USD Dining: Delicacy or Disaster?

USD students share their experience with the reopening of campus dining options

Charlotte Ferguson / Assistant Feature Section Editor / The USD Vista

As the semester is still in its early stages, so is the rest of the University of San Diego’s campus. From tram confusion, to finding a quiet spot to sit on campus, coming back to school can be a bit overwhelming. Yet, one of the things that students are  looking forward to most is the long-awaited reopening of campus dining: There are eight dining options on campus: The Student Life Pavilion (SLP), Tu Mercado (Tu Merc), La Gran Terraza, Blue Spoon, Bosley Cafe, Aromas, La Paloma, and Bert’s Bistro. While USD may have a variety of dining locations and food options, some students, especially first-year students, are not familiar with them all.

First-year Charlotte Reimer, has a meal plan, because it is required by the university for all first-years. She is still familiarizing herself with campus dining options other than the SLP.

“I find Tu Mercado really convenient because not only can you get bagels and sandwiches, you can also get actual groceries,” said Reimer. “But La Paloma has  the best food that I’ve had so far.”

While the food she’s had so far is delicious, Reimer acknowledged the fact that with everyone back on campus, lines for each dining option are  extremely long.

“There’s pretty much a really long wait time anywhere you go, which can be really discouraging, it makes me not want to eat,” Reimer said. 

Since the sophomore class were essentially the only students on campus last year, USD sophomore, Kate Haarmann, is also readjusting to the crowds on campus. And when it comes to dining, she finds the lines almost unmanageable. 

“With Aromas or La Paloma if you only have an hour in between your classes you don’t always have time to wait in the long line or even wait for them to make your food,” Haarmann said. “It makes it stressful when the lines begin to cut it close to class, so sometimes you just have to end up eating at really odd hours.”

Yet due to the pandemic, most options were closed last year; Haarmann is excited that there are more options for her classmates and for herself this fall. 

“I was very impressed with the dining options [this year] since last year only the SLP and Tu Merc were open; we didn’t really get the full USD dining experience” she said.

For returning upperclassmen, such as USD junior, Gabby Savage, the dining experience feels brand new. Savage works as a marketing assistant for the Auxiliary Department. This unique department on campus offers a variety of services for students, such as dining locations and the mail center. 

She is happy to be working with Auxiliary Services and is excited to share some insight into what the dining options will look like this year.

“Blue spoon which used to be a frozen yogurt place is transitioning to boba which is exciting,” said Savage.

While Savage warily tried some new items on the menu at USD, she missed some of the classics. 

“I’ve eaten at Bert’s and I was shocked by their menu change, there’s no more sushi and they don’t have my favorite chicken teriyaki sandwich,” Savage said.

She does note, however, that the new food, such as Caribbean and Coastal African dishes, have been great so far and she’d happily eat there again. Although, Savage does want to see some different options on campus, also acknowledging how long the lines and wait times have been.

“The Torero Tu Go truck is out of commission for now so I wish there was something to supplement that,” said Savage. “Maybe a coffee truck in the middle of campus to grab something like a bar or a snack.” 

The reopening of campus dining is an exciting time for USD students, but wait times and long lines for food are slightly discouraging as well. While the quality continues to meet USD’s reputation for having top college dining options, students are weary for whether or not the long lines are worth being late to class.