During Family Weekend, Cardinal families gathered at campus dining halls across campus to try different meals prepared by Residential & Dining Enterprises (R&DE). While students shared a range of colorful opinions regarding dining options — which included tree-shaped pasta served at Arrillaga — family members mostly expressed complimentary remarks.
“Overall, the food was great. Every dish was really good, and I loved the variety,” said Mario Martinez, father of Viviana Martinez ’27, from Loredo, Texas.
“I think the food is wonderful. From the main course to the desserts, beverages and the broad selection of fruits and vegetables, I think the dining is great,” said Xiyu Li, mother of Daniel Yang ’25, from Austin, Texas. Li added that a large family group, with whom she ate dinner, had similarly positive feedback. However, not all the students were impressed.
“They only make good food when parents are here,” Yashaswi Bista ’27 said. “For once, the chicken was actually edible.”
Li also noticed an improvement in this year’s dining options compared to the meals offered during last year’s Family Weekend, although she had “nothing to complain about last year.”
“It looks like all the dishes are quite healthy, made with some really interesting ingredients, which you probably would not find at most other schools,” said Balakrishna Kumthekar, father of Amit Kumthekar ’27, from Santa Rosa, California.
Kumthekar was dazzled not only by the quality of the cuisine, but also the variety of dishes and uniqueness of the ingredients.
“At home, we eat a great variety of food — my wife is Italian and I am Indian, so we cook many different dishes. I’m really happy that my son is at a place where his nutritional well-being is taken care of,” he said. “Kudos to the chefs and the nutritionists and the entire team for preparing such a wonderful smorgasbord of food here.”
Other parents felt overwhelmed by the variety of options. “I’m a little bit jealous. The food here is really good,” said Eric Johnson, father of Miranda Johnson ’26, from Omaha, Nebraska. Although, I haven’t tried a whole lot of it because they had blueberries this morning, and I just got plates and plates of blueberries.”
Miranda said that the produce selection in Arrillaga is especially appealing. “I never had really good fruit growing up, because it’s always cold in Omaha and we never had berries,” she said.
Though Miranda enjoyed eating at Arrillaga during Family Weekend, she said that “we have had better chicken in the past. But because we had Hawaiian rolls and really good fruit today, I’m very, very happy.”
Johnson was critical of the eggs at first, noting that they were “congealed and somewhat rubbery at the beginning.” However, he said that the eggs vastly improved after the first batch, and that generally the dining is “absolutely fantastic.”
“In fact, my daughter will call me and show me what she is eating, just to make me jealous,” he said. “In most sit-down restaurants, I don’t think you would get something this good.”
At Lakeside, students had different opinions compared to their parents, confirming a broader consensus among many students that R&DE staff improved the dining selection for Family Weekend.
“I think they had really good options that they don’t normally have,” Martinez said. “I do believe that they made it better for the parents.”
While parents were impressed by the range of food available, students commented that the selection at Family Weekend may not be representative of their daily dining experience.
“I definitely think that the food was more flavorful and better prepared for Family Weekend,” said Francesca Pinney ’27, adding that the dining halls offered a greater variety of food, healthier and tastier options, and especially better fruit.
“I feel slightly upset that in reality Stanford dining doesn’t seem to live up to the standards they advertise to the broader Stanford community,” Pinney said.