The worst feeling in the world is when you’re excited for lunch, and you see it’s a walking taco. It’s soggy, never enough food, and it’s just Doritos and a chunk of meat on top. Today I am going to look at Magnet students’ options on the school lunchs and hopefully the people in charge of lunch will change some of these lunch options.

First of all, we have orange chicken. Jack Tierney, Sophia Easterbrook, Keely Yagel, Ben Hynes, Mia DiMeo, Jaxon Chambers, Graice Smith, Paul Simmons, Rami Abbas, and Nicco Held-Salimbene all say orange chicken is their favorite lunch item. Ben Hynes says, “It’s got the best flavor in my opinion, with the best portions. You get the most food with plenty of rice and chicken. I feel actually full and nourished after eating it. It also kinda just hits.” Ben seems to really like the orange chicken, but I think what Nicco Held-Salimbene has to say about orange chicken is even more passionate.

Wow, I don’t think wiser words have been said before. He beautifully represents how good the orange chicken is and how the flavors complement eachother. All the other responses saying they liked the orange chicken said things like “it tastes the best” and “it’s the most filling.” I personally love the orange chicken and think it’s a top 3 meal at Magnet. I always get very excited when I see that we are having orange chicken for lunch.

Another popular favorite lunch item is the Mac and Cheese and Chicken nuggets. Ian Clair, Will Balderose, Macheala Black, MaKayla Winter, and Daniel Zheng all said the Mac and Nuggs are their favorites. Macheala Black says, “It’s just a nice comfort food for me (among many others!). Every time I see that warm paper tray of steaming nuggets and golden macaroni, it just fills me with pure joy! I also like to put the barbecue sauce on the entire platter, so the noodles can have some flavor, too.” I couldn’t agree more, the Mac and Nuggets are very much a comfort food, and while the Mac and Cheese isn’t that flavorful, it’s still a good lunch item. MaKayla Winter also agrees, saying, “It’s a classic, and both parts are very good with the bbq sauce.” Other people said it was “filling and good,” and Ian Clair says they are “awesome sauce.” While I really like this lunch, the mac and cheese doesn’t taste like anything, which tanks its value. I would say it’s a top 5 lunch.

The grilled cheese and tomato soup is popular as well. Sophia Easterbrook, Sam Abney, Chase Broadway, Ian Clair, Maddie Marquette, Denys Bondar, Maddox Crosby, and John Rosato all say they like the grilled cheese. John says, “It tastes like real food. It is so amazing, peak, and awesome. Even people who always bring lunch will buy lunch when there is grilled cheese. I think we need more grilled cheese. They should make it every day for lunch.” Sam says, “The cheese with the tomato sauce is fire.” While I don’t personally like the tomato soup, the grilled cheese is pretty good.

Pasta of all kinds was also a fan favorite. Isabella All and William Sher both say that the pasta salad is their favorite. William says that it’s his favorite because “It isn’t gross, unlike everything else.” While I’ve never tried it, it doesn’t look too bad. Nathaniel Wohlfeil, Spencer Wilhelm, Tolly Gerken, and Barrett Campbell all say that the Pasta with the Meat Sauce is the best. Nathaniel says, “Actually tastes decent and is an adequate amount of sustenance.” Spencer says, “It tastes the best consistently,” and Tolly says, “It tickles my fancy.” I think that the Pasta with red sauce is another top 3 lunch item.

Getting into some of the least favorite lunches, the walking taco is the most disliked. Sophia Easterbrook, Jack Tierney, Sam Abney, Sam Galloway, Keely Yagel, Ian Clair, Maddox Crosby, and Henry Serano all say it’s their least favorite. Keely says, “Who would even want to be within a 200-mile radius of a walking taco. I mean, that can’t possibly be good for anyone. Who would even think about making that? You got kids carrying around an upside-down Dorito bag and calling it lunch? Yeah, no thanks.” She REALLY doesn’t like this meal. I can’t say I blame her; it’s a sad excuse of a lunch. I get the vision, but the execution isn’t good. Henry says, “Whoever came up with the idea of a walking taco has never had food before. With every other item on the school lunch menu, there is at least one good thing I could say about it. I couldn’t do that for the walking taco because there is nothing positive about it.” Again, a very true statement. There’s never enough substance in it, and it’s just a deglorified nacho meal.

Then there’s the chicken wings. Barrett Campbell, Chase Broadway, Genevieve Emory, Della Terrell, Jaxon Chambers, Maddie Marquette, Paul Simmons, and Nicco Held-Salimbene all say that the wings and rice are their least favorite. Barrett Campbell says, “Where’s the chicken? I don’t see it all, I see the corpse of a malnourished chicken.” While this is a very humorous answer, it’s unfortunately true. Chase says, “The wings are dry, the rice is dry, and it’s never enough chicken.” Likewise, Chase also thinks there’s not enough chicken and also bring up a very important fact, its all incredably dry. Genevieve is probably the most passionate about this meal.

For some foods people wish would be added to the menu, Mia DiMeo, Dainel Zheng, and Nicco Held-Salimbene all say they should bring back the Salisbury steak. Mia says, “It was so good I don’t know why they took it away.” The Salisbury steak was one of my personal favorites, but I didn’t even notice they took it away. Now I am sad because they probably won’t bring it back, and it was good. Nicco says, “Biscuits and mashed potatoes with that yummy, yummy, savory sauce COME ON!” Couldn’t agree more.

Similarly, it seems some people want the Gyros to come back. Genevieve Emory, Machaela Black, and Isabella All say they want the Gryo back. Isabella says, “It’s balanced, not too greasy or salty, and gyros taste really good.” While I have never had a gyro, I am glad they were able to recreate the flavors and make it taste good. Genevieve says, “They were genuinely pretty good, like the most actual gyro I would expect them to be.” Machaela really appreciated the gryos.

Another food that came up was a quesadilla. Sam Abney, Kyler Richardson, and Nathaniel Wohlfeil all say they should add a quesadilla to the menu. Kyler says a chicken quesadilla is “hard to mess up, decently sustaining, and not too messy,” and Nathaniel also says it “could have cheese and some kinda protein.” I agree, I think a nice quesadilla with some type of protein would be a good addition to the menu.

_________________________________________

Overall, it seems the orange chicken, Mac and cheese with nuggets, and the grilled cheese are the most popular. The people in charge of lunch should add these items more often. Then the walking taco and the wings with rice need to be put on the menu less, if not at all. Recently, they have been trying out some new menu items, and I think they should keep it up.