Rob and Neil review your meal: Chartwells

By Rob Brewer and Neil Olstad
Guest Writers

(Editor’s Note: The following is a review of the dinner served on Nov. 30, 2007, in the Toner Student Center Dining Hall.)

The Caf is an epicenter of student congregation. Friends exchange pleasantries, relationships blossom, and most importantly, food is served. Your expert connoisseurs, Rob and Neil are committed to guiding you through your Caf experience.
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Chicken Fingers – Great crunch; the breading is especially tasty. The chicken itself is moist and tender. It has good natural flavor, but, as always, be safe and use a condiment. Right off the bat, we are off to a great start.

Mozzarella Sticks – A traditional crowd favorite. The breading is good, but the lack of cheese inside is puzzling. The marinara sauce is little more than the oft-provided watery spaghetti sauce, which definitely took away from the experience. A look inside the stick revealed hollow breading, leaving these authors to also feel hollow inside.
Burrito – With a fine, flakey tortilla, it is fairly basic, as just beans are inside the brownish-yellow exterior. It’s very big, definitely a main-course type dish. Again, use of a condiment, such as sour cream or salsa, is recommended. This is a pleasant surprise in tonight’s meal.

Manicotti – The pasta sauce is watery and not flavorful. The noodle itself is cooked well: tender, but with some stability. The ricotta inside isn’t particularly flavorful, but it has a good texture and feels pleasing in the mouth.

Cheese and Vegetable Soup – One slurp, and I was finished. The interplay between the cheese and the vegetables was completely lost. There were too many peppers; it was a tex-mex disaster. I wouldn’t wish this soup upon my worst enemy after he intentionally ran over my dog.

Roasted Lemon Pepper Chicken with Rice – Make no mistake, this is just standard chicken—there is not a hint of lemon or pepper in sight. It has a good taste, but the chicken itself is a bit dry. The addition of rice is nice, but eaters beware: including rice in your bite will dry up your mouthful of poultry quite quickly. Definitely bring a knife for this one.

Chocolate and Vanilla Marble Cake with White Frosting – A towering dessert, it took two hands to secure it from the dessert table to our table. The frosting is very creamy with excellent texture. The cake itself is predominately vanilla, with some lingering flavor, but mostly bland. This dessert would be delicious a la mode.