The Catalina Restaurant at Lough Erne Resort

This is going to be a very long and very honest review. I don’t often leave reviews, but as a vegan I often rely on others’ experiences, so I hope this helps someone in the future. My husband booked a table for us a week in advance and made it clear that we’re vegan and celebrating a special occasion. He was reassured that a five-course vegan dinner would be available, which made us very excited. Catalina presents itself as fine dining, so our expectations were high. The restaurant itself is beautiful, and we were seated at a lovely table by the window overlooking the lake, a wonderful start. Unfortunately, things went downhill from there. When the menus arrived, we noticed only a couple of vegan options. After we reminded the waiter of our booking, he explained that the chef could “improvise” for us. The amuse-bouche, a refreshing melon dish gave us hope, but sadly the rest of the experience was inconsistent. For starters, I had roasted cauliflower while my husband was given a tomato soup (not on the menu). Both were just okay, though the soup was overly sweet. For mains, we both chose the mushroom risotto. The problem? It had the exact same elements as my starter-celeriac purée and truffle. In fine dining, repeating components between courses feels lazy, especially when both dishes are already on the menu and not created on the spot. To make matters worse, the risotto was also overwhelmingly sweet and unbalanced. Perhaps the original version included cheese to cut through the sweetness, but without it, the dish simply didn’t work. At this point, every course we’d had leaned oddly toward sweet, unusual and disappointing. The bread offered was gluten- and dairy-free, but so dry and bland that we didn’t bother eating it. It felt more like a supermarket “free from” loaf than something served in a fine dining restaurant. Many breads are vegan (we are not gluten free) a slice of a nice sourdough would make a difference. We were also brought thick-cut chips (which were actually very good) and a strange side of root vegetables that looked like leftovers from a broth, lightly chargrilled but completely unseasoned. We didn’t have time for dessert as we were heading to the cinema, though honestly, another sweet dish wasn’t very appealing by then. Lack of time was our miscalculation and I would like to say that actually the slow pace of dining is something we do like. The waiting staff were friendly and attentive, but whenever we gave feedback (such as pointing out how similar my starter and main were), the answer was always: “the chef tried to improvise.” Considering we gave a week’s notice and mentioned it was a special occasion, we expected more than last-minute improvisation. We fully understand this is not a vegan restaurant, and we don’t expect a London or Berlin-style vegan fine dining experience in rural Northern Ireland. Still, with a little extra thought and effort, Catalina could become a real destination for vegans looking for a special occasion meal. At present, however, it falls short. I’m confident meat-eaters will have a wonderful fine dining experience here, but for vegans, it’s underwhelming and unfortunately, a disappointing way to celebrate our anniversary.