Do you have a cafeteria at work? What's it like?

Question

Google has a pretty impressive cafeteria http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2014/05/lunch-at-google/#more-15698. 

What's your workplace cafeteria like? 

I work in a hospital, the pickins' are slim especially after 4pm. There is a new Balducci's which has quickly become the most popular destination for food with the old cafeteria (random mix of fried food, pizza, Subway, Einstein Bagel and salad bar) pretty empty these days. I've occassionaly frequented the salad bar but otherwise in my 7 years have eaten at the cafeteria less than a handful of times.

Answer

I work for a large company that has cafeterias run by one of the largest corporate caterers -- Compass Group. A few years ago, my employer merged with another large company that turned out also to be using Compass Group. The other company's cafeterias, however, had less interesting and diverse food (and also, I should say, lower prices). Unfortunately, the new combined company went with the less interesting/less expensive option, so I don't eat in the cafeteria often. (And I cook so much at home that I'm always deluged with leftovers, so it's just as well that the cafeteria doesn't tempt me!)

Answer

We have a cafeteria. There is a grill, serving burgers, chicken, fish sandwiches at lunch. One or two mains and two veggies at another station. Good ordinary salad bar and pizza.

Open all morning for made to order breakfasts, and through 1:00 for lunch.

We are re-orging and consolidating buildings, though, so we are about to lose it. Having a cafeteria, even if all you ever get is salad, is a great perk.

Answer

No, I don't have a cafeteria at work, in fact my office is attached to the house so I have full access to our indoor and outdoor kitchens.

I thought about this question and realized that I had never worked anywhere where there was a employer provided cafeteria. I'm not counting employment/ownership in the food business, where we had kitchens/dining rooms as they weren't cafeterias.

Then it dawned on me that 25 years ago I taught for two years at a regional Vocational/Technical High School after selling one business and before starting the next.

There was a cafeteria for students, but staff ate in a dining room. Food was cooked and served by the Culinary Arts and Baking students for both students and staff. The food was so good and so inexpensive, that up to 20 members of the public could call each school morning at 9AM and make reservations for luncheon. A 'gourmet' 3 course meal could be had for $2.50, no tax, no tipping.
The choice of meals were the same in the student cafeteria and the staff/public dining room, except we got waiter service on plates, not a plastic tray and a walk down the cafeteria line. Next month, I'm invited to speak at that school on the occasion of the director's retirement. A luncheon is included, it will be interesting to see what has changed over the years (besides the price, that 3 course meal is now $6, no tax, no tip).

Answer

The cafeteria at my old job was like any of the generic nyc delis- sandwiches made to order, a few hot daily specials, salad bar that was fine but not great, yogurts, drinks, crappy coffee, frozen yogurt machine, snacky foods, soups in the winter and prices only very slightly lower than the rest of nyc. 

I stopped in maybe 5 times over 4 years, for a yogurt or whatever- too many waaaayyyy better choices within a few blocks and i brought my own most of the time anyhow.

Answer

Yum. All that Google food looks great. I have a friend who works for Google and he's always posting photos of his meals on Facebook.

I used to work at Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Bev Hills. They had a rather wide selection of hot and cold foods and I could always find something that hit the spot. Haven't been there in years, so don't know about now, but I hear they still do freshly baked pizzas. I used to go in for a bagel with cream cheese in the morning, then sandwiches and whatnot for lunch, dinner usually was takeout on the way home or something at home. 

I'm jealous of your Einstein Bagel. I love all bagels. 

No job now but the hospital I frequent has a new cafeteria with lots of choices: http://www.yelp.com/biz/rejuvenate-caf%C3%A9-los-angeles-2 There's a little Starbucks kiosk that doesn't really serve Starbucks stuff, and some of the pastries are fantastic. My dad works there and used to eat in the café a lot, said it was pretty good, but now he and his nurses go down the street for Thai food, since they're smack dab in the middle of Thai town.

Answer

When I worked for John Hancock they had a serviceable cafeteria that could be ambitious but didn't always deliver.

They turned the cafeteria (in basement) into parking but brought an outside caterer/restaurant in on the first floor.

Their food is pricy but outstanding. One if the best salad bars in Boston among many other choices including great sushi.

I don't work there anymore but am close by and am there pretty frequently.

Answer

It's lousy. I work for a community college that shall remain nameless, because I often have to order catering from Food Service, and they already hate me because I'm so picky and demanding. I know college students are mostly broke, so I understand that our Food Service is aiming at a very low price point. But dear god, does everything have to be THAT cheap, and THAT BAD? Soggy sandwiches made with watery turkey roll and sliced American cheese, canned soups, overcooked pizza drying out under the heat lamps... I just skip lunch most days, or go out (but that means giving up my parking space, and parking miles away when I get back). Or I go to the vending machines--I can actually do better there.

All the local community colleges aren't like this. I've previously worked at a couple of others in the area, both of which have good training programs in culinary arts. Their students did part of the cooking for the dining rooms on campus, and the food they made was AMAZING. It's been years, but I still fondly remember the Friday international buffets they did at one place. And for Easter, the students doing Specialty Desserts & Breads would make these fabulous chocolate Easter eggs and sell them on campus. It was no wonder those programs had such a good placement rate for their graduates. Wish we had a program like that where I am now--having my students practice doing medical ultrasounds on me just isn't the same.

Answer

I work for myself now, mostly in my home office or at client sites, but oh the memories.

Sprint main campus at Overland Park KS, great cafeteria, well it should have been - everything about that place was designed to make it hard to leave even for lunch, nice that they at least sprung for decent food service. Excellent salad bar, very good pasta station where they would cook you any pasta dish swiftly. 

On the other hand, the cafeteria in the basement of the Docking State Building, Kansas, was comically horrible. Oh my god. We called it the "Five Star" because, irony. I recall a period of the fish-tasting mashed potato product, a few of us like-minded drones were buying them out of curiosity. We couldn't quite figure out what kind of rot was occurring. If any of you have seen that facebook meme of "Mac n Cheese nFuckit" - well, that was what it was like, plus needle tracks on the "service" staff. 

Oh, also, well people don't admit stuff like this but heck I'm sort of anonymous, three years ago I had to go to county scare you straight for a very unfortunate dui for a couple of days of indoctrination, and I tell you the food took me right back to the five-star.

Answer

I work for a large company that has a cafeteria and I LOVE IT. It's not free like at Google (sadly). In the morning I can get fresh fruit, oatmeal, cold cereal, bagels or have the grill guy make me something eggy to order. At lunch there are several stations: made to order sandwiches that can be put on a panini press, there's always pizza but it's not great, soups, salad bar, grill (though no tuna melts, which is a damn shame if you ask me) and there's always a made to order hot lunch ranging anywhere from the mushroom risotto I had yesterday to beef pho (haven't tried it) to "mac and cheese for adults". 
We also have a Starbucks in house but I'm a tea drinker so I don't get much use out of it except for the occassional chai latte.

Answer

It's small but okay in a pinch. They're only open from 7-3 with full service (breakfast/lunch, and after that, there's just coffee and grab n go stuff. There is a soup of the day and salad bar, and a made-to-order sandwich/egg aisle. Then there are the cruncy/sweet snacks and hot and cold bev offerings. It's at a small college, so no franchises inside, although if I wanted to leave campus (and my parking spot!) I could probably make it back and forth from a few diff. takeout spots. 

The problem is the salad bar is damn expensive, too $$ for me to eat from everyday. They do offer cheeses, chicken, hard boiled eggs, etc, to top the salad with, but the salads are sold by weight, so I can't afford to do it more than maaaybe a few times a month if I forget my lunch on the counter at home. 

That said, I am grateful it's there for those times, and that I have fresh, healthy options.

Answer

We have an amazing cafe. There is a huge salad bar with "regular" salad items plus every day there is a variety of additional mixed salads (like pasta salads, hummus, beets with goat cheese, roasted vegetables, etc). There is a hot food theme every day....comfort food, indian, chinese, asparagus festival to name a few...and there are 4 hot dishes based on a theme.

There is a grill station, a sushi station with sushi chef making it fresh, sandwich station, 4 soups every day, a pizza station plus a whole host of other things.

In the mornings, there are bagels, cereals, hot foods like scrambled eggs and fritattas and sausage, plus a grill guy making omelettes and pancakes.

The food is really good. However, it is not cheap! A basic salad with some "heavy" items like artichoke hearts plus a drink could cost like $11-$12. Two sushi rolls comes to the same. Sandwiches are $5-$7.

Topics

Locations

Your post has been published!

Do you have a cafeteria at work? What's it like?

More from Chowhound

Guides

The Ultimate Spring Produce Guide: What's in Season & How to Use It

Recipe Round-Ups

Quick and Easy Instant Pot Breakfast Recipes for Less Morning Stress

Guides

How to Care for Enameled Cast Iron So It Lasts a Lifetime

Home

The Best Tool to Clean a Wood Cutting Board Is Probably in Your Compost Bin

Trending Discussions

Chowhound Recipes That You are Saving

A Final Goodbye for Chowhound

Favorite Chowhound Memories

NY Times: Chowhound Closes After 25 Years of Food Obsession, Wisdom and Debate

January–April 2022 Baking COTM: DESSERT PERSON by Claire Saffitz

Quick Links

Latest Discussions

Cookbook of the Month

Dish of the Month

Weekly Menu Planning

Get fresh food news delivered to your inbox

12 Irish Foods to Celebrate St. Patrick's Day That Aren’t Corned Beef and Cabbage

Chowhound

Policies

Community

Editorial

Content