Most Magnet students have experienced the wonderful world of Magnet’s school lunches at least a few times, whether only once or twice with the misfortune of a forgotten lunch box, or hundreds of times for those who rely on the cafeteria for food daily. The Magnet Cafeteria offers a wide range of foods, yet the quality, quantity, and nutritional value seem to vary a lot from offering to offering. In today’s article I will be reviewing some of the most common food item at Magnet and rating them to hopefully create a thorough guide to the lunch options in the cafeteria.

Pizza- This is one of the few foods that is offered every day and a has a line dedicated to it, and it seems to always be one of the most popular lunches on any given day. The pizza itself is pretty good, and pretty much just tastes like standard pizza which is hard to go wrong with. The problem here is the massive changes in quality from box to box, and when the pizza is bad, it can get really bad. Often times there is way too much cheese to where it overflows the pizza, and the 2nd batch of pizza is always noticeably worse than the first due to undercooking that can be so bad the cheese slides off. Usually there are only two options for pizza, pepperoni and cheese, and in general I like the pepperoni better because these slices usually have a more normal amount of cheese. Additionally, the pizza is a “premium” lunch which means in normal times it is more expensive than the rest of the lunches, yet it comes with no additional food like almost every other lunch option does. (Does the state really consider one slice of pizza to be a nutritious meal?)

–Overall Rating: 5/10

Hamburger/Cheeseburgers

This lunch option is one of the less frequent ones, and for good reason too. The hamburger always looks a little off, and warning do not look at the gray, probably not meat patty if you want to have an appetite. The cheeseburger option is slightly better as it slightly distracts from the actual hamburger patty. These dishes both come with fries, which are one of the better sides, but are still not very good at all. They are usually very soggy and fall apart easily. In fact most of the time if I get a hamburger I don’t even bother with the fries.

-Overall Rating: 3.5/10

Nachos- This option consists of tortilla chips with queso and ground beef. The chips are solid, but nothing special as they are just standard Tostitos chips. The beef is usually solid, although portions are kind of small. The queso is decent, but I feel like at times it can have a weird texture or consistency, that is almost unnatural. The best part about the nachos is the consistency of the meal. Most of the other lunches seem to vary day to day, but with nachos every single time I get it It is always just the same beef, same queso, and same tortilla chips, all separated out into around equal portions. Also one thing I recommend trying is to put the beef and queso into the tortilla chips bag and shake it up. After this pour the chips back into your lunch plate and you should have nachos with evenly distributed queso and beef on top.

-Overall Rating 6/10

Orange Chicken/ General Tso’s Chicken- If you have been at magnet for a while, you most likely have heard good things about the orange chicken. Almost everybody I talk to agrees that it is by far the best option at lunch, and this can clearly be seen when the hot lines are noticeably longer on orange chicken days. The standard box consists of either orange or General Tso’s chicken on top of rice with a side of carrots or broccoli. The orange chicken is slightly sweeter while the General Tso’s chicken is less sweet and more spicy. I personally prefer the orange chicken, but it’s hard to go wrong with either option. The carrots are one of the better vegetables the cafeteria offers, and the broccoli can be good, but also can be soggy. This is also one of the few options that seems to have adequate nutritious content. On a side note, I really miss when there was a line solely for orange chicken sophomore year, and it’s kinda sad we only get it maybe once a week now.

-Overall Rating 9/10

Chicken Bites/ Buffalo Chicken Bites- 

These are essentially chicken nuggets that are called “Chicken Bites,” for some reason. While the chicken is pretty good, it is standard to receive only 4-5 Chicken Bites per meal which does not really fill you up. The vegetable that comes with this meal is usually a combination of green beans or carrots. The carrots can be good, but the green beans are usually fairly soggy. Additionally, this meal often comes with a side of grits. I very rarely end up eating the grits as they end up being way too thin or liquidy. The Buffalo Chicken Bite meal is the same thing with slightly spicier chicken, and I usually prefer the buffalo option, but at least this week, there is a new buffalo sauce that is kinda wack.

-Overall Rating 4/10

While they might be controversial, these are my overall opinions on some of the cafeteria’s most popular and most common items. Hopefully I will be back to review the other half soon. Thank you for reading and make sure to let me know your favorite (and least favorite) Magnet cafeteria food.