<p>Can any current students comment on the food? Some of the student-written college reviews give the food VERY LOW ratings ...</p>
<p>I'm a parent but we've eaten there pretty often. I'm sure it gets boring over time, but compared to the food when I was a college student, it's really quite good. And the student center is amazing--I love just being there. My son's favorite is the Asian noodle bar. Believe me, we had no Asian noodle bar at my college. I'll be interested to see what other students say. My son longs for the fresh fragile fruits and fish. We're hoping that will lure him home for the summer!</p>
<p>Having worked at Sodexho (a service provider for many campuses) the food at Grinnell strikes me as spa-quality....my daughter, however, can complain because some nights it is 'off' or the person cooking a particular dish doesn't get it quite right...she is being overly picky I think. On the other hand there are certain specialities she makes sure she doesn't miss! The main problems which seem legitimate are: 1) having to wait too long at some stations (hard when you are in a hurry) and 2) lack of good fresh fruit choices which is understandable because it is Iowa and has winter and far from California...
that said, they really try and seem responsive. There is flexibility in meal plans as well but perhaps not your first year?</p>
<p>I know which student-written guide you are referring to. It was based on old data, before the new student center and I am told (but have no direct experience) that the food has been significantly upgraded since that time, per our guide when we visited. However, I too would like to hear more current students.</p>
<p>Do they have a salad bar that is relatively well stocked?</p>
<p>For what it's worth, I was told by a current student that they have people watch you if you try and take food out. Food Nazis. Luckily, I have procured certain "skills" over years of sneaking food and drink into movie theaters, so I'd like to believe I can sneak food out of some college cafeteria.</p>
<p>Yes, they have a good salad bar though my son wishes the black olives were Calamata. Yes the food has greatly improved with the opening of the new student center. They have a stir-fry station and a pasta station (that is sometimes an Asian noodle bar. At lunch they have 2 kinds of soup--don't know about dinner. There's a deli area for sandwiches, there's pizza and there's always fruit (though not much variety) and always desserts, some better than others. There's a soft serve ice cream machine that always has vanilla and one other flavor--that's our favorite dessert. And of course at breakfast there is breakfast food. My son manages to take fruit out.</p>
<p>As a first year, I believe you need to take the 21 meal per week plan. After that, it gets more flexible. When the cafeteria is closed there's The Grille in the same building that serves really good grilled sandwiches and other stuff. You can get bag lunches (and I think breakfasts) to go if you're in a hurry. There are 3 seating areas in the gorgeous and wonderful student center. You will love it!</p>
<p>Here's a link to some dining info from the Grinnell website:
Grinnell</a> College :: Dining Services :: Marketplace Dining
And if you really want to delve into the dining details, there's a link from that page to the daily menus...</p>
<p>Oh my god a Belgian waffle station. A Belgian waffle station. A station. For waffles. Of Belgian descent.</p>
<p>I'm going to have to go into that place with blinders on and have people direct me only to salad, grill and deli areas, otherwise I'm going to be playing offensive line on the football team instead of outside linebacker.</p>
<p>Oh, yeah,</p>
<p>I forgot about the waffle station. Pretty nice.</p>
<p>waffle...</p>
<p>wait, a waffle--</p>
<p>WHERE DO I SIGN UP FOR THE WAFFLE STATION?!</p>
<p>As a current student, I will say very strongly that the tomatoes here are AWFUL. And there is no nutella :(</p>
<p>Otherwise, I guess its okay. Although I would prefer a different system. In my opinion, the all-you-can-eat meal system encourages big meals, no snacks. Ideally, I would support a food point system... especialoly where you can take food out.</p>
<p>Grinnell does have a food take out program (like a sack lunch deally you can get in the off dining-hours) its kind of gross in my opinion. Especially the day when the two options are Swiss Cheese Sandwich (just a hunk of swiss cheese on sliced bread) or Pepperoni Sandwich (bagel is always an option too). They also put ham in the outtakes salad sometimes. WHY? WHO EVER THOUGHT OF THAT? So, I am somewhat scarred by this experience... but I guess I haven't starved yet, and it hasn't really affected my learning experience. As of today, I haven't heard of swiss cheese sandwiches causing brain damage...</p>
<p>Ha, ha mels</p>
<p>Tomatoes out of season suck most places unless you pay huge amounts of money for them. My son loves nutella too. When we were visiting my niece in France we had a breakfast cereal that was like Crispex stuffed with nutella. Who wouldn't get up in the morning for that?!</p>