Banana Joe’s

Decent place on campus to grab some food to eat when you’re hungry, only place that offers to sell grocery items and they let you use yours meals here to pay. Cause if you don’t have meals spending your own cash here can get quite expensive (1 meal is equivalent to $ 8). Since it is an on campus location it runs pretty expensive.
Food wise I would recommend:
–Santa Cruz chicken sandwich ($ 6.95)
–Hail Caesar ($ 6.95)
–Big Island Rice Bowl ($ 6.95)
–Acai bowl ($ 5.95)
–Best smoothies on campus. Personal favorite is bananarama ($ 4.95)

Gotta give Banana Joe’s a lot of credit for being the only place that sells grocery items on campus. Being a student who lives on campus with a 55 day meal plan, I come here often to use my meals. Although items are overpriced, for $ 8 a swipe I personally find that I get my moneys worth here more than I do when swiping into the dining hall. The food isn’t always consistent, but it’s good enough to me. I usually get their Santa Cruz chicken sandwich, acai bowl, Hail Caesar wrap, or chicken strips.

Ah, Banana Joes.
What could have been.
Service
Good, fast, friendly service. The student workers and others try their hardest to push the food out in a timely manner. I am always greeted with a smile and asked if I want my receipt.
Food
Average at best, terrible at worst, but always inconsistent. I’ve ordered the veggie pizza multiple times (its pretty good) and received pizzas in many different sizes with various amounts of toppings and cheese. There seems to be no standard in making the pizza.
The same applies to the Burgers. Sometimes the patty will be hot and fresh, and other times it seems to taste like an old patty that has been reheated. At least their have been some improvements and their patties used to be much worse quality last year. The fries have also improved a small amount, as they used to be even more undercooked and damp. Now they are slightly crispier but still, you can ask for extra crispy and you should. The monster fries have always been good though.
Sometimes they have chocolate cake under the drinks, its really good.
Recently they have had Its-​It ice cream sandwiches for a dollar each, great deal.
Most of the grocery items are overpriced but some are reasonable.
In conclusion, my top three items at BJ’s are:
1. Monster Fries
2. SC Chicken Sandwich
3. Burger w/​Swiss
Oh, and don’t get the acai bowl, the sorbet is mushy.

It’s a convenience store/​grocery store/​spot to get a meal and some drinks. Quality is average and it’s cool that you can use your 55 day meal plan here. Acai bowls are pretty good

I love the vegan big island rice bowl, but today I clearly ordered a «vegan big island rice bowl with a diet pepsi» and was given a chicken rice bowl with no drink. I asked if they could redo it since I’m vegan and can’t eat chicken and they contemplated doing it right in front of me and finally agreed to do so. Ten years later when it was finally done, I asked if I could have my diet soda, only for them to look at my receipt and say I ordered an italian soda (which has cream, not vegan) when I clearly remember pointing to the soda fountain and saying «I’ll have a diet pepsi» as I ordered. I guess I should’ve checked my receipt to notice how much they messed up right after I ordered but they were wrong in every way a person working in customer service could be. I’ve worked food and retail for 4 years, and I’ve never seen such carelessness. I never did get my soda either…

Banana Joe’s tends to get really busy, especially on college nights because one of the colleges are left either having to walk or eat here.
(Food) Their french fries are ALWAYS underdone, but they give you a huge amount – especially if you order Monster Fries which is kind of like Animal Fries from In-​N-​Out. I’ve never been able to finish them by myself, and it’s really cheap too (under 4 dollars).
BJ’s also has the best smoothies on campus.
(Price) Everything but certain cooked food items are really expensive here. Especially any of their items in the freezer (the ice creams and frozen dinners). So unless you’re really desperate, don’t buy groceries here!

Wow, I am ashamed to be affiliated with Crown College now if this the the café we have to offer. I guess shit has gone down the drained in the past two years since I moved off campus and no longer dine at Crown dining hall/​Banana Joe’s. I think I’ll stick to Oakes Café where their food/​service is at least consistent.
I can’t believe I paid $ 4 for a runny, disgusting smoothie. In hind sight I should have complained upfront for either a new drink or just ask for my money back.Sigh. Well it’s finals week, I had already wasted enough time waiting for my drink, and I just wanted to get back to the library ASAP to study.
Customer service: I was first called to a register that only accepted flexis/​meal plans/​debit etc. In other words, they couldn’t ring me up because I had cash. So I had to go back into line – atleast the next guy let me cut him. (well he didn’t really say anything, I just apologized and went up to the next available cash register)
Ordered a strawberry smoothie. Easy. Paid. Done
I walked to the side to wait for my order, so I wasn’t in the way of the line. It was then i realized shit was going down the drain. Apparently whatever strawberry fruit purée they use for their smoothies was frozen (new container I’m guessing), so I watched them proceed to place the carton into a blender and filled it with boiling hot water from their machine… Are you kidding me.
I’ve worked in food service, so I understand when stuff happens and ingredients aren’t up to par (worked in a coffee kiosk). The only difference is I guess I was taught basic customer service. Let the customer know what’s the deal and inform they can wait or get a different flavor. I got nothing. I waited for at least 10 – 15 min before I approached the counter and informed that I had ordered a strawberry smoothie. The main lady in charge (and on register) just said «Oh we had to defrost it» and waved in the general direction. Ooookaaayyy… If they had informed me earlier of the situation I would have just gotten a different flavor.
After it was brought to their attention they finally decided to go back and check on the progress. I guess it was okay, as I watched a worker pour equal parts milk to purée into a blender, added two and a half scoops of ice, and FINALLY had my drink started. The only redeemable quality about the service was the guy asked if I wanted whip cream, which I didnt.
When i got my drink I was already cursing in my head. This shit is waaay too runny for a smoothie – and it has ice chunks still floating on to!!! Already irritated for waiting as long as I did, I took my drink and left. To add insult to injury the drink sucked. So gross. Waste of money. If I wanted strawberry milk I would have gone to safeway or something.
I can’t blame the student workers, but the management really needs to step it up. Is it because it’s just a college café that basic customer service isn’t taught. Shame.

Grocery store=3 stars
Hot food entrees=4 stars
The grocery aspect of it is only useful if you have a ton of meals you need to get rid of at the end of the quarter, or if you live near Crown/​Merrill and need some ingredients for your apartment and don’t want to make a full trip to Safeway. They are the best for picking up dry snacks and food, such as chips, cereal, pasta, granola. The fruits can be hit or miss. Make sure you can identify what fresh fruits/​veggies look like! They also sell vegan sour cream, butter, and ice cream, so that’s always useful.
This place is one of my favorite places to eat on campus. Shame it’s halfway around the world for me (I’m from Oakes College), and up Cardiac Hill, but you get what you earn.
They have the only vegan menu on campus, not just «oh we can make a veggie version of a burrito or hamburger.» Before they redid the menu, they had shish kabobs that were either vegetable or tofu/​mushroom. Delicious! So sad those are gone.
Listen to this vegan menu:
–Vegan Big Island Rice Bowl: comes with rice, tofu, teriyaki sauce, and veggies. A great affordable option.
–Vegan Chimichurri Pizala: vegan chicken with veggies and sauce, eaten sandwich styled. This was really really delicious.
–Vegan Taco Salad: This is not your standard «beans, rice, and lettuce» taco salad. They include beans, shredded lettuce, black olives, salsa, avocado, vegan cheese, seasoned vegan
taco «meat», and cilantro lime vinaigrette in a tortilla shell. Holy shit!!! They made vegan food sound AMAZING.
–Vegan supreme pizza: MADE WITH VEGAN CHEESE! WOOHOOO!!!
–Vegan veggie burger: you think it’ll just come with lettuce and tomato? Well you’re WRONG. It comes with avocado, organic sunflower sprouts, and vegan thousand island dressing. I am officially blown away.
But for everyone else, there’s also breakfast burritos, pizalas, burgers, and many other great options.
Only downside is the wait. there’s usually only 1 or 2 people working and making food so be prepared to wait. But the food is just so delicious compared to everywhere else on campus.
Cash, Card, Meals, and Flexis accepted here. Go crazy.

Total rip off. You can buy a 24 bottle case of water for $ 50 bucks. Or just go to safeway and buy the same for about $ 5. I’ve bought fruit that has been rotten on the incide, as well as sour cream that had totally gone bad. They once charged me for a grocery order which they forgot about half of my stuff I ordered. If you like being over charged go for it, I’m sure most people are using their meal plans anyways, but you still had pay for those meals anyways.

Banana Joes is your typical corner store with candy, snacks, instant noodles/​rice, bottled drinks, ice cream, and some personal care items. They also sell fresh fruits and vegetables, baked goods (ie: muffins, bagels, cookies), and made-​to-​order items (ie: burgers, sandwiches, sides, coffee, italian sodas, and fruit drinks). There’s a lot to choose from here, whenever you want a quick snack or a meal, but all extremely overpriced. The only item here that keeps me coming back for more is their SunRidge Farms candies, such as toffee peanuts, chocolate-​covered raisins, yogurt-​covered pretzels, etc., which are charged by ounce.
This is a very small store that can get quite crowded immediately after class gets out. They also have a little indoor seating section connected to the neighboring dining hall. And outside seating by the fountain, too.