The Junction — Restaurant in Logan

Friendly employees and good service and a versatile and ambitious menu (Chef's choice, saute menu and the like), seemed very promising, and indeed while i did enjoy my meal out here and the atmosphere with two buffets on campus, just a mere 0.3 miles away from here and 8 different food places it seems like a hard pick, the food variety is a high pick and while i enjoyed the selection, it seemed the Marketplace seemed to shine out more.

The pros: An ambitious menu: (Chef choice items, daily rotating menu, and seemingly extravagant promises of a college buffet with All you can eat sushi!)

Indeed, the service here was indeed very friendly, and i enjoyed the people who showed me around. They had a lavish menu including a daily variety such as all you could eat sushi that sounded good (in theory), but in practice for the buffet by the time i was arrived the sushi (while being beautifully presented with little roe all around the outside and sprinkles and drizzles of sauces) was a feast for the eyes, but once put in the mouth the saddening realization of stale rice hit. Trying a bit of wasabi i was expecting the rich tasty fiery kind i grew up with, but instead a green watery sandy paste in a bulk squeeze bottle came out. I had no doubts that the presentation must have been beautiful when it came out, but for the buffet (at least when i arrived), it did not seem to have been served in the prime.

At least moving on, i tried other options, they had a fresh ramen table that looked exciting, and indeed the presentation was amazing, shittaki mushrooms, small button long mushrooms, the ramen was good and the noodles are good, which i enjoyed.

The drink bar was good, just like the Junction and they had it, but after that, the choices seemed to run out. Compared to the other, if it was a standalone place i think it'd be an acceptable place on it's own, after all being a college buffet. But for the same price with fresher food it gets hard to justify not going to the Aggie Marketplace just a few minutes away where you get 7 different bars and the food is always fresh. It seems like the location is good if you're a local student, as it's close to housing but outside from the terrific display of the oriental food, once the food was put to your lips it did seem to have a few telltale signs of slight age, stale rice, watery school cafeteria styled food and dry and tough pork to get to. The areas that looked the most popular seemed to be the omelette station though and the smoothie bar was a good addition (although it seems that coconut milk instead of dairy was used, probably making it vegan but still reasonably good and nice to have at a buffet but needing to take time to get used to).

Overall the food can be a bit hit and miss sometimes but it's a big buffet with a fair amount of choices. If you know your way around and build around it you can probably hit all the gems, but for a first timer like me with both of them being basically right across (well.. like 5 minutes walk away) the street, i'd highly reccommend a first time buffet goer to try the marketplace first for a better first time experience. Maybe it might be worth to go around to the junction on special nights, but even if they have the all you can eat sushi night, it might be good to make sure the sushi is fresh before you try it. Remember if it sounds too good to be true, there's always gotta be a catch. Still very ambitious though, maybe if you catch it fresh it might be better.

Edit: After revisiting the junction once more, i've updated the reviews as it seems like in the months past, that the food has become much better and the daily menu has moved off from school cafeteria food to being good items in their own rights with delicious teriyaki rib bowls, daily changing menus, BLTs and...

Where do I even begin with The Junction? This culinary disaster disguises itself as a restaurant on our college campus, preying on innocent students who are forced into buying a mandatory meal plan. If I could give this place negative stars, I would do it in a heartbeat.

Let's talk about the ambiance, or should I say lack thereof. The Junction manages to achieve the perfect blend of sterile hospital cafeteria and abandoned psych ward. The harsh, unyielding lighting overhead adds a touch of horror movie ambiance, setting the stage for the stomach-churning experience that awaits anyone foolish enough to step inside.

Now, onto the food – or rather, the abominations they dare to serve and call meals. I wouldn't feed The Junction's offerings to my worst enemy's pet rock. The menu boasts a selection of tasteless slop that could only be concocted by someone with a profound disdain for both flavor and nutrition. I have encountered more satisfying meals in a prison mess hall, and at least there, the inmates have the excuse of punishment.

The mandatory bulk meal plan is the icing on this rancid cake. Students are coerced into shelling out their hard-earned money for a minimum of 110 meals per semester, effectively chaining them to a diet of despair. It's a financial black hole, sucking up funds that could be better spent on literally anything else – even a lifetime supply of instant noodles would be a gourmet upgrade.

The Junction is not just a culinary abomination; it's a stain on the very fabric of campus life. The only positive aspect of this establishment is that it serves as a cautionary tale for future generations of students who may one day find themselves unwittingly enrolled in a gastronomic nightmare.

In conclusion, avoid The Junction like the plague unless you have a masochistic desire to subject your taste buds to an unending parade of mediocrity. It's a shame that such a pitiful excuse for a restaurant continues to exist on our campus, preying on the vulnerable hunger of students who...

Ah man, the Dirty J. Starting my second semester and my return to The Junction was greeted with an assortment of some of the most unappetizing and disappointing “food” I have ever laid my eyes upon. Somehow the sustenance has gotten worse.

I write this review after eating a “meal” that consisted of watermelon chunks, orange jello, and Froot Loops, because that was the only food they were serving tonight that seemed edible. I sat there, beneath the glaring hospital lights, looking around at my fellow Utah State Aggies who were trying their best to create meals out of the abominations that were pouring out of the kitchen. I stared down at my Dinner from Hell, silently berating myself for not rushing to The Marketplace before they closed. How dare they?

How dare they force freshman, who just want to live on campus, to shell out hundreds and even thousands of dollars on a meal plan where you are forced to choose between the most mediocre place on earth, or a cafeteria similar to the one that Omar Abdel-Rahman eats at in the ADX-Florence maximum security prison.

Betsy Cantwell, PLEASE allocate more than $3 from the Universities yearly budget to Food Services. It’s the least you could do after making us spend upwards of $2000 on this meal plan.

I leave 1 star and not zero because Taco Tuesday got heat fr. Tuesdays I love The Junction, every other day I loathe it. Eat at The Marketplace if you can. It ranges from extremely average to pretty good.

Unlike The Junction which ranges from pig...