 "Photo: Christine Soriaga")
Students who have noticed an empty place in the basement of the Commons will continue to do so. Tomato Bar will not be reopening after health code violations shut it down this summer.
Dining Services employees inspected the Tomato Bar in the summer in the Commons basement and found it behind in fire codes. After looking into the possible repairs, officials determined it would not reopen because of the significant costs to repair the violations.
"Dining Services will incur a significant cost to bring this equipment into code compliance," said Lallah Howard, interim director of Dining Services. "The decision to not reopen the Tomato Bar was made in August once all options regarding the equipment and code compliance were identified."
Many students returning in the fall semester were surprised by its absence.
"I think it's sad [that they closed it]," said Claire Brown, a sophomore environmental geosciences major.
"I'm mad that it's closed. I liked it a lot," Will Hutto, sophomore general studies major, said. "I thought the food and service was good, and I didn't find anything wrong with it at all."
Will Davis, a freshmen industrial engineering major, heard praise for the dining facility from his friends and realized he was missing out.
"I heard that it was amazing," Davis said. "I'm upset that I didn't get to try it."
Although Tomato Bar will not reopen, dining facilities on the south side of campus will be reevaluated as part of the Department of Residence Life's master plan. The plan includes evaluating and assessing buildings on campus in an effort to possibly expand campus residence or facilities. The report "New Residence Halls Site Feasibility Study," released by the Department in June, showed possible future construction sites. The report mentions that all parts of the University - including Dining Services - will be affected and involved in any large-scale changes.
"Dining Services intends to address equipment repairs and code compliance as part of an overall facility renovation being coordinated with Residence Life in conjunction with their overall master plan," Howard said.
Dining Services countered the closing of Tomato Bar with the fall opening of Tomato Bar Express, a new dining option in the Commons Food Court designed to give students comparable food options. Tomato Bar express offers a made-to-order salad bar and a pasta line with choices of two sauces, two pastas and multiple toppings. For sandwiches, students can eat at the Common Denominator Deli & Grill.
"This new location enables us to continue offering many of the Tomato Bar menu options while also decreasing the amount of wait time for food (something students had complained about before in the old location)," Howard said.
"I liked having both options," sophomore sociology major Reuben Morris said. "Downstairs the lines were longer, but it was higher quality pasta. Tomato Bar Express has shorter lines, but it's not as good. Definitely the Express doesn't have the same quality."
The option of having both Tomato Bar and Tomato Bar Express open, however, will not be offered. Dining Services does not plan to restore the basement dining facility.
"[T]here are no plans for renovation or reconstruction of the Tomato Bar area in the basement of the Commons," Howard said. "We will continue to monitor the effectiveness of Tomato Bar Express, as we do all of our concepts, to determine if we are meeting the needs of our students."
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