Sonoma State University Culinary Services held a meeting on Feb. 18 to discuss new changes that were made to the restaurant, Overlook. The restaurant is located on the third floor of the Student Center. 

Overlook is one of eight dining venues that Sonoma State offers here on campus. It provides students with a wonderful, full service, dining experience. It’s a nice venue for Seawolves to enjoy a fresh and local meal. The unique menu consists of four different cycles that trade off each week. The seasonal menus and weekly specials change each semester.

 The venue offers meat, seafood, vegan, and vegetarian meals, allowing students with various dietary restriction to enjoy the what is offered and features a nice patio view. They are open Mon. through Fri. from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m and are closed during the weekends. Overlook also takes reservations for personal dining rooms to enjoy a special meal with a family of up to 10 or a loved one. 

Students who worked in Culinary Services were provided lunch at the meeting and were asked to give their feedback on changes made to the restaurant. Seawolves got to discuss what improvements should be made to Overlook, and also were able to try out a new drink called ”The Middle-Eastern Shrub.” 

Culinary Services introduced the new beverage at the meeting, and the drink is going to change seasonally. Director of Culinary Services, Nancy Keller, said, “The drink is made with fruit, herbs, spices, carbonated water, and vinegar. This week’s Shrub featured mint and pomegranate.” The result of mixing the shrub and other ingredients is a sweet acidic flavor that apparently tastes delicious.

At the Culinary Advisory Board meeting, students were given a paper with questions for them to answer, such as, “What is your favorite food venue and why?” And, “What dish, cuisine, or concept would you like to see on campus?”

Sophomore student, Jackeline Castillo, responded by saying, “My favorite venue is probably Sizzle and Flame because they have really good wings and the Mongolian is fire.” Sizzle and Flame are located in The Kitchen’s and are open Mon. through Sun. from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.

“I would like to see more variety of foods, especially the Vietnamese soup, Pho, because it’s one of my favorites and I’m sure a lot of other people will enjoy it too. I also think they should have food trucks come more often, they did it once and the food they had was really good,” suggested Senior Student, Tona Anecino, who works in the caf.

“My favorite menu items are the Fish Tacos and the Buddha Bowl. The Salmon Nicoise Salad is very popular.” said the Director of Culinary Service, Nancy Keller. In hopes of encouraging more students to purchase food on campus, she explained that Culinary Services is now advertising to students and spreading the word. “We have priced appropriately and comparatively to the local market to draw [students] in.” Culinary Services noticed that more students are dining in while on break from classes, or they are studying on the patio. 

The meeting hopefully sparked new and exciting ideas for dining services on campus, and will bring in more Seawolves to Overlook. Visit Overlook and try a Shrub.