When one thinks of a school cafeteria, it usually doesn’t evoke pleasant thoughts. Long lines, bad food and unfriendly people come to mind. However, here on the Hilltop it’s an entirely different story. RFoC in Umphrey Lee goes above and beyond the meaning of school cafeteria, by offering fresh, tasty food prepared right in front of students, friendly cooks and staff and fast, efficient service.
RFoC has made great strides in the past four years, including a massive facelift. The dining area became home to individual stations including: a salad station, a pizza and pasta station, dessert station and more. These stations help diminish the long lines of the pre-renovation days. RFoC does a good job of letting patrons know what is and isn’t nutritious and offers food options for the health conscious. Whether you want to eat healthy or not, there’s always a great variety of tasty food to choose from.
As great as Umphrey Lee is, we have a few complaints, and none of them have to do with the quality of the food.
The issue is more about getting the opportunity to actually eat some of the delicious cuisine. Problems kick off around breakfast time, well that depends on what time one decides to partake the first meal of the day. Students who are early risers are probably perfectly content with the breakfast content at the cafeteria. However, anyone who heads in to Umphrey Lee after 9:30 a.m., which is still relatively early for many college students, will undoubtedly not be as excited about their choices. By this time, there may be a few biscuits left along with whatever remains of the bacon and eggs. However, students should not wait in vain for fresh food, because it simply is not on its way. The all day omelet, waffle and cereal options are thoughtful, but honestly, most people can eat only so many Lucky Charms.
Flash forward to 10 a.m., lunch food has arrived. However, don’t even think about trying to get into any of the saran-wrapped salad items or other covered food. Seriously, if you want to eat, do not come at this time. The idea of a transition period is totally understandable, however, it seems to take place during a prime breakfast time. Also, it’s just plain irritating to see the only food out is food that one can’t have, or most likely will not be in the mood for in the next few hours.
While older students have the option not to purchase a meal plan, freshmen are forced to fork over thousands of dollars. If they aren’t going to be able to eat food they’ve paid good money for, then alternative options need to be offered.
Although there is no official dinner time, it seems that most people tend to eat from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Not at Umphrey Lee. After 7:30 p.m. all of the fresh food is pretty much done for the night, and the salad bar is bare of many components.
