Anteaters passing by the Physical Sciences Lecture Hall may come across Garbanzo Mediterranean Fresh, a restaurant offering dishes such as gyros, falafel, and customizable rice bowls, located on the bottom floor of the Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Building (ISEB).
Open from 10AM-7PM Monday-Thursday and until 4PM Fridays, the fast-casual chain currently consists of 42 locations across the US.
Inside, the phrase “eat better, feel brighter” is displayed on signage with the franchise’s name. General Manager Bridget Alvarez, believes the slogan rings true.
“Everything is fresh, everything’s bright. Everything’s pretty healthy compared to other places (where) it’s mainly takeout food that has a lot of junk food and preservatives. We make it here in-store,” Alvarez said.
The on-campus establishment hires chefs through UCI dining, but sources ingredients separately from food service industry giants Sysco and US Foods like many other restaurants nationwide. Many of Garbanzo’s menu items are made-to-order.
A build-your-own rice bowl in the making. Photo by Simon Jeau / Staff
While healthy and quick menu options might have drawn quite a bit of attention during Garbanzo’s opening, Alvarez says that interest has been less so.
“At first it was really busy, and now not so much. We’ve actually been wanting more people to come in. But a lot of people – since I guess the prices were too high – they stopped coming. Hopefully, now that we lowered our prices we will have more clients.”
Price reductions of $2-3 have been made in an effort to accommodate college students’ tight budgets. Garbanzo has also made other efforts to encourage students to try their Mediterranean cuisine, including free falafel samples, boba samples and requesting customer feedback.
Similar to restaurants like Subway and Chipotle, students have the opportunity to choose from a variety of proteins, vegetables, toppings, and sauces. Photo by Simon Jeau / Staff
Third-year Emily Fukuda, who ordered the gyro, mentioned pricing as something that could improve.
“I feel like it’s better than three stars but not four stars (out of five), because it’s a little overpriced I think. I paid close to $11 for my little pita bread wrap.”
Another third-year student, Cassandra Mak, who had a chicken wrap, said that while she paid $10, “it was honestly kind of a big wrap. So pricing was okay, I feel like everywhere I go now every lunch item I buy is like at least 10. I feel like on campus restaurants tend to be more pricey like when I go to Starbucks on campus or even like Panda Express. It’s definitely better than dining hall food- well, [depending] on what they’re serving at the dining hall that day.”
The current menu offers wraps ranging from $9.59 to $10.99, and bowls, plates, and salads from $11.59 to $12.99.
Garbanzo is currently seeking new hires, and students can apply at Workstream.
Simon Jeau is a Campus News Staff Writer for the spring 2023 quarter. He can be reached at sjeau@uci.edu.
