Bon Appétit (Hillsdale, MI)

My day was a bit weird today. As I was in a computer lab, trying desperately to understand MATLAB as I poured my soul into a Math Modeling project, I received not one, but TWO messages from people urging me to go to the cafeteria (serviced by Bon Appétit) ASAP. Why? They had onion rings.

My project called me, but I knew that duty would call when I started Sola Cepa. And so, I did what I had to do.

Presentation and Appearance - 3/5

As to be expected from mass-prepared food in a college cafeteria, these weren't exactly the fanciest in presentation. Unceremoniously heaped onto my plate, some of the onion rings were cracked and broken before I even touched them.

The appearance, however, was generally pretty good (besides the cracked rings). A fairly smooth, consistent breading covered all of the rings, and those that remained whole held their shape well.

Taste - 3/5

Unsurprisingly, the breading was bland and flavorless. Surprisingly, the inner onion packed a tremendous punch in terms of flavor. It tasted, well, like an onion! A strong one, at that. That said, these onion rings were sort of a one flavor pony. It was pretty much just onion. A good onion taste, but standing alone, it left something to be desired. The rings were also room temperature at best, cold at worst. That's not an ideal temperature for onion rings.

I suspect these rings were a bit undercooked, and prepared well in advance of my arrival.

More points are awarded for the accompanying ranch sauce, which somehow oozed life into the bland breading and made these onion rings a bit more enjoyable to eat.

Texture - 2/5

While the onions were flavorful, they were also soft, and mushy. While it's theoretically possible to have a good soft onion ring, it's rare, and difficult to pull off. While the breading was smooth and consistent, it was not especially crispy. It was more hard than anything else.

The texture of the breading was just...off. The potential undercooked nature of the ring only contributed to it. The texture was almost certainly that of a mass produced ring, and I would be shocked if these were made in house.

Value - 1/5

In order to enter the cafeteria (operated by Bon Appétit), I had to swipe my meal card. Averaged out over a semester, my meal plan costs approximately $17 a meal. In other words, I paid $17 to eat a plate of mediocre onion rings.

If I'm paying $17 for onion rings, I expect a mound of gourmet onion rings with accompanying fireworks, mind-blowing taste, and perfectly fried. These onion rings were not that.

I've awarded one point to the value category, solely because I could theoretically eat as many onion rings as I wanted (as the cafeteria is on an all-you-can-eat model). However, the amount of these onion rings I would have to eat to get my money's worth would probably make me vomit or pass out.

Total: 9/20