The Runner Staff
The Runner Grille offers a sporadic dining schedule. Some of the meals taste good, but the majority don’t. In addition, there are not very many food options. The Runner editorial board would like to see extended hours in the schedule and more dining options.
The Grille offers little healthy food options, little vegetarian food options, and serves only whole milk.
Starting a new semester is different for everybody, but no one escape the from the lack of dining options available on campus.
Over the summer, the Runner Grille has gone through structural and functional changes. What used to be booths for specific foods, like pizza, has been replaced with a buffet.
Students didn’t find out about the change until Aug. 27th, which was just one day before classes started.
The Grille’s hours and prices were sent in an email by Campus Dining.
Breakfast is scheduled from 7:30 a.m.-10:00 a.m., lunch from 11:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m., and dinner from 5:00 p.m.-7:30 p.m.
The majority of students, especially those who live in the dorms do not favor these hours.
Students are only given seven hours to drop in the Grille and use up their meal plans, but the day has 24 hours and people get hungry during those other 17 hours.
During the week, there are three meals served with an hour to three hour gaps. On the weekends, there are only two meals served with a four-hour gap in between.
Seven hours a day during the weekdays is not as bad as to the four-hour weekend schedule.
Students must wait during these gaps for food to be ready, but they can’t wait inside the Grille because to enter they must pay for food.
At the entrance of the Grille, there is a sign directing students to the Student Union or library, if they are just looking for a place to sit and do homework.
That is a very creative “keep out” sign.
There are other factors, like the unreasonable prices, that contribute to the loneliness of the Grille.
Prices before taxes are: $8.49 for breakfast, lunch is $9.49, and dinner is $10.49. Local buffets, like Hometown Buffet offer better prices with a more extensive variety of foods.
The atmosphere at the Grille is not very welcoming. Most of the tables are empty, the walls are plain, and the food display doesn’t make you want to try it.
It feels like being in after school detention.
The construction inside, is set to be done by mid-October, and hopefully by then the atmosphere will improve.
