Warren Towers Dining Hall renovations over the summer may have been a pleasant surprise for returning students, but even more are planned, Dining Services Director Joshua Hubbard said.

The modifications include removing the center aisles, which ‘created a visual block,’ Hubbard said. Two new Pepsi machines have also been added to the Melville Lounge, located at the back of the dining hall, so that students do not have to return to the food serving area to get soda.

‘We want to bring the facility to the background and focus people on the food,’ Hubbard said.

Warren, the busiest dining hall on campus, averages about 2,000 students during lunch alone, Hubbard said, and its last renovation was 10 years ago.

Hubbard said the changes are ‘the first phase of a multi-phased process,’ which could spread over the next few years, depending on university resources.

Taking an example from the renovations done in the West Campus Dining Hall during the summer of 2001, Hubbard said the project at Warren will ‘go one step further.’

‘We’re trying to consistently evolve and improve,’ he said. ‘We want [students] to evaluate what they want and be able to get it.’

In the future, Hubbard said Warren’s new ‘Oriental Noodle Bar’ will be upgraded to a ‘Mongolian Grill.’ While the former lets students choose various types of noodles and simply add a broth, the latter will let students choose from a variety of vegetables to be sautéed with their noodles.

Hubbard said the dining hall will focus on healthier options. He also said they want to move more cooking outside the kitchen, so students get fresher food.

Hubbard said responses to the upgrade have been mostly positive, but some students said they felt otherwise.

‘It looks nicer, but money could be better spent on better food or better dorm facilities,’ said CAS sophomore Lisa Babin. ‘Even West, which is supposed to have the best food on campus, is crappy and you can’t trust the meat. There’s nothing substantial that looks edible.’

Other students, including CAS sophomore Laura Johnson, agreed about the lack of quality and variety.

‘It’s not so much that the food is bad, it’s just consistently bland, although lunch is better than dinner,’ Johnson said.

CAS sophomore Shin Hwa Kim agreed, but added replacing burritos with the new noodle bar during lunch was not a good idea. He also said even though new soda machines have been added, there is limited variety and students still have to end up interrupting their meals to get soda.

The Towers Dining Hall also completed its final stages of renovations this summer. The project, which has been ongoing for the past four summers, has resulted in more open space, Hubbard said, and a ‘Produce Market’ that allows students to have vegetables of their choice cooked in front of them.