Ike’s Dining Hall — Restaurant in Contiguous United States

Previous year Ike's was a consistent favorite, some food was hit or miss but generally good. However, this year they have new leadership and workers there and the overall changes have been worse. As someone with celiac disease and no other good options for food on campus, it sometimes feels like a coin flip whether or not I'm going to get sick after eating and if it's even a result of it having wheat. They retired ingredient lists on plastic stands above the food for the screen and no longer show ingredients, only markers that give vague information about allergens in their food. Some of their food options are never gluten free, such as their pizza and baked goods, and their gelato never lists ingredients and they change it to arbitrary flavors every day. When I asked recently for whether or not a certain gelato was gluten free, the worker did not know and told me to ask the chef who was standing talking to another worker, but left as I was approaching and politely calling to ask him about it.

Additionally, they have mostly retired the omelet stand, which was the most consistently good food made by really lovely workers in that dining hall and removing it was a big disappoint to not only me, but many others. It got replaced by a stand where you can put various foods onto a pan grill which is okay, but nowhere near as good as the omelets were.

Moreover, the guaranteed allergy-friendly food they offer is, at best, mediocre and at worst disgusting or underprepared. This sometimes applies to their general foods as well.

They have a good salad stand however.

If you have nowhere else to eat then you'll still find plenty of food but if you have celiac disease or are sensitive to other ingredients like garlic then be careful here and ask questions and if you don't get answers, don't take the risk. This place really got worse over...

I encountered an unfortunate incident while leaving the dining center with two bananas. As I exited, a staff member followed me and accused me of taking food without permission. (she explained she was the manager) I explained that I only had two bananas, to which she responded that she was aware of my actions and confirmed that the bananas were the only items I was carrying. This exchange made me feel uncomfortable, especially as other students were present and watching.

When I asked about the policy, the staff member asked for my name. As an individual, I felt it was not necessary to provide my name in this situation, particularly as I was not aware of any wrongdoing on my part. I noticed that other students had also taken food without issue, which made me question why I was being singled out.

Earlier, when I parked my vehicle in front of the dining center Ike's, an that same lady approached me and informed me that I was not permitted to park in the area. I asked for clarification and requested to see a sign or notice indicating the parking restriction, but unfortunately, the individual was unable to provide any evidence. I personally think she should not be a manager at this particular place. I have many friends who support my idea because it's not appropriate for her to chase after students and take away the food they are carrying. In this instance, two bananas. I wanted to bring this up to you as my superior to ensure that this does not happen to me or any other student in the future. Thank you for taking the time to listen to my concerns and for addressing the issue...

As far as college dining goes, Ike’s is quite good, though to be fair “college dining” is not exactly a high bar. The food is usually quite tasty, and most meals there’s a good selection of options. However, the service is highly variable; I’ve had a decent amount of good experiences but also a handful of bad ones.

My biggest complaint is that since you aren’t serving yourself, you have little to no control over the portion sizes the servers give you. I’ve had someone heap my plate until the food was nearly falling off, which is usually way more than I want to eat, but also sometimes have someone give me these tiny, almost “sample size” portions of each item that add up to like half a meal. I’ve found that, while I can usually get more if I ask, trying to say “that’s enough” is surprisingly difficult due to the large amount of background noise; often the server doesn’t hear what I’m saying until they’ve already put the food on my plate.

Another thing worth noting is that there is often a lot of background noise, which depending on your preferences can be a benefit or a problem. Personally I find it can be helpful when trying to study, but some people could find it...