Your Comments:

I have to say, when people ask you about things, they get addressed, so I figured I'd make a few more comments about the food at OU--sorry for the randomness of them, there are just some things that bug me!  First of all, Chocolate Dream Pie has disappeared from the Sooner Sweet Shoppe!  It was definitly a staple that always gets picked.  I only eat from there once a week because it just isn't all that healthy to gorge yourself on sugar everyday, but on my designated dessert day, no Chocolate Dream Pie!   It was, in a word, devastating. (not really, but I still want it back) Tiramisu disappeared for a week too--that truly did distress my boyfriend, he eats it 2 times a day every day of the week-ask the people who work there.  On the same note, there are no more Reese's Peanut Butter Cups at Freshen's--Snickers are good, but can never replace RPBC!  I'm also glad you added more soups to Couch!  However, some of them just aren't  very good and cake or burn themselves to the pan-gross!  Chicken Noodle is such a staple, what about offering it every day by Dot's Deli or something?  The soups at Block and Barrel always seem to be the same too, either Chicken Noodle, Potato, or Broccoli Cheese. At Roscoes, they always seem to be out of alot of the syrups, and the coffee lids are really badly designed.  I burned myself a couple of times with them because its hard to sip a small amount when the lid is that high off of the cup. And finally, my most random and picky request--could you add a pepper grinder to Couch, maybe at the end of La Roma by the salads?  I'm addicted to pepper, and the pre-ground stuff takes forever to come out of the table shakers and just doesn't taste as good. Oh, and if you need more comments, have you checked the comment boxes in Couch and Cate?  I've put some in there before and seen other people do it, but they don't show up in Kitchen Comments. Thanks!

Dot tells me that the Chocolate Dream Pie is on order and that we have not discontinued it.  It might even be back in the case by the time you read this.  The same goes for the Tiramisu.

I’m glad we have more soups out too, I’ll ask what we cab do to offer more variety.  We do find that while there are 50 soups available our customers usually eat the chicken noodle, potato, and broccoli cheese the most leaving many others to sit in their pans and, oh yea, maybe that’s why they burn up.

I have had nothing but good comments on the new cups and lids.  You are the very first to mention this problem.  I’d like to hear from the rest of you.  What do you think?

Finally, I’m sure we can add a pepper grinder to the café.  Maybe one on the salad bar and another at LaRoma.

Well, a few things:

1) The soy milk situation bites.  There's a like, what, three/four milk dispensers and we just HAD to have more skim.  Soy milk isn't the greatest thing ever, but a lot of the students don't have a choice or don't want the regular.  The "pitchers" are not particularly cold and warmish soy milk is one of the grossest things ever.

2) Drink regularity - it'd be nice if the non-soda drinks were in anyway reliable.  I try really hard not to drink pop, and since the only diet soda is Diet Coke (yuck... maybe get some sprite zero in there somewhere?) my options are curtailed.  This wouldn't be so bad except the tea machines are broken all the time, and while you briefly had that delicious paradise tea, I've not seen it yet.  But you're often out of the juices, and the flavored water stuff is often out of "flavor." 

In general, it's kind of been a bit low quality this semester.  Last semester I was always happy to eat in the Caf, but this year every trip is just one dissapointment after another.  Breakfast is a smorgasboard of cold eggs and bacon, and dinner (especially the vegetarian line) isn't much better.

We have not been able to get the soy milk in the larger dispenser bags.  We got a sample of a dispenser bag last semester but we haven’t been able to find it.  The company that sent us the sample doesn’t have the product in Oklahoma.  We will keep looking.

The tea machines are a problem.  They make a great glass of tea but they have a hard time keeping up with the demand at Couch.  If we can’t keep them running we will replace them with another brand.  I’d hate to do that, but I don’t want to get to the point where you are surprised to find the machines actually working, not vice-versa.  I know Bobby works hard to keep them going.

I’d hate to hear that you think our quality has been down this year.  I’ll pass that along to our folks and ask them to keep a closer eye on the breakfast line.  The food really needs to be hot when you get it. 

I usually enjoy Block and Barrel, but I went there tonight only to find rude employees and a poorly made sandwich. My sandwich was cut so strangely that I couldn't eat it without it falling apart. Your employee, ******, is perhaps the rudest girl I have ever met. She made me feel like an imbecile when I asked if the cafeteria was open on Sunday nights, and she kept repeating the same question to me as if I was incompetent. I do not enjoy being treated poorly by individuals who are payed to work in the service industry.

The Cate managers have talked with our employee.  I apologize that you were made to feel uncomfortable. 

I would like to say this.  Our folks on the line have a big hood (air vent) running behind them.  That makes it very hard sometimes for them to hear the customer.  Maybe, just maybe she wasn’t trying to make you feel incompetent but was having a hard time hearing you and was just trying to make sure she got your order correct.  Your comment about being treated poorly by someone paid to work in the service industry sounds a little condescending to me.  I don’t think that shows much respect for our employees.  They work hard, they take classes just like you and then come to work.  I respect that a lot.

why do you close 1/3 of couch every sunday? I went to couch expecting some brick oven pizza, but to my supprise the entire wing was closed. So I walk over to the other side to see my choices, stirfry, som kind of chicken smuthered in spices and gravy, and roast beef. I don't like stirfry, I don't like chicken when it is smuthered in spices, and I am sick of roast beef (after eating it at-least once a week for  over 10 years so would you). Maby I'm just a picky eater, but that is what you are hear for. As for my dinner I had cereal, and to top it off the fruit loops were stale. This is my first problem with OU food service and i hope it is the last.

We only have about 500 students eat dinner at Couch on a Sunday night.  We don’t need all the lines open for that number of people.  We have been rotating what lines are open on Sunday night.  Would we have more people come to Couch if more lines were open?  Past history tells us no.  Our reality is we have to do this/  The money we save here can be used to provide another service.

Dear Dave, First I would just like to say that you and your staff do an amazing job! There may be a couple things that need tweaking here and there, but that is normal and I think you guys handle those situations well. Second, I do not have any problems or bad experiences, just a couple requests. I am really hoping that we can get some new meats to choose from at Block and Barrel. We have most of the basics but some variety would be nice. Well for example: pepperoni, pastrami, and prosciutto would all make excellent additions to the line-up. Also, maybe some fresher fruit would be great, since the selection is not near up to what xcetera has. Last but not least, VAULT VAULT VAULT. I am really craving some Vault and with Cate's two soda fountains I am sure there is some room for at least one dispenser of it. All in all Dave you guys are awesome thanks for doing what you do! -Alex

I keep hearing from my Coke reps that Vault is going to be available for the fountains.  I hope that happens soon.  We should have halal pastrami at Cate.  It’s regular pastrami but prepared in a way that makes it comply Muslim dietary requirements.  The pepperoni and prosciutto sound like something we could add from time to time.

While I like the food at Wendy's, their taco salad is so wet that they end up being like salad soup instead of salad. I have to take the salad out of the bowl and dry it with a paper towel before putting dressing on it or I end up with a bowl of water with lettuce floating in it. The lettuce needs to be dried after it is rinsed. I am not sure of other salads as I usually get the taco salad. This has not always been the case so I think it is something that they are doing in the processing.

I passed your comment along to David, the manager at Wendy’s.  I hope you have noticed an improvement.

Dave, First I would just like to note that you guys do an excellent job providing everyone here at the university with food options to accommodate specific preferences.  However, I have encountered one problem this past week.  I am a vegetarian, and from what I can tell, I'm not the only one.  At the start of the year, I was told by Block and Barrel employees that the potato soup is meat free.  I consequently bought the soup and found it delicious.  In the following week, I saw that it was again on the menu and asked whether it was a vegetarian option, and was told once more it was.  On October 10th I went to Block and Barrel and again ordered my soup.  Having already verified that it did not contain meat twice, I felt rather confident in my choice.  However upon eating the soup, actually after eating about half of the soup, I realized that there was in fact bacon stewed in with the potatoes and vegetables.  I am very upset about this situation.  I know that there is nothing you can do about what happened but maybe in the future you can post somewhere in the food court or online the vegetarian options that will never change.  I would hate to have someone else’s beliefs be compromised like mine were.

This is the second time in two weeks I’ve had to apologize for us giving inaccurate information to a customer about the foods we are serving.  This bothers me a lot.  I’m not sure if we changed potato soups or what happened but we really need to make sure our vegetarian options are clearly identified.   I’m sorry, I know this can be very distressing.

I just wanted to say "Thanks" to Tim (I think that's his name) and all the folks who work at Roscoe's. It seems that people in the past have been rather harsh on them and I have had nothing but wonderful service from them since they opened up Roscoe's. They definitely should know they make my day. Great customer service and delicious coffee. High Five!

Hi Dave!  I was wondering if it would be possible to get a greater variety of sauces on the pasta bar - maybe just one that changes every couple of days or so.  I'd personally like to suggest a butter garlic sauce, or white wine sauce, perhaps even clam sauce or pesto.  Thanks Dave!

A very good idea.  I’ll ask if we can start adding a little more variety.

Dave, I loved the apple crisp Tuesday night at the Vegetation Station and generally I am very pleased with it. However, quite often you are out of items or they are not very fresh. Also, I am loving the fruit selection! The only thing that might make it better would be quality apples like Gala, Pink Lady, and Braeburn. Oh, and the pears in Xceteraz and never ripe. Overall, I love it. Keep up the good work!

every time my fiance' and i go to couch to eat breakfast we are heckled by the same employee about putting our bags in the cubicles near the register.  we do not do this because i have already had a few miscelanious items stolen from my bag while it was in one of the cubicles.  another problem i have is when i go to the burger place, i can't think of its name, and they're out of burgers i must wait for them to cook more.  that is not the problem, the problem is after they cook more, they give them to other people that are in line behind me.  my final gripe is the cleanliness of the facility, it doesn't suck as bad as frontier city but it's pretty close.

We do have a policy that asks that you leave your backpacks in the cubicles.  We do this for a number of reasons but mostly to keep the floors and aisles clear and to keep folks from taking out food.  I know the second reason sounds a little “cheapâ€? but I think we have a responsibility to all of our students to try to keep costs down and to be fair. 

I can understand your reluctance to leave your valuables in the cubicle but I don’t know how our cashiers could be expected to decide who should be allowed to carry their bags in and who can’t.  It’s not their job to make that decision, their job is to enforce our policies.  You need to follow the rules like everyone else.  I think you have a number of options here.  Bring a lock to lock your bag to the cubicle.  Don’t bring your bag to breakfast.  Don’t eat at Couch. 

Where do you wait for the burgers?  In line? Or do you go sit down and wait?  If you are staying in line I’m not sure how others are getting served first.  If you are getting out of line then I can see how this would happen. 

On Help us your cleanliness comment are you talking about the tables, lines, or just the whole place in general?  I do think there are times when we are not getting our tables cleaned well or that the lines get messy before someone comes out to clean them.

Every morning my fiance' and I eat breakfast at Couch Cafeteria, and every morning we are told by one of the employees, I can't remember her name but she always works at the register, to put our bags in the cubicles.  We always refuse because we have our laptops in our bags and we want to insure thier safety ourselves. I believe that this is the reason why she is rude to us ever day. This morning she when we entered the cafeteria we handed her our cards and when she returned my card she slammed it back into my hand, now I don't think that was appropriate. In my past management experience I would have fired her for merely being rude to a customer, but alas that is your job. So with that I'll leave you to your day.

You are right ultimately it is my job.  Now that I know we are still having this problem I will do something.  First, I’m going to back up our cashier and thank her for trying to do her job.  Secondly, I am going to remind the cashier that these types of problems may be beyond her ability to resolve but we do have people available who can resolve the problem.  I’m not going to condone rude behavior but by the same token, I’m not going to condone your actions either.  I received these two comments over a week apart so I guess this has been going on long enough.

I understand your desire to keep your laptop safe but you need to follow the rules.  I  will ask one of the morning supervisors to meet up with you one of these mornings and see if we can’t figure out a solution to our problem.  You are not going to be allowed to just blow off the cashier.  I’ll wait to hear how this little meeting goes before I do anything else.

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