After months of rumors, emails and shared Facebook articles involving Sodexo’s food rating, OCU’s dining service has changed.
With that comes confusing meal plans, a Chick-fil-A, a redesigned caf, and a downscaled version of Alvin’s Cafe.
Was this all really worth it? I’m suffering from a shortage of cheese bread from Alvin’s, and we don’t even get our Chick-fil-A on schedule. There is even a wall that was erected between Alvin’s and the former dining area where the Chick-fil-A will go.
It is also my understanding that we are only allowed one Chick-fil-A purchase a day with our meal plan points. If we want a second visit, we have to spend our hard-earned cash. I guess we don’t spend enough cash on meal plans as expensive as OCU’s. We have meal plans so that we don’t have to spend cash on food.
I am on Meal Plan F, a confusing plan with refreshing meal allowances and enough points for 10,000 iced coffees.
When this Chick-Fil-A does finally get here, they expect me to only go once a day? That’s just not a fair rule. That being said, the best part of my days will be rolling up and ordering a No. 1 with the Sriracha sweet and spicy sauce.
Alvin’s is lacking in food–all of it, to be specific. The market only serves snacks and coffee at the moment. I guess the new idea for Alvin’s is to mix an airport gift shop with a Starbucks. That being said, the location looks nice, and it promotes a university feel. Market at Alvin’s is just not the proper name. Where’s the market? I miss the days of buying a gallon of milk, getting a frapp and ordering cheese bread with a side of Fettuccine Alfredo.
The caf also has gone through some cosmetic changes. They tried to theme the caf by renaming all of the food locations with clever names.
But, the only theme I’m picking up on is “fire hazard.” It is impossible to navigate through the caf. If you’re not running into chairs or people, you’re running into a table of desserts located directly in the center of the dining area. Parties of one also decide that sitting at a booth is acceptable. The only problem with that is that there are parties of six or more trying to eat, and it’s just cruel to take up that much space.
The food also is different this year. The chicken is cooked, the potatoes are delicious and the biscuits are soft. If you haven’t tried the pizza, I recommend that most of all.
This new food company seems to present a bittersweet alternative to OCU students, and I’m not entirely sure if I’m okay with it yet. Sure, I enjoy the food being slightly more tolerable, but I still miss what we had.
The saying “you don’t know what you have until its gone” hits me hard when I walk up to the caf and am confronted by a line that extends all the way down the hall in Tom and Brenda McDaniel University Center.
The food is better, but we lost too much to make one small stride. I miss the old Alvin’s setup, the grill-“grille” as they call it now-being open at dinner time, the ability to navigate through the caf, and cheese bread. The pros just don’t outweigh the cons.
I’m sure that opinions will shift when the Chick-fil-A opens up, and when Market at Alvin’s starts to look and feel a little more like an actual market.
The market should take advantage of its own name and go back to selling things like fruit, milk and maybe even some frozen food.
Students enjoy making meals in their rooms from time to time, and this could be a great selling point with potential students.
We have a long way to go until this year is up, and hopefully changes will continue to be made as far as dining at OCU goes.
But I’m not too optimistic. They made it personal when they took away my cheese bread.
Sounds like a pretty selfish complaint. If you want cheese bread, learn to make cheese bread. I’m sure the better tasting food appeals more to those that aren’t there just for cheese bread.