Thursday, November 12, 2009

Riverview Dining Room: Meh

I ate on campus of UM-Flint this week on Tuesday. The Riverview Dining Room is an all-you-can-eat buffet right on the campus of UM-Flint. It's located on the third floor of the University Center and costs $5.99. At lunch time they're open from 11 am to 2:30 pm. 


The Riverview Dining Room seems to be hit-or-miss. Some days I want to taste everything they have to offer. Other days I stick with the basics. On Tuesday of this week I went with the latter. 



On this day there wasn't anything offered that was particularly special. It was a choice between Beef and Broccoli stir fry, or Roast Turkey Breast (pictured right). The turkey didn't have a lot of flavor. It was kind of pink too, which really grosses me out. I think it would have been better if they had offered some kind of gravy to top it off. 



However, the garlic mashed potatoes were delicious! The garlic taste wasn't too much and they had a real creamy texture. 


For vegetables I had a squash and zucchini mixture. The vegetables themselves didn't have a lot of flavor, but it tasted like they were soaked in some kind of butter garlic sauce. The buttery flavor added a nice taste to an otherwise less tasteful vegetable. 


To finish the meal I got a seasoned piece of flatbread. The flavor was all there, but the bread was as hard as a rock! I've found this to be a pretty common theme at the Dining Room. The bread taste good, but it's always cold and hard. That fact really takes away from the bread experience. 



For my next dish I got the usual slice of pepperoni pizza. I'm still not even sure what to think of the pizza overall. Some days it's good and some days it isn't. 


On this day, though, the pizza was pretty alright. It wasn't soggy on the bottom and it was decently warm. 


The pizzas are never frozen because they make them right in front of you. At least I know they're freshly made. The only problem is that they sit out too long sometimes and they get cold. Or on other days they'll be stiff, and won't even bend when you pick them up. Either way, the pizza is usually a good alternative when the two main meals being offered just aren't doing it for you. 



The last thing I ate was the American Bounty Vegetable Soup. The soup is advertised as a vegetarian dish. I'm not sure if this means the broth is meatless, but there aren't any chunks of meat, at least. I can't figure out everything in it, but I know it has corn, carrots, celery, diced tomatoes, and onions. 


Overall, the soup has a very tomato-ey taste, and the vegetables are very well cooked; They practically melt in my mouth. Because it's a soup I like that the vegetables are squishy. I don't want to have to chew my soup. 


I didn't have dessert because it was Oreo crumble pudding. Like I've said in a previous post, I've recently had a bad experience with pudding, especially chocolate pudding, so I stayed away from it. 


Some items today were pretty good, like the garlic mashed potatoes and the soup. On the other hand, the turkey was too pink and flavorless and the bread was cold and hard. It's a real hit-or-miss experience at Riverview, but you still can't beat all-you-can-eat!

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