At times, the dining options provided at Bob”s Place on campus are great, but more often than not, students leave feeling hungry and ripped off.
Ask any student that has been living with a meal plan what they think of Bob”s and they will undoubtedly have a list of complaints.
The drink machines are never full. The ingredients used in most meals are questionable, and by that I mean ketchup should never be considered pizza sauce. Meat, including poultry and pork, is often undercooked. On occasion it”s even difficult to find clean dishes and cutlery to use.
Students who pay an arm and a leg to get in the door are frustrated by all of this and more. The cost of a meal at Bob”s ranges depending on the meal plan, but regardless of the student”s choice, it”s a costly requirement. When paying for a meal without purchasing a meal plan, breakfast costs $7, lunch costs $9 and dinner costs $10.
Austin Maas
For the $10 spent on a dinner at Bob”s, a student could have an entire large Domino”s pizza all to themselves. Pizza is not exactly a balanced meal, but neither are the overpriced meals provided at Bob”s. The only healthy option offered consistently is a salad bar comprised mostly of wilted lettuce and previously frozen vegetables.
Not to mention all first-year students, who are required to live in on-campus housing, are also required to purchase a meal plan regardless of whether they want to or not.
The amount of money spent on one meal at Bob”s could feed a person for an entire day if they were given the freedom to eat wherever they wanted.
One of the most upsetting things about Bob”s is the fact that students don”t have the opportunity to look at the food options before they pay for them. Some students swipe their Vandal Cards and then resort to eating a bowl of cereal for dinner. When students can”t see what they”re paying for, it ultimately leads to frustration.
Many students end up taking whatever they can when they leave, much to the disapproval of the staff. Some staff members don”t mind when a student takes an apple as they walk out the door, but others discourage students from taking anything at all.
Don”t get me wrong, I have nothing but the utmost respect for the Bob”s staff – they do the best they can with what they are given. But there is even a sign posted in Bob”s that suggests taking a snack as you leave is a good idea.
While I”d like to argue that the staff shouldn”t limit students from taking food, I understand that there”s a fine line between getting your money”s worth and stealing.
I can”t count the number of times I”ve watched students walk out of Bob”s with plates and cutlery, not to mention the time I watched someone fill an entire gallon bag with cereal and leave.
I desperately want to cheer these people on for demanding they get what they paid for, but I can”t – it borders too close to theft.
Then again, I can”t exactly discourage students from expressing their frustration and going after what”s owed to them. I understand the disappointment of paying thousands of dollars for an outrageously expensive meal plan and still searching each day to find a hot meal.
When I began my time here at the University of Idaho, I didn”t understand why Bob”s had such a bad reputation, but I”ve grown to understand that until the options provided at Bob”s improves, nobody can leave feeling satisfied.
Austin Maas can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @austindmaas
Randy Hunt
As a parent of a Freshman student, I have heard many complaints about these exact problems at Bob's. My child regularly mentions that Bob's is out of main entrees, out of plates or out of silverware. Milk stations are frequently empty. Food is often poorly prepared. The list is endless. Students do not have the time to wait for adequate service, as they are between classes or caught between study requirements. As the person paying over $7.00 per meal, on a plan, for inadequate service, I am sorely disappointed with Bob's. When I was in college, the food may have been of seemingly poor quality, but at least I could eat something - on a plate and with silverware whenever I needed to. I never felt the need to "take a snack" when leaving or to fill my backpack with cereal to get my parents' money's worth. That does not seem to be case at Bob's.