Serving enticing and delicious food, A Taste of Excellence (ATE) has been the lunch provider for WJ for two years now. From burgers and french fries every day to the unique options made to order at the Exhibition Kitchen, ATE has branched out in the past year and now offers more choices than ever before. But the price of such meals has stirred a bit of controversy.

Students love the many standard items available each day and especially enjoy the always changing Exhibition Kitchen menu. Over the past year, some have formed definite opinions on their favorite meals. Senior and food lover Amelia Ross exclaimed, “I absolutely love mac and cheese day here! It’s my favorite food to get for lunch.” Class of 2020 member Nick Contos also has a favorite from the Exibition Kitchen, the stromboli. He urged, “If you haven’t tried it yet, you really should. I could eat it every day if it were always an option.”

Plenty of students agree that ATE food provides delicious food; however, some feel that it is somewhat expensive. Freshman Collin Cook explained, “The food here is a lot better than at my old school but way more expensive. I hate having to spend six dollars on food every day for lunch.” Nick Contos agreed, saying, “I only get the lunch here two times a week because it’s so expensive. If it were cheaper, I’d have no problem eating their food every day.” Amelia Ross admitted that, yes, the food is a little expensive, but that’s only because students are getting freshly prepared meals. ATE has responded to student concerns and began offering smaller portions of the Exhibition Kitchen meals at reduced prices.

A major attraction of A Taste of Excellence food is not only the quality of their meals, but the quality of the workers. Amelia enthused, “I absolutely love Pearl and Mike! They are some of the nicest people that work here and always put a smile on my face.” Senior Virgil Glorioso shared similar thoughts on the lunch crew, saying, “Sometimes I’ll go up to talk to Pearl three times a day just because she’s so sweet and interesting. I’ve never had a bad experience with any worker there.”