News Reporter
Each day at meal times, hundreds of students flock to the Dining Hall to satisfy their hungry stomachs. Often the lines for popular items are so long that they wind and stretch throughout the servery and right out to the salad bar. On the other hand, other menu options are somewhat neglected by Choaties. Over the past few years, ARAMARK Dining Services has tried to refresh its program and bring us a rotating menu that is healthy, appetizing and exciting.
Students, faculty and visitors are largely satisfied with the food served at Choate and with the overall dining experience, according to Aramark. Alicia Mysiorski, Director of Dining Services, believes that this year has been the most successful thus far. She says, “We continue to receive an outpouring of compliments on how much better the food is this year and how happy people are.”
Some of the favorites on the menu include chicken nuggets, chicken Caesar wraps, and barbecue wings. Of course, Burger Day – now on Fridays – is one of the most popular for Choaties. There are also those days when fun, special foods are offered such as the recent chai & hot chocolate bar, cookie decorating station, chocolate fondue fountain, and pretzel bar.
Aside from the occasional specialties, the mealtime regulars are always a guaranteed success. Pasta, pizza, soups and salads are the popular daily options. With two different soups offered every day, various cold cuts and condiments, and make-your-own salads, there is enough variety to keep Choaties satisfied. Loren Olson ‘08 says, “I like the salads, and the vegetarian options are pretty diverse.”
In the process of refreshing the menu, Aramark has done away with some of the items that were available in previous years. Lisa Fazzino ‘08 mentions, “I would have liked to see those taco salads that they had last year. Those were so good!” Some senior students recall the days when Choate food services were very different from the present, at times better and other times, worse. Despite these losses, the majority of Choate students is quite content with the current menu.
Alicia Mysiorski and the ARAMARK dining staff gladly encourage student requests or suggestions via the comment box in the dining hall. She says, “Our job is to make people happy… We take these suggestions or concerns very seriously and do our best to respond quickly… Many of the food choices on our cycle menu have come from student requests.” She mentions that next month, there will be a survey to try to capture a wider range of feedback, so the program can cater to student preferences. The dining services continue to improve and keep students eating happily and healthily.
