Foods from Chartwells
Comments
2006 Dec 13
Ah, the caf.
After more than a year of eating at the uO cafeteria, I have mixed feelings. At first I enjoyed the fresh, toasted on the spot sandwiches and an occasional "normal, cooked meal" along with the fast food (Pizza Pizza, Extreme Pita, generic burger place).
Management was changed before the start of the fall 2006 semester. Sadly, the supermarket style sushi was lost. A welcome addition was Upper Crust, located a floor below the main cafeteria but definitely an important part of eating at uO. Upper Crust offers a nice variety of sub sandwiches in real, fresh baguette bread and assorted pastries. I probably eat there an average of four of my ten plan.
The "normal cooked meal" section of the main cafeteria, Menutainment, changed under the new management. Their focus is now stir fry: You have a choice between 3 types of protein (tiny shrimp, chicken, beef) along with a decent selection of vegetables and a sauce (thai, teriyaki, and others I forget), that is finally sloshed on to rice or "noodles" (thin spaghetti). Many times, the vegetables are undercooked (they usually spend 5-10 minutes in the pan) but I guess overall the stir fry is passable and I'm thankful to have it as an alternative.
Menutainment also offers two different dishes a day, usually one vegetarian. Most of these are OK (the sides are horrible though; overcooked tasteless veggies, old fries, hard dry rice, etc all tasteless). Some dishes are good, but there are many more "misses" than "hits".
The burger place was changed to Coyote Joe's but it hasn't changed much. Thankfully, the burger patties are now chargrilled instead of fried (cooked in advance and again for a while when you get your burger). They also offer breakfast modeled after McDonalds, but I've never made it to the cafeteria before 11:30am :P The new management also introduced a smoothie place, which is another welcome addition. You have a selection of a little more than 20 smoothies and 4 types of booster (protein, energy, focus, and another I forget).
The Extreme Pita seems to be a faithful recreation of the franchise, and the pitas are a decent alternative when eating at the cafeteria. Luck with Pizza Pizza depends on when you go. They are always making five kinds of pizza but if you go during an off time, you will get a slice that has been sitting on the heated pad for a while (worst case being hard enough to stay straight if you hold it by the crust), but that doesn't happen very often (worst case happened to me once in 3 semesters).
In short, the cafeteria is just OK.
After more than a year of eating at the uO cafeteria, I have mixed feelings. At first I enjoyed the fresh, toasted on the spot sandwiches and an occasional "normal, cooked meal" along with the fast food (Pizza Pizza, Extreme Pita, generic burger place).
Management was changed before the start of the fall 2006 semester. Sadly, the supermarket style sushi was lost. A welcome addition was Upper Crust, located a floor below the main cafeteria but definitely an important part of eating at uO. Upper Crust offers a nice variety of sub sandwiches in real, fresh baguette bread and assorted pastries. I probably eat there an average of four of my ten plan.
The "normal cooked meal" section of the main cafeteria, Menutainment, changed under the new management. Their focus is now stir fry: You have a choice between 3 types of protein (tiny shrimp, chicken, beef) along with a decent selection of vegetables and a sauce (thai, teriyaki, and others I forget), that is finally sloshed on to rice or "noodles" (thin spaghetti). Many times, the vegetables are undercooked (they usually spend 5-10 minutes in the pan) but I guess overall the stir fry is passable and I'm thankful to have it as an alternative.
Menutainment also offers two different dishes a day, usually one vegetarian. Most of these are OK (the sides are horrible though; overcooked tasteless veggies, old fries, hard dry rice, etc all tasteless). Some dishes are good, but there are many more "misses" than "hits".
The burger place was changed to Coyote Joe's but it hasn't changed much. Thankfully, the burger patties are now chargrilled instead of fried (cooked in advance and again for a while when you get your burger). They also offer breakfast modeled after McDonalds, but I've never made it to the cafeteria before 11:30am :P The new management also introduced a smoothie place, which is another welcome addition. You have a selection of a little more than 20 smoothies and 4 types of booster (protein, energy, focus, and another I forget).
The Extreme Pita seems to be a faithful recreation of the franchise, and the pitas are a decent alternative when eating at the cafeteria. Luck with Pizza Pizza depends on when you go. They are always making five kinds of pizza but if you go during an off time, you will get a slice that has been sitting on the heated pad for a while (worst case being hard enough to stay straight if you hold it by the crust), but that doesn't happen very often (worst case happened to me once in 3 semesters).
In short, the cafeteria is just OK.
Umamiman
There were some pretty colourful characters working there then. The union-lifers acted up a bit to liven what must be a soul-killer of a job.