And for the worst:
Trails End was a bust. When I checked in, they handed me an allergy pamphlet that listed the common allergies (fish, nuts, etc) that were present in the buffet offerings. There was nothing about vegetarian or vegan. When our server came by, I asked to speak with the chef. The server then asked what my allergy was and I tried to explain that I don't eat meat and can't tolerate a lot of dairy. She cut me off to say that they have salads and stuff on the buffet. I reiterated that I'd like to speak with a chef about my dietary restrictions. She told me they were super busy and that it's obvious when I look what has meat in it. I started to say that meat wasn't the only issue when she cut me off and said she'd send someone by, but that it could be a while. Everyone else was getting their food while I was alone with my toddler at the table when a woman came by. She never introduced herself, so I have no idea if she was a manager, chef, or what, though I doubt chef given what next ensued. She said, "You don't know what's vegetarian?" I replied that I'd like someone to go over it with me so I knew what was safe. She looked at me like she was waiting for me to follow her so I scooped up my toddler and we went to the buffet. She gestured toward the right half of the buffet and said, "Basically, this stuff doesn't have meat. The stuff over there like the chicken and the carving board, you want to avoid." I responded that I wanted to know what had dairy as well. She told me that was listed in the allergy book. I again asked if she could go over the buffet line offerings that have dairy with me.
She seemed rather frustrated at this point, but finally walked over to the food and said, "You probably want to avoid the dressings and the salads that have dressings. The baked beans and mashed potatoes are fine, as are the vegetables. There's fruit and there's baked potatoes over there." Then she walked away. I went back to the table dumbfounded. She never went over the dessert station and I couldn't believe she told me the baked beans were okay as there was definitely visible meat in them (and confirmed by DH who ate them), I've never seen mashed potatoes without dairy, and sometimes vegetables have butter or bacon grease so I would have liked to clarify that. I didn't really feel comfortable eating anything from the buffet at this point, after being told to eat things that were clearly not okay for me to eat.
When our server came by again, she asked if I was vegan or vegetarian. I started to say that it's kind of complicated and that I don't eat meat or fish, but when it comes to dairy I can handle some things if... She AGAIN cut me off and said she'd see if her vegetarian and vegan chef could come talk to me but that he was very busy.
About 45 mins pass and my family is done eating. I've only had some fruit from the buffet. Finally, I see Chef TJ come out and I get excited. He goes to one table, then another, then disappears back in the kitchen. The kids are antsy and I'm feeling terrible that everyone is waiting on me. DH tells me not to worry and they will wait all night because he knew how much I was looking forward to this meal. Finally, the sever comes by, plops a plate of food in front of me saying the kitchen had prepared it, and walks away. It consisted of 2 mushrooms, 2 pieces of zucchini, 2 squash, tomatoes, onions, and a handful of tofu covered in some sauce. I took a bite and realized that the sauce was balsamic vinaigrette. The mushrooms we're good and the zucchini was okay, the squash soaked up the vinaigrette and I couldn't stomach it. I hate the taste of balsamic vinaigrette. The tofu was somehow dry but still tasted strongly of the vinaigrette. Tomatoes and onions upset my stomach so I didn't touch those. I ate the mushrooms, zucchini, and a couple pieces of tofu, but couldn't stomach the rest. The server didn't say anything when she took the plate away.
Overall, I was incredibly disappointed with how everything was handled there and we ended up going back to our resort where I ate the rest of my leftover quinoa burger from Raglan Road.