DeRosa University Center

The food is a hit or miss at the university cafeteria. The food isn’t even great. You’ll get tired of it really quickly.

I decided to grab breakfast pretty early in the morning and arrived at the DeRosa University Center at 6:55am. Unfortunately, the UC does not open until 7am exactly! That was definitely a bummer having to stand outside in the cold. Once I entered the UC I quickly made my way to the taqueria to order a breakfast burrito. The staff was attentive and friendly. Once the tortilla was heated up I proceeded to fill it with eggs, sausage, rice, tater tots, red salsa, pico de gallo, and cheese. The total came out to $ 4.45 which is great for a student who wants to eat a filling meal but is low on meal points. The first few bites of the burrito were unappetizing since my mouth was filled with this bland/​mushy taste. After a couple more bites everything in the burrito started to taste the same which made it much more enjoyable. I would recommend using Cholula hot sauce when eating a breakfast burrito.

Impressive building for a student union on a small campus. You have all kinds of food options and formats: take out, deli, nice sit down, and cafeteria style. You can find all kinds of foods and drink: coffee, alcohol, Mexican, pub, baked goods, Asian, Mexican, salad bar, etc.
This building is LEED certified and has conference rooms, a ballroom, a small space for live shows, and more.
I had a hangry moment today when I had to wait about 15 minutes for a small order of fries. Now that I’m no longer hangry, I realize it was an honest mistake, but that’s why I subtracted a star because it took awhile to get a small order with no crowd.
Staff is really nice and there’s lots of energy around with all the students coming here to eat, study, hang out, etc.

Well… since Kim I told me to write more. ill write more.
There is this lady at the taco place that is extremely nice. I strike up some conversations in Español with her and she always smiles back at me and responds to me.
There was this one time I was wearing slippers with socks and I got 3 fish tacos with sour cream and guacamole. They looked soooo fine in my eyes, especially because I came here right after I worked out hard. I was about to leave the market place and *slip* part of my guacour cream (my word for guacamole and sour cream mixed up) fell to the floor. The oblivious me walked right on it and I literally ate sh**. I got all my fish all over me and lettuce on my ass and tomatoes all over my hands. Luckily only one other student saw me… with all this mess, I tried my best to place it off but one of the lady workers came over and helped me up. She cleaned up all the guacour cream and offered to make me FREE fish tacos with guacour cream. WOW! then I fell in love with the la taqueria.

The UC food is actually quite sub-​par, the only exception being the delicious breakfast they serve. Other than breakfast though, the entrees are boring, bland, and repetitive.
For breakfast, I highly recommend the Taqueria. The breakfast burritos they serve are DELICIOUS and very filling. In a burrito, you can add whatever three items you want (such as eggs, tater tots, bacon, etc.) and if you want to add more you can for a small charge, however the nice Taqueria ladies forget to charge extra most of the time anyway, so yay! :D
Another highly recommended spot for breakfast is the omelette line. You can choose exactly what kind of omelette you are craving due to the plethora of ingredients, however beware if you choose tomatoes because they tend to overload on those. Also, beware of the cashier at the end of the line if you are planning to pay for someone, he might take your card and give you a very stern lecture on the do’s and dont’s of meal plan spending –_​–
If you are in a hurry in the morning and want to avoid waiting in the usually long lines at the Taqueria and omelette station, the parfait bar is a healthy (and quick) alternative! They usually have a choice between plain and strawberry yogurt, they’re both pretty good! Also you can choose to put fruit and granola on it since it is self serve, but if you’re not into soggy fruit I’d avoid the blueberries, they’re a hot mess: p
Overall, the UC is pretty mediocre, but it’s awesome breakfast makes up for it, well, if you can wake up early enough to eat it!

The DeRosa University Center is the main place to get your food as a student at the University of the Pacific. Coming from a school that did not offer any sort of decent food, I was extremely pleased with the UC.
There are 3 main places at the UC: the Lair, the Calaveras Coffee, and the Marketplace.
The Lair offers all the typical greasy food you can expect from a college cafeteria. They have hamburgers, curly fries, garlic fries, mozzarella sticks, and chicken tenders. However, what I usually get there is the Piadini which is a salad wrap. The Southwest one is extremely good in my opinion. It is probably one of the more healthy things on the menu.
The Marketplace is pretty varied. There is a sandwich bar, the salad bar, the burrito station, the Classics and the Exhibition/​Grill. Usually, when I am here I head towards the grill for the fish special or the meat special. This fish is usually really good. For breakfast, however, I head to the Burrito section, because the breakfast burritos are the best things they have there. It trumps all things they offer breakfast, lunch, or dinner. The Sandwich station is a place thats extremely popular. It is a typical make-​your-​own sandwich bar, and offers all the standard meats and cheeses. I usually like getting pesto on my sandwich.
Finally, the coffee place is really convenient. I am more of an energy drink guy, so I don’t usually want to get coffee here. I have a friend who really enjoys the seasonal pumpkin latte, so I believe thats a good choice in the fall. Another good choice is the smoothies. I usually get the strawberry smoothie.
All in all, the UC offers everything you want from a college cafeteria, but if you are looking for variety throughout the year, it is best to look outside of campus. The food here pretty much remains the same all year.

No. Never. Don’t go here. Save yourself and go elsewhere.

Breakfast, by far, is one of the few things that cannot go wrong.
It’s no question that the UC is ALWAYS clean, but the food is another story…
Compared to last year the prices have surely gone up. In smaller increments but they really do add up. Although I do love having a meal plan with food accessible wherever I go-​it really does bother me that the prices are increasing.
It’s one thing for the prices to increase but the quality has yet to change. One thing that Bön Appetit never fails to do is give HUGE meal portions– yes it looks like you’re getting more for your buck, but it all just goes to waste in the end. If you’re a fan of chicken: it’s always overcooked– but then again, it’s better to be overcooked than to have a few case of food poisoning like a few of my friends last school year.
I’d highly advocate quality over quantity any day. But, that’s just not their policy I guess.
Also, nothing bothers me more when the lady ringing you up charges you more when the prices listed says otherwise. Now they even charge for tomatoes for your sandwiches (as if they didn’t already overcharge for meat, cheese, etc.). It’s as if you get paid on commission that you really throw attitudes towards students.
I can say a few things about certain members of the marketplace’s staff, but overall most of them are very nice.

I feel a lot different about this place after a year of living off campus and now that I live in an on-​campus facility with a kitchen.
When I was a Freshman, I got pretty sick and tired of the food from here even though they make an effort to change things up a bit every week. I came here because I had no choice and a whole lot of meal plan money to spend.
However, now that I’ve had the experience of cooking for myself almost everyday and the option to go out and eat or make myself something in my room, I’ve found myself enjoying the UC a lot more.
Their breakfast is definitely the BEST PART. I love everything from their mini buffet style station to the omelet bar.
During lunch and dinner, they offer a variety of styles of food: pasta bar, salad bar, the «classics,» Mexican, Asian, etc.
I think the building itself is very clean, bright, and spacious and the food is always given in large portions.
It may not be as big and extravagant as the buffet-​style diners at the UCs, but this place is just right for a small school like Pacific.
I also think that those «make your own dessert» and «special gourmet meal» days. which are on Thursdays and Wednesdays I think, are also a pretty fun way to change things up a bit at the UC.
And plus, they sell Sake bombs as well as beer at the Lair, which is also pretty fun :)

I LOVE the breakfast here!
It starts at 7:30AM on the weekdays and 10:30AM on the weekdays. So why do I love breakfast here so much? Where else can you have build your own burritos, build your own omelettes, pancakes, french toast, breakfast potatoes, waffles, bacon, fruit & yogurt parfait, tator tots, etc all in one spot? And you usually never spend more than $ 5 and it’s always good!
But be prepared to wait a little especially on the weekends for the omelettes and the pancakes since they are the more popular options to «cure» a hangover.
As for the UC’s lunch and dinner is just A-​OK. UOP culinary attempts are a hit or miss, most of the time they are a miss. But it’s decent and students need to use their meal plan money anyways.

First of all, this review has nothing to do with the university. It has everything to do with the crappy food they expect kids here to eat.
I give this place 2 stars just because the UC is very clean and pretty cool looking and I like some of the people who work here… however as far as the food goes, there is NOTHING authentic about this place! The quality and taste of the food is very inconsistent. Oh and did I mention I had raw chicken strips at The Lair once? Lucky for me I didn’t get food poisoning like a lot of people have.
Worst of all, as the quality and quantity of food continues to decrease, the prices just keep increasing.

The UC is just ok. I would feel fine eating here a few times, but after the first week of school you basically find yourself already sick of the food, because it NEVER CHANGES.
I’d say most of the stuff is decent. It’s not gourmet food, but what do you expect… it’s a freaking college cafeteria, and the ONLY one on Pacific’s small Stockton campus.
The downstairs eatery is called The Marketplace. They have:
Mexican
Sandwiches
Salads
Pasta
Asian
Comfort food (dunno what you’d call it, but it’s just like chicken/​pork, etc. with mashed potatoes)
Pre-​made sushi
My favorites are the Mexican, and I also like the pasta sometimes. I never get the Asian food. The salads are pretty decent too. I never liked salads until I got to college and found out I could put anything I wanted on it to make it taste good: P
The hours at The Marketplace SUCK though, I always found myself annoyed when I would go there after class and everything would be closed. I believe breakfast is open from 7:30 — 10:30am? And then lunch is from like 11:30−2pm or something. I always got out of class at 3:30pm and had to eat at the Lair upstairs because nothing downstairs was open. Also, dinner ends at 7:30pm which is suuuuper early for me, and it makes me sad that my only resort after 7:30pm is the dreadful Lair.
Upstairs is this place called The Lair, which basically serves all your favorite greasy American foods like burgers, chicken wings/​tenders, mozzarella sticks, etc. There’s also a bar, but of course, you need to be 21 or over to go here. In all honesty, DO NOT GO HERE unless you absolutely have to! It takes FOREVER to get your food, and half of the time they get your order wrong. DEFINITELY do not go here if you need a quick meal. The shortest you’ll be waiting is like 20 minutes and the longest I’ve waited was like an hour. Terrible.

Sigh, I went from bad high school cafeteria food to ok college cafeteria food. The Marketplace is usually my go-​to because they have the salad bar and food that actually might not be the cause of the dreaded Freshman 15, but the Marketplace definitely upholds the popular notion that food that is good for you does not necessarily taste good :(Too bad. I also frequent the «classics» section of the cafeteria just because they serve a quarter chicken meal with two sides for only $ 4! That’s the cheapest and most filling but healthy meal there is in the whole UC, trust (see picture).
And I tend to stay away from the taqueria just because all my friends who get their tacos and burritos always pick up the food and the oil just drips and oozes out of the food onto the plate, creating a gross orange pool of eww, definitely not appetizing at all.
And the Lair isn’t all that it’s hyped up to be either. The food is greasy, bad for you, and there’s not that much variety. The garlic fries were a huuge disappointment. All the upperclassmen were raving about them but when I tried them they weren’t even garlicky, even though you CLEARLY see the mound of minced garlic on the fries. I guess they didn’t know that you’re supposed to use garlic POWDER to make good garlic fries.
Aside from all the bad, the UC’s desserts are thankfully not horrible. The carrot cake is pretty good, the frosting’s a little sweet at times, but the cake is usually most, so thumps-​up for that. The sugar cookies are bomb, no joke, try them. And the chocolate muffin was meh, no chocolate flavor. I could only taste chocolate when I bit into an actual chocolate chip.
P. S. Always bring your water bottle to stock up on water. They charge $.10 for a tiny plastic cup and a dollar or something for the larger cup. And anything to-​go always costs about a quarter more. I think it has to do with Pacific’s whole sustainability movement.

There’s really nothing that great about the University Center. Behind the bells and whistles of the new building lies the same old mediocre attempts at ethnic food day after day.
The hours can be pretty inconvenient; it seems as though they cater to university staff over students. If you don’t have a car, get ready for some really limited dining options on the weekends, and I hope you have extra food on holidays because you’re not getting any from the UC.
Once in a while they have some great entrees, and once in a while I get food poisoning having eaten nothing but UC food.
The one factor keeping the UC from a dismal 1-​star is its breakfast. Sure it’s the same things every day, but at least they make their breakfast items taste good.

I think a lot of people rate the marketplace pretty low because the UC serves pretty much the same things every single time. However, compared to other schools, Bön appetit does a good job of giving healthy, quality food. Whenever my family comes over, they enjoy eating at the UC.
Overall, there’s quite a variety in the different stations.
The only ethnic foods they seem to get right are the curries. It seems that every time they try to tackle «bi bim bap» or «vietnamese sandwiches» it’s a huge flop. How hard is it to copy a recipe? Their idea of a bi bim bap was a fat piece of tofu, a fat piece of bok choy, 1 fried egg, and some mexican rice. Good job guys. Pleaes don’t keep it up.
I miss those times though when the UC had Tuesday dinners where they served high quality dinners for $ 20 meal points. Those were the days…
The UC probably deserve a 3.5 stars, but I’ll give them benefit of the doubt for trying to get better.

It’s great the first time you try it, and then it’s okay after the second day, third day you’re just like whatever, and then by the end of the week you’ll be crying in the corner, wishing you were still back home for those home cooked meals.
Lack of variety is the main problem, they have specials but it’s not very great. They brought back the Teriyaki Bowls this year, but the sauce is terrible, I miss the Tiger Sauce, Teriyaki Sauce, that they had back when it was still at the Summit.
Mexican Food is good, Chinese Food is good, never tried their pasta, it’s pretty hard to screw up sandwiches, and I really like the oven roasted chicken they serve at the classics. Prices here are really expensive so I don’t recommend going if you don’t have a meal plan.
The Lair and Pub upstairs is also good, their pizzas’ sauce lacks any flavor and kick to it, and their burgers aren’t as good as the Summit either.
Service wise, most of the people working there are really nice and cool once you get to know them.
Bottom line: This is what you get when one company has a monopoly on food service.

review for the university center’s Marketplace on overall as opposed to this one visit.
I normally go to brunch at the University Center (UC) since that’s the best meal they offer. Today I got eggs, bacon, sausage, and BBQ pork ribs. Everything was decent for dining hall food but then my friend pointed out that there was a oil pouch within the sausage. Yes I know sausage is made from horrible things from a cow, but a POUCH of oil?! Man you sure are killing the students with high cholesterol and obesity.
Overall the food is decent if it’s your first time eating there. After a while you just wish there was variety and better tasting food. Even though this is a private school don’t expect high quality food but you can expect private school prices for the food. Always check your salad for any organic species aka bugs and what not or maybe even some keratin like hair.