Long lines and new serving schedules have some dorm residents struggling to get their money’s worth at the dining halls.
This semester, the 49er Shops adjusted the menus and food services at the Parkside and Hillside dining halls, according to Carol Roberts-Corb, director of housing and residential life at Cal State Long Beach.
Christine Phu, associate director for administrative and financial services for housing and residential life, said the dining hall’s new chef is trying new dishes.
“The food is now made to order so the time going through the line depends on what the students want,” Phu said. “The dining hall themes changed to add new things. One side has [international food].”
Phu said she asked students for feedback on what they eat and think, which helps raise important issues at dining hall meetings.
According to Phu, students’ feedback has been generally positive.
“Students really like the changes they’ve seen,” she said. “The new food, menu and made-to-order option [have] improved the quality of the food.”
Phu added that a common complaint about the new changes is the long line.
“There always has to be a little wait if [the food] is made to order,” she said.
Phu has met with Melissa Devan, the director of dining services, to discuss ways to improve the wait time for meals. She said they are considering using line dividers.
Before the renovation, students eating at the dining halls could stop by a self-serve bar featuring daily specialty foods such as Mexican, Asian and Italian food.
“You could get more food at the bar, and it was easier than waiting in line,” Conny Ha, a sophomore pre-nursing major, said.
Students said the wait time for food depends on the time and day.
“The wait of the line is ridiculous,” sophomore film major Eddie Locks said. “Dinner is bad. It could take 20-30 minutes standing in line.”
Sophomore computer science major Forest Turner and senior business major Cole Niemerow said they are pleased with the changes in the dining halls this semester.
Unlike Locks and Ha, Turner and Niemerow haven’t had to wait in line long because they avoid the usual times students eat.
Niemerow also said he noticed the increased hours of the dining halls. Closing hours for the dining halls has changed from 7:30 to 8 p.m., and breakfast was also given an extra thirty minutes, now beginning at 7 and ending at 10 a.m.
Brian Roh, an international student, said that last semester a 30-minute break between classes provided plenty of time to eat at the dining halls, but now there’s no use in even trying with that short of a break.
“I hate the wait, because when I have classes I don’t want to be late, but I have to eat,” Roh said. “If they had more workers and assigned them to stations, the line would go by much faster.”