The EC makes for a comforting dining experience, especially when Drew’s main dining hall, The Commons, has been showing some inconsistencies with food quality. At the EC, students can rely on staples such as breakfast sandwiches, sushi, burgers with fries and coffee. One new addition for fall is the availability of pumpkin spice lattes at Starbucks. Consistent menu items and a few new food additions like poke bowls have been a game changer. The EC should be Drew students’ first choice when it comes to campus food.
The morning breakfast sandwiches are extremely handy while on-the-go before a morning class.
“I’ll usually grab a bacon, egg and cheese on a bagel plus a coffee from Starbucks in the morning. It’s so good and super convenient for me to just grab on my way to my first class,” said Olivia Mango (’22).
The EC not only provides students with the fuel they need to get their hectic morning started, but has a handful of reliable dishes to get them through the day as well, the sushi bar being a major example of this. Alanna Haimes (’24) agreed.
“EC sushi just kinda hits,” she said.
Even though sushi has always been available at the EC, this semester the fish has been tasting fresher than ever. Drew has been getting their ingredient shipment from a different company than the previous semester, according to EC staff member Michael Khing. This could explain the quality improvement.
When it comes to the campus Starbucks, the coffee isn’t even the highlight of a Drew student’s morning in the EC. The real star of the show is Carmen Ramos, a full-time employee there. I love how she greets every student with a smile while getting their morning PSLs and apple crisp macchiatos.
“It has been very busy around here, but I am so happy about that,” said Ramos, who added that she is glad things are becoming closer to normal. “All of the students here are so kind and it is very obvious that they are happy to be back.”
Starbucks also plans to add a smoothie bar as well as extend their end-of-day hours from 3 to 8 p.m. Having the Starbucks open later would be beneficial for late night study sessions and smoothies could be great for students who sometimes forget to eat their daily serving of fruit. Unfortunately, Ramos said the current labor shortage has made it difficult to hire employees to work the extra hours and get the smoothie bar started up.
Despite this, the EC still offers plenty of good choices and friendly staff which make any dining experience there a good one. In comparison to The Commons, the EC is the superior campus food option. Students should always consider going there before taking a stab in the dark at what might be served at The Commons, especially when it is possible to use swipes for some EC options.
