The Bistro right after the dinner rush. Photo by Ramsey Haefner.

Although I have only been here for a little over two weeks, I have already discovered just how limiting the Cherry Street Market can be when you’re looking for something specific to eat. The lines are long, and the food is usually expensive. However, it still provides a decent enough supply of options that you can have almost whatever you want. However, it still feels like a cafeteria, as hard as Bon Appetit tries.

The Bistro is just what we need.

The Bistro provides an elegant atmosphere with excellent food that is mostly different from what you can get at C-Street. The pricing is generally equal to C-Street, too. However there are a few things that damage the feelings of perfection at the Bistro.

Every time I have been there at a reasonable time for a dinner meal, there is a line that stretches halfway to Lake Washington. Although this should seem normal given that the Bistro is a food service and a new study shows that 80-90% of all college students need to eat at some point in the day, because the Bistro chefs hand make everything for you once you order it, the line moves slower than a snail covered in molasses on the bottom of a very frozen lake (it must be very frozen, otherwise the metaphor just doesn’t work).

Next is the music. There has never been a time that I have entered the Bistro, or even stayed in the Bistro long enough to hear a song that I just can’t stand. Most of the time though, I can’t even hear the song properly. The reason is that 70% of the time the CD that is playing skips so furiously that the song is unlistenable. The other day  a part to a song that I’m pretty sure was supposed to be one minute skipped so many times it was playing for over 10 minutes. Although the CD playing should ruin any time there, it is generally quiet enough not to destroy anyone’s hearing or breed any insanity within the diners themselves, surely a disappointment to the fine people at Bon Appetit.

Despite these discrepancies in the service, I truly do enjoy the Bistro for what it is, and I find myself choosing it over C-Street almost every time. I love the hand made  quality and I honestly feel more full on a $6.95 pizza than almost any one item in C-Street. That coupled with having our own freakin’ awesome coffee house all-in-one leads me to be proud of what we have and to brag about our food service to all of my other non-SU friends.