Red Robin. They will get my business any day of the week."

The employees also made sure to include Dominick and Samantha as well, giving special Commack Red Robin pins.

"People don't understand, sometimes people treat special needs kids or adults so different and sometimes all it takes a little compassion," Nicole said. "Compassion goes so far."

She also said she never expected to receive this kind of treatment from the restaurant.

"I expected to just take my son to dinner and make him happy and have french fries," Nicole said. "I never expected to receive such royal treatment."

Vincent also definitely enjoyed his time at the restaurant.

"At the end of the night when we got home, he actually called my mom and told her he was a superstar," Nicole said. "If people just take a minute to get to know someone with special needs they would learn a lot and people should learn to treat others with kindness and compassionate because they don't know what obstacles others go through."

The family has been invited back to eat at the restaurant for the grand opening on Monday.

Photos courtesy of Nicole Gianelli