Soyla's Mexican Cuisine: Good food, Poor Service

Today I ate at Soyla's Mexican Cuisine. It's located at 555 S. Saginaw, in the Wade-Trim Building. It's located almost in the center of downtown and is a pretty reasonable walking distance for anyone in the downtown area. 


For $6.99 ( a recent price jump from $5.99) you can enjoy Soyla's lunch menu, from 11 am - 2 pm. There's about eight options that you can choose from and all of them are pretty standard, including tacos (yes, even fish), quesadillas and chimichangas. All lunch orders come with a side of refried beans and rice. They serve Coke products and a selection of imported, bottled sodas. They do not serve alcohol.

My experience today was not the greatest.
If you were following my Twitter feed you saw what happened. Basically, it took 35 minutes for me to receive my order.

Riverview Dining Room: A UM-Flint staple

On Thursday I ate at The Riverview Dining Room, again. It's a great place for students to eat because it's right on campus on the third floor UCEN. The Dining Room is all-you-can-eat for $5.99.

To start I had the Tortilla Soup (pictured right). The soup wasn't spicy, like I would expect it to be, but I didn't mind.

The 411 on 501

On Wednesday I ate lunch at 501 Bar and Grill, located at 500 S. Saginaw in downtown Flint. 

I was surprised by how it busy it was when I first walked in. The restaurant was about half full, filled with what looked like a lot of business people. I found a table for myself and the waitress asked for my drink order. 

OH Blendz

The UM-Flint University Pavilion is home to many eateries. I experienced one of these, OBlendZ, on Tuesday. OBlendZ primarily sells smoothies and grilled sandwiches. 

I ordered a bean burrito (pictured right). The burrito contains a mild salsa, cheese, refried beans and a spicy-sweet rice. All of this is wrapped and grilled in a 12" tortilla. 

Wise Guy, Eh?

On Friday I went to Wize Guys Pizza for the first time. It's located at 500 S. Saginaw, Flint. I didn't really "get it" until I entered the pizzeria and saw pictures of Al Capone, The Sopranos, The Godfather, and Scarface all over the walls. "Ohhhhhhh," I said to myself. Italian Mobsters, pizza, the name made sense now, and I found it to be pretty cool.

The restaurant didn't have any waitresses so we had to walk up to the counter and order. For pizza you have the choice to make your own, or choose from their pre-made menu.

The Lunch That FINALLY Happened

On Wednesday of this week I was finally able to make it over to The Lunch Studio. It's located at 444 S. Saginaw St. in Flint, Mich. 

After finding my own seat a waitress brought me a menu. I love their vegetarian chili so I ordered a bowl (pictured right) for $2.75 (price is with sandwich purchase).

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. 

The Lunch That Almost Happened

The Lunch Studio
Originally uploaded by sarrazak6881

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sarahrazak/
/ CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
The Lunch Studio is seen as the
black building with the orange and yellow sign.

Today I was supposed to eat lunch at The Lunch Studio (pictured right), located downtown Flint at 444 S. Saginaw. Since I didn't eat there today I can't review any of the food, but I will give a small preview of the restaurant because I have been there before.

The Lunch Studio serves mainly soup and sandwiches, and of course, their famous chili. The restaurant has a very retro feeling to it too. Every table and chair is different than the next and the walls are decorated with interesting art. One of my favorite pieces of art at The Lunch Studio is a giant piece of key lime pie, complete with whipped topping.

Rob Gill, a food writer for Flinttalk.com says that The Lunch Studio is a healthy burger alternative. "They do not deep-fry anything and I bet there isn't a hot dog in the building," said Gill on his blog. "The soups are almost all homemade and salads are prepared fresh daily." The Lunch Studio also received a Healthy Lifestyle Award for their menu and nutritional value, according to Gill.


With that being said, I will be reviewing The Lunch Studio the next opportunity I have!

Riverview Dining Room: A Look at the All-You-Can-Eat Buffet

To end my school week I ate at the Riverview Dining Room on Thursday. The Riverview Dining Room is located on the third floor of the University Center at UM-Flint. For $5.99, the Dining Room serves an all-you-can-eat lunch buffet between 11 am and 2:30 pm. It's open to all students and staff, and it's even open to the general public. 

While there were many options at the buffet, I chose the cheese ravioli in marinara sauce with a side of broccoli (pictured right). It was decently good, too. The broccoli was crisp and tasted pretty fresh. It wasn't soggy, like it had been sitting out for a while. The ravioli was stuffed full of cheese and I was given plenty of sauce too. I would have liked a bigger portion, but it wasn't a big deal because I could have gotten more if I wanted. The other meal to choose from was spaghetti and fried clams. I'm not a fan of fried clams so I didn't really want to try it. 

Deco Deli: An Art in Itself

On Wednesday I ate at Hoffman's Deco Deli and Cafe, by a tip from one of my professors. So my friends Melanie and Mandy, and I headed over to Flint's Carriage Town to visit the deli/antique store located at 503 Garland St.


When we walked in we were pleasantly surprised by the atmosphere. The deli was very trendy, with colorful walls and plants everywhere. Almost all of the tables were full of a diverse crowd too. There were business people, college students, construction workers, and even little old ladies. This was obviously a very appealing place to be.

We walked up to the counter and stared at the enormous menu.
Most of the sandwiches had a Flint theme to them: The Flintstone, Carriage Town Corn Beef, The Durant, the College Club, etc. They even had a featured sorority sandwich, the Phi Sigma Sigma. You could also make your sandwich a meal by adding a drink with a choice of chips or couscous. 


All college students receive a 10 percent discount on orders, so I decided to order The Durant with chips and a coke, and Melanie ordered the College Club with couscous and a coke. Mandy didn't get any food, but she did order a small coffee. 

Free Food On Campus!

On Tuesday I found the opportunity to enjoy a free lunch at UM-Flint. The Office of Student Life is hosting a series of workshops called "Amaizing Leaders" and this time around it involved lunch with Chancellor Ruth Person. Located in the Happenings Room on the first floor University Center, the luncheon was held from 12:30-1:30 pm and was open to all students and staff.


The food wasn't much, but you can't really complain when it's free. A buffet table was filled with Fritos, assorted breads, mustard and mayonnaise, an assortment of meats and cheese, vegetables, cookies and lemonade. It was basically everything I expected it would be.

I ended up making a Turkey sandwich with swiss cheese, mayo and lettuce. I also grabbed a spoonful (yes, spoonful) of Fritos, four pickle spear halves with a peanut butter and chocolate chip cookie.


I wish that I would have grabbed more of everything though, especially the Fritos. I was third in the buffet line and I felt the pressure of 20 hungry people waiting behind me. It would have been different if I had paid for the food because I would have felt the need to get my money's worth, but being that it was free I felt the need to be slightly modest.


The luncheon was a great opportunity to say a few words to the Chancellor and get to know a little more about her. She told the history of her work and education and afterwards opened the floor for students to ask questions. She talked about her hobbies, that she liked to cook and garden. She told a couple of stories about how her father was an influence and inspiration to her, and she gave advice to students about taking the time to have a little fun in addition to their studies. Finally, Chancellor Person had to leave 15 minutes early because of a scheduled conference call with Governor Granholm.


I found the luncheon to be a great opportunity. Not only was I able to enjoy a free lunch right on the campus of UM-Flint, but I was able to learn more about Chancellor Person and network with other student leaders on campus as well.

Churchill's: Not As Bad As You Think

On Monday I ate lunch at Churchill's with my friend Melanie. Churchill's is located downtown Flint at 340 South Saginaw. Students receive a 10 percent discount and happy hour drink prices during lunch. 

The entire month of November Churchill's is offering $1.35 pints of Coors Light Draft. We started by ordering ourselves a pint each and were not disappointed. You can't go wrong with a $1.35 pint, even if it is Coors Light. 


Melanie (pictured above) was very happy about her drink decision. We were going to order pints of Miller Light, but when the waitress informed us of the drink special we changed our minds. We thought it was a good deal for a couple of poor college students.