A little update: I've now been to the casino 4 or 5 times. I've joined friends from the area at different restaurants on-site and gotten a very good lay of the land. And I'm up! (for now)
Mystique: fantastic restaurant! Yes, it's admittedly expensive, but the food quality, presentation, and service justify it.
Garden Cafe: went here for brunch, only to find out they end breakfast Saturday at 11:30a, which really surprised me. Thank goodness smashed avocado toast is a mainstay on their lunch shared plates (and BTW, not to sound peak-millennial or anything, but their smashed avocado toast was the freshest, most delicious avocado toast I've ever eaten). Salmon burger, classic burger, and seashore fries were very good. Noise level is a bit high. You can see with the upholstery and curtains everywhere that an interior designer went to great lengths to calm the noise levels here; however, the person coordinating stereo speakers there didn't get the memo.
On Deck Burger Bar: I tried 4 times at different times of day/night to get a seat here and couldn't. A line 50 strong formed out the front door waiting to get seated at a table 10p on a Saturday evening. After waiting 10 minutes in the line and inching a little closer to the front, I noticed one by one bro's in front of me throwing their hands in the air shouting, "Dude, WTF? Come on!" We get near the front and I overhear the host/manager say the kitchen is closed and the wait is now just to stand near the bar. Pressing to see if the manager is kidding, I ask him to repeat that again, to which he reiterates the kitchen is closed and they are only accepting people to stand near the bar. Maintaining my composure, I took a deep breath and told the manager to look behind me at the 50+ people in line for burgers and milkshakes and maybe consider telling them the kitchen's closed instead of negligently wasting our time. His hostesses immediately began walking down the line to break the news to people, and people immediately scattered. We ended up at Bru...
Bru: where to begin? ... The positives, I guess. Ice cream and coffee here are delicious. But for the 'fast casual, non-Dunkin'' option at the resort, it's remarkable to me that it consistently takes 10+ minutes to place and receive an order here. They had 17 people behind the counter opening day and took 10 minutes to make me a coffee (there were only 6 of us in line). I initially thought "opening day... it'll get better". A couple days later, there were fewer staff people, but more people in line. 15 minutes. Saturday was the culmination of their problems: a line 30-40+ people long stretching into their main corridor waiting to place orders; it takes them a full minute to process each person's order at a register; there's no NFP (ApplePay/Samsung Pay); the receipts they print you neither itemize your order if you pay with a card nor do they give you an order number; and the volume of crowds waiting for food make it inaudible to hear your name called when an order is ready to be picked up 30 minutes after arriving. Can the Dunkin' or Boloco corporate trainers please intervene with the Bru staff to help them more efficiently process orders?!?!
Waterfront: overlooking the fact that Waterfront is not actually on the waterfront, I was really happy with this place. Great long bar, amazing beer and cider selection, and great bar bites as well. This was the most organic, Boston-feeling space on the resort property.
Garden Lounge: It's still unclear to me if you just seat yourself or if a host/ess is supposed to, but my friend and I awkwardly asked a waitress there how to get served and she kind of seated us in a comfy booth to get espressos and capuccinos (which were off menu, but they'll furnish). This is a great spot for an evening whiskey or cognac among friends.
