I do not think we should speak ill of the dead. However, since Bon Appetit is a company and therefore cannot die, I will waste no time welcoming its replacement. Metz, like its New York baseball counterpart, is a welcome surprise. If you’ve ever done the math, you’ll see that a standard meal swipe has averaged around $13 a meal and the past experience has not lived up to that price.

In the past, you could go to Saga on a Saturday, and they would be out of salad at 5:30 p.m., leaving you either to starve or to have chicken tenders for the thirtieth time that semester. Now, Metz offers a much broader Saturday meal and even elevates the chicken, Nashville hotting it. 

 

I am a normally prudish man, but I’d do anything for Nashville hot chicken.

 

In my brief experience with Metz, I have noticed that it has either improved or not touched every element of the dining hall, and breaking it down by meal illustrates that.

 

Breakfast

Over my entire tenure as a student, one rallying cry has united campus. “Bring back omelets!” This creed has been shared by everyone, including blood rivals Simpson and Whitley. The desire to bring back made-to-order omelets has superseded male competition. 

 

Metz finally answered the call. In bringing back daily omelets, it made breakfast a viable option. Freshman year, you would go to Saga in the morning because you didn’t know any better. Now the jaded upperclassmen are making their return to the most important meal of the day.

 

Lunch

Not content with simply bringing breakfast back from the underworld, Metz decided to give lunch a Queer Eye–style makeover. Instead of Sizzle just having the same bulbous beef puck, there’ll actually be interesting offerings. 

 

After a few weeks of experiencing what Metz offers, I regret moving to a smaller meal plan. In its short time as culinary providers for Saga they’ve accomplished so much. 

 

Saturday Dinner

Least but not last, is its improvement to Saturday dinner. While there were some ardent fans of chicken tenders, mac and cheese, and BBQ sauce, moving away from that being a weekly feature is a godsend. I understand the appeal of a simple meal that doesn’t require a whole lot of prep, but Metz has answered that quandary with variety. The Nashville hot chicken was bussinTM and it could not have been the most complex thing. 

 

Things cannot always be sunshine and rainbows. Senior Nick Treglia, through the lens of stellar humor, highlighted problems with lines to get into the dining hall and get food. The scanners were slow and the paths were undefined. This minor setback set the stage for a larger comeback. Metz saw this problem and addressed it within a week, and now those problems are things of the past. It is now possible to get lunch at noon before a Protestant becomes Catholic. Speed is back.

 

Even aside from my perspective, Metz is improving labor relations. It’s offering competitive salaries with unique benefits that will definitely help solve the understaffing problem. If you’ve walked around the union and you have the capacity to read, you know that it’s offering salaries up to $12 with unique benefits like Charger Change. Working at AJ’s is no longer just the most available job, it is now a good job.

 

As a whole, the reviews from students are positive. When I mentioned that I was writing a pro-Metz piece, people were shocked that there could be an anti-Metz piece. Everything they’ve touched has either improved or not changed.