DoorDash Special Instructions Gone: 25 Reviews (2026)

If you open a restaurant in the DoorDash app and the box for special instructions is gone, you are not looking in the wrong place. Since August a growing number of DoorDash customers on Android say they can no longer write "no onions", "sauce on the side" or an allergy note on their order, and in October the complaints picked up sharply.

We read every recent Google Play review about it to find out when it started, whether it hits every restaurant, and what people are doing instead.

Quick Answer: Where Did DoorDash Special Instructions Go?

25 Google Play reviewers since 30 July 2026 say they can no longer add special instructions, notes or customizations to their DoorDash food order, and 11 of them wrote in the first two weeks of October. 17 say the special instructions or notes option is gone, and 8 say they cannot customize or modify items anymore. Five of them need it for a food allergy or celiac disease. Some say it is gone at every restaurant, others say only at some, and one reviewer says the app told them to call the restaurant instead. DoorDash replied to none of the 25.

How We Counted

We pulled the 9,000 most recent US English-language Google Play reviews of DoorDash, which reach back to 30 July 2026, and read every review that mentions special instructions, special requests, notes, customizing, modifying, allergies or celiac disease. DoorDash holds 4.66 stars from 6,256,849 ratings on Google Play and 4.77 from 23,398,642 on the App Store. Every review below is from the Android app.

Most of the matches were about something else. Reviews about a Dasher ignoring delivery instructions, or a restaurant getting the order wrong, were left out. We kept only reviews that say the app itself no longer lets them add a request to the food. That left 25 reviews, 23 of them negative and 18 of them one star.

It Has Been Growing Since August

This is not a one-day bug. The complaints come in a slow, rising line:

The share of negative reviews about it went up four times from August to October. 8 of the 25 came after 8 October, the day version 15.296.3 first shows up in our sample, and 7 of those 8 were on that version. It was already running on 56% of all reviews from 8 October onward (467 of 830), so the new version is not the whole story, but October is when people started noticing it in numbers.

What Reviewers Say Is Missing

The clearest reviews are short. The button or section for special instructions is simply not there:

Why did you remove the special instructions button/section? I no longer see it on any restaurant/store listing

I have 10 different food allergies, and I can no longer submit special instructions through the app.

used to use it all the time, now the app seems to be missing the special instructions function which allowed me put my food allergies in.

Others describe what it costs them. For several people this is the only way to order safely:

they got rid of special requests for all restaurants. my husband has celiacs and I ask for our food in separate bags and no bread using this option! now we cant even order. guess that dashpass is useless now.

Bout to cancel dash pass. Removing my ability to do special instructions is unacceptable. All the places I use, I have to write in to inform them I don't want part of what is included in the dish. Terrible decision to take that away.

With the latest update, they took away the ability to make customizations. That just made it so I will no longer order from half of the restaurants. If I can't get it prepared the way I want, what is the point?

The September reviews already say the same thing. This reviewer calls it dangerous, because there is no way left to warn a restaurant about an allergy:

app has updated and now special requests arent available on any store at all, which is dangerous. you can't make simple asks or alert them of an allergy. this is including stores who previously took them just fine.

Is It Gone Everywhere, or Only at Some Restaurants?

Reviewers do not agree, and that matters if you are trying to work around it.

Five reviewers say it is gone at every restaurant or store they use, including stores that used to accept requests. Others describe something narrower. One says customization is "missing half the options for most restaurants", one says some stores have no option to add a note, and one says the requests disappeared even at restaurants that always took them:

the most recent app update has completely ruined the functionality. half of the time I cant add anything to the cart, it wont select options, I have to keep closing the app and reopening and hope that I can add my food fast enough it doesnt break before I can check out again. theres also no longer any ability to ask for special requests at restaurants that have always accepted them. what started as a minor inconvenience somehow turned into a total inability to use the app as intended.

Two reviews from August point at a setting on the restaurant side. One reviewer says the request box was grayed out and the app told them to call the restaurant instead:

Anytime I place an order, I am unable to make ANY custom changes, and I don't mean anything detailed, just no ice in my drink or something similar. The bottom portion where these requests should go is completely grayed out, and no changes to the prompt can be made. It states instead that I have to call the restaurant to make special requests.

And a five-star reviewer asked DoorDash to get restaurants to switch the feature back on:

so far great! I do ask that you have restaurants turn on their special instructions notifications because alot of them have it turned off but refuse to answer the phone when you call in to give your request. this cuts into the dasher's tip

So there may be two things going on: restaurants that have turned requests off, and an app change that removed the box more widely. DoorDash has not answered any of these reviews, so we cannot tell you which one you are hitting.

What You Can Do

Try the DoorDash website. One reviewer says the special notes are gone from the app and that you now have to use the browser instead.

Check a second restaurant. If the box is missing at one place but there at another, it is probably that restaurant's setting, not your app.

Call the restaurant after you order. This is what the app itself told one reviewer to do. Two reviewers say restaurants often don't pick up during a rush, so do it right after you place the order, not when the food is already being made.

If you have an allergy, don't rely on the order going through right. Five reviewers say they used this box for allergies or celiac disease. Without it, the restaurant gets no warning. If you can't reach anyone, order something that is safe as it comes on the menu.

If your order arrived wrong anyway, read what reviewers say about DoorDash refunds and fees, or see how Uber Eats handles missing items.

Read the Full Breakdown

You can read the full negative review breakdown for DoorDash on Android and DoorDash on iOS, or go to the DoorDash trust check, how to cancel DashPass and apps like DoorDash.