The following represents the opinion of the student reporter and does not represent the views of Loyola University Maryland, the Greyhound, or Loyola University’s Department of Communication.
Variety, location, and quality continue to assert their influence on Loyola students’ choices of on-campus eating, where an unspoken rivalry for the best meal now exists between Boulder Garden Café and Iggy’s Market. My choice of dining normally revolves around what foods I am willing to sacrifice when deciding between quality or quantity. For other students, however, their choices of dining were much more declarative, and most students placed strong faith in their preferred dining location.
Boulder is iconic for being the largest location for on-campus dining, with outdoor seating and all-you-care-to-eat options when dining in for dinner and all-day weekends. Students swipe in once and receive a stamp to participate in the all-you-care-to-eat, with no limits on how much food they bring back to their tables, as long as they remain inside Boulder. They can have as much mac and cheese, chocolate chip cookies, Caesar salads, french fries, drinks, and more, and it’s no wonder many students walk in with large friend groups and settle in for a large meal.
Natalie Rose Pacher ‘25 who has no steady allegiance to any dining hall, admitted how much all-you-can-eat means for her and her friends, including an established weekend routine.
“Boulder breakfast! We would always do all-you-can-eat on the weekends and that is so awesome, so I would say it’s definitely enticing,” Pacher said.
Boulder continues to be the only place where students can get this limitless option. For many underclassmen, living on the east side of campus also means Boulder is the most accessible location for food, and many more students said the same when attending classes.
For the students living west of Charles Street, a preference clearly remained with Iggy’s Market, located in Newman Towers. They said it is more than just about the convenience. Kayla Haug ‘25, a Newman Towers resident, admitted that not only was the choice of Iggy’s good for her and her roommates, but the food choices and quality were better than Boulder’s. She especially likes the Grubhub-only options, Fresh West and Bravissimo, for being good pick-up options when in a rush.
Overall, Haug thinks Boulder’s quality is iffy, so instead she picks up her favorites at Iggy’s.
“I feel like I always get a sandwich, or pizza, or a sandwich. I will say, here I get pasta a lot, and the pasta has meat and stuff in it,” Haug said, “But I don’t like the meat and stuff at Boulder. It kind of grosses me out.”
Upperclassmen said Boulder can be better for freshmen, who aren’t quite so used to the dining options. In between classes, students found it was easier to stay on-campus and visit some of the other options like ACE Sushi and Green Peel. There’s nothing that beats convenience, and a connection arose as people stuck to the dining halls closer to their homes, in nine out of ten students asked.
“Boulder during the lunch rush is a fast-paced environment, so I kind of like eating there because there’s a lot going on,” Pacher said, “But when you’re an upperclassman, Iggy’s is just more convenient because of the location.”
Students also gathered around the idea of quality vs. quantity and talked about certain situations when they might pick one over the other. Boulder’s all-you-care-to-eat menu is good for dining in with friends. However, many cautioned that it came with a tradeoff: they found the quality of the food worse because the staff needed to prepare it in larger quantities, ultimately establishing a quality versus quantity issue.
Another feature all students seemed to love at the Iggy’s and Boulder locations were their salad bars, and it was ranked highly as being consistent across both locations. Students seemed to agree the most inconsistent menu item at Boulder was the pizza, which students complained could range from cold or undercooked. The students talked about chicken tenders and fries as being the choice they could count on if nothing else seemed to appeal to them at Boulder.
Macenzie Regan ‘25 talked about the consistency of fan favorites at Boulder.
“I liked the consistent option of always having grilled chicken, the baked chicken, and burgers. Here the only consistency is pizza, and to me that’s not enough for a meal,” Regan said. “In Boulder, if I walked around and didn’t like anything, I could get grilled chicken and make that into a sort of meal.”
She further wished Iggy’s had a consistent option of protein, other than the cold chicken from the salad bar. Iggy’s seating to her also seemed small, and if the location could be expanded it would mean more people from everywhere on campus could eat there. Maybe they could even make the all-you-care-to-eat option in some way available at Iggy’s, to get more quantities of the good food that is offered.
As a sophomore, I have tried Boulder and I am not impressed with the overall quality. I am a bigger fan of Iggy’s smaller plate options. And there is always one thing I can count on: Iggy’s pizza. Students can get brick oven pizza, every day, until midnight at Iggy’s. It’s hot, cheesy, and always cooked just right.
With smaller eateries like Green and Gray Cafe and Boulder 2.0 offering alternatives for those students wanting to switch away from general cafeteria food, the larger dining halls must rise to the challenge of becoming better and offering equal and just opportunities for delicious meals. Tensions are rising and students are ultimately choosing their dining solely based on territory. It proposed the question, will either side wave the white flag of surrender?
Featured Image Courtesy of Alexander Valencia.
