After a brief hiatus, Martin Dining Hall is back, joining the ranks of our buffet locations. Add in the newly “buffet-ized” Bell Tower Place and Pacific Rim and our buffet total has reached six! With the new meal plan (more here), buffet locations are great opportunities to enjoy all-you-can-eat dining and use your buffet meals.
With a new year upon us, along with some new locations, let’s take a look at the exciting new updates across our buffet locations!
Garden Commons
Garden Commons was the new kid on the block just a year ago, but has quickly become a campus favorite as we enter its second year. The big announcement with Garden Commons is with hours of operation. Garden Commons will be open 7:30am-8pm during the week and will be open 11am-8pm on the weekend. We realize student schedules can be unaccommodating to standard dining hours, so this should give students more flexibility around their daily obligations.
Garden Market’s hours are also shifting. The market — complete with snacks, drinks and more — will be open from 9am-9pm during the week. Garden Market’s to-go window still gives students the chance to pick up sandwiches, wings and other food on their way to, or from, class.
Harris Dining Hall
The menu for this dining mainstay is going to look a little different this year with two new stations. First and foremost, the Traditions station has received a facelift. Now Traditions will feature healthy menu items like grilled chicken, fish, veggies and more, that should make the health conscious swoon.
If that new station doesn’t sound appealing to you though, you’ll love the new Great Tastes station. Great Tastes will feature the hearty, cheat-day favorites like potato bowls, mac & cheese, wings, casserole and more. As is customary with buffet spots, there will be some variety day-to-day across the stations as menu items rotate. The Campus Grill still remains, as does the extensive salad bar. The morning yogurt bar actually will offer up some increased variety.
It’s also worth noting the Harris hours of operation. Harris will not offer lunch service during the week and will not be open on the weekends. This is dictated by student dining habits last year. There simply wasn’t enough traffic during lunch and over the weekends at Harris to keep it open. Instead, we can better serve you by reallocating resources elsewhere on campus at those times. Pacific Rim will be offering weekend buffet brunch and Maplestreet Station, as a whole, is a good alternative during the lunch hours during the week!
Western Dining Commons
Like Garden Commons, Western is remaining largely the same with the hours of operation being the main point of interest. Western will be open, with continuous service, throughout the week (7:30am-8pm) and will be open on the weekends as well. On the menu, pizza is replacing flatbread (rejoice pizza-lovers) and the Western deli station (at the lower level in the back) is back and better than ever!
Tea Hive is still serving up a variety of tasty sandwiches and wraps, as well as tea (cups or teapots). Also keep an eye out for some exciting new tea/juice combos, in the spirit of what is offered at Starbucks.
Martin Dining Hall
Martin is back! After a year-long renovation, the classic dining hall is sporting some new digs that are sure to satisfy students this year. Martin features three stations with perhaps the most exciting being the Winning Seasonings station. Winning Seasonings is a healthier take on our standard traditions menu offerings. Think carved meats, grilled chicken, rice, and veggies. This is a great area for athletes who are looking to refuel after a hard workout. Pizza, pasta, salad and more are also available. Oh, and there’s a soft serve machine (eek!).
Martin will be operating with a schedule that is similar to Harris, with breakfast and dinner service during the week, but no lunch service. Martin, however, will open for time frames on the weekend (Saturday: 11am-2pm, Sunday: 11am-8pm). Martin’s location compared to the majority of students during the week (on campus, attending classes) pushed this move. Garden Commons is a great weekday buffet alternative during lunch, as is Bell Tower.
Another option is the new and improved Scoreboard Market. Located in/next to Martin Dining Hall, Scoreboard offers a wide variety of convenience store items, snacks and drinks, plus the “to-go ordering” students loved about Scoreboard before the renovation. You can order items like burgers, Philly Cheesesteak sandwiches, chicken sandwiches, wings, chicken tenders, hot dogs, mozzarella sticks and much more using the GET App mobile ordering option. Quickly order on your phone or online and then pick up your food when it’s ready. A kiosk is also located in the market itself where you can order your food and then pick it up at the window shortly after.
Download the GET App for Apple and Android, or order online here.
Bell Tower Place
Bell Tower is a buffet! While that may sound a tad daunting to Bell Tower lovers out there, know that Bell Tower is largely the Bell Tower you remember: just now a buffet. There is a little more rotation in the menus, but the stations remain the same with the Campus Grill, Señora Stop, Pizza Pi, Pastato, the salad/fruit bar and, yes, the Wok station! Now though, you can use a buffet meal to get your fill of Bell Tower’s fantastic food service.
Bell Tower is also now home to Bell Tower Market, where you can stop in, pick up an Uncle Phil’s sandwich (including customizable PB&J), Starbucks products/smoothies (as before) or your standard snacks and/or drinks before heading on your way. The market is separate from the buffet, so you don’t need to take advantage of Bell Tower’s all-you-can-eat offerings to grab a meal while making your way past Bell Tower.
Pacific Rim
Maplestreet Station’s Pacific Rim is now also a buffet! This year, you will be able to use a buffet meal at Pacific Rim and enjoy all-you-can-eat of your Pacific Rim favorites. Made-to-order stir-fry is still available, featuring vegetable blends like Armstrong’s Mein Street, to help speed-up service. Pacific Rim’s made-to-order stir-fry is allergen-friendly with soy being the only top 8 allergen served there. Due to these considerations, the Pacific Rim stir-fry station is a wonderful spot for those with special diets (still be sure to notify staff of your allergy when ordering) and for those looking to avoid gluten.
Pacific Rim will also serve different international entrees, like pacific dishes and Indian cuisine, and will offer up some of the more traditional American menu options as well. There will be prepared salads, a pudding bar, desserts and Pacific Rim will serve brunch on the weekends. Pacific Rim is definitely an exciting location for this upcoming school year!
Keep tabs on the latest happenings in dining by following us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram! We are very excited to have you all back on campus and we can’t wait to serve you during the 2016-17 school year!
