Crossroads Cafe At USF

If you have an 8am class, don’t even bother trying to get your coffee. The only coffee available at that hour is the burnt hot coffee they have sitting upstairs with other terrible breakfast options (sugary croissants and bagels). I don’t even know why I continue to purchase this coffee because it never actually gives me the energy needed for my much dreaded macro class at 8am.
The coffee bar downstairs is considerably better, but they’ve made the wise decision of not opening until 8am or later. WHY?!! I see students walk up to that coffee bar every morning only to leave pissed off and disappointed that they’re not open. It’s extremely inconvenient considering there’s no time to go elsewhere (off campus) to get your coffee, and the line upstairs wraps around the café. Not to mention, that coffee taste like absolute shit. It makes no sense that they wouldn’t open this part of the café earlier to cater to students with 8am classes. Majority of other universities have their coffee «shops» open almost ²⁴⁄₇ so the fact that USF can’t be bothered to even open theirs at 7am is fucking lazy.
I tried looking for a suggestion hotline for lack of better words and there is no such thing. This café needs so many adjustments not just to the coffee, but the food and service as well. The lunch bars (particularly the sushi bar) NEVER open on time. Many instances I’ve had to get out of line because I would be late for class due to the turtle like energy of the staff opening up lunch. I’ve been in line 15 minutes past their opening time on multiple occasions.
They don’t give two shits about the students’ opinion, and I’ve stopped bothering with purchasing food and drinks here all together. If you want bad service and overpriced food, go to crossroads café! It’s unfortunate that I can’t satiate my thirst and hunger when I really need it most. If you’re a student, then I’m sure you can understand the need for decent food and coffee during long hours of studying and homework.
Hopefully this review reaches someone running Bön appetite that can make a change. PUT A DAMN SUGGESTION BOX OR SOMETHING!

I’m a transferring student new to USF and this cafeteria is ridiculously expensive considering the amount of food (literally 5 pieces of little beef and 4 pieces of squash) they serve you and the quality of the ingredient. If the ingredients were coming from whole foods, fine I’d take it for $ 12 for this, but it doesn’t seem like they are and some dishes are way too flavored. USF is a university not an airport or hot spot tourist landmark, and taking advantages of student being in a hurry between classes and charging us over-​priced food is shameful and pathetic. Didn’t the university brand itself as a Jesuit University? Y’all really need to review the Jesuit Mission and do something different to the cafeteria!

Shortly after my last update, Crossroads switched to Sightglass Coffee so the quality is much better! It seems like they’ve also hired a couple more people so service is quick and the drinks are made well.
Still not my go-​to coffee spot but if I’m in a hurry, I know I can stop by and get better quality coffee and service.

meh

I once asked the barista for an espresso. She looked at me blankly for a minute, turned around for a glance at the menu, slowly turned back and asked, «what’s an espresso?» The fact that she was standing behind what was clearly labelled an «Espresso Machine» apparently hadn’t registered.
That kept me away from Crossroads for nearly a year. Then I thought to myself, «That was probably an isolated incident. It can’t possibly be that bad.» So once again I set out, this time for a simple iced coffee.
«Iced coffee please,» I said to the barista. «Would you like milk?» she said. «Half and half,» I specified. Her forehead wrinkled in apparent confusion. «It’s in that carafe behind you labelled ‘cream,’» I clarified as I pointed.
Solemnly, she proceeded to fill up a cup with ice, fill it halfway with coffee, and looking me square in the eye, she filled the other half with cream.
«That’s too much cream,» I said, as she reached for my card
She responded with a cool look. «Fine,» she said, «I’ll make another.»
She repeated the process, leaving several inches of room for cream, and handed me the half-​full cup of coffee and a carafe of cream. Before I could protest about insufficient amount of coffee, I spotted something both of us had missed: the coffee was still steaming-​hot and had already melted all of the ice.
«It’s too hot,» I said, «may I please have something else?»
«I’ve already made you two drinks,» she replied. «No.»
Eventually her manager saw that I was one more eye-​roll away from turning into an under-​caffeinated Mt. Vesuvius all over her sassy Pompeii and hurried over to make me a tepid iced-​latte. Even still it tasted like victory.
It wasn’t until a month later, when I told that story to a friend, that she pointed out that the barista obviously just didn’t know what half and half was, and had assumed I was giving her instructions for the amount of cream to put in my coffee. And while that might excuse her skepticism when I said, «that’s too much cream,» I can’t say it makes up for how terrible this café is.

What’s the best thing about Crossroads Café?
Convenience…and some really awesome USF students manning the joint.
Other than that, it’s really hard to plunk down hard-​earned cash (or flexi for that matter) on food that just isn’t up to par. Perhaps if the food was really inexpensive, I could let it slide, but for the money they’re asking for… you EXPECT the food to be good… not just bearable.
Let’s step it up Bön Apetite! I know you’re capable of better =)

Food and drinks are pretty expensive. Expect to pay about $ 6 or $ 7 for a sandwich, and + $ 3 for a coffee drink. If you do decide to get something, try the Kaluha. It’s basically ice coffee poured over a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Yummy!

I swear the pizza is made with spaghetti sauce, GROSS, the coffee bar sucks, the pasta is usually ok. Really the salad is the only thing worth eating but only if you like to live dangerously and take your chances with e coli. I worked at Jamba juice (the one in USF) and from the things I saw there I can only imagine what disgusting atrocities are occurring at Crossroads.

EDIT: Friends finally complained about the blandness of the pasta. Downgrade from 4 stars to 3 stars; still mostly about the ambiance and convenience!
The ambiance accounts for my high rating. The only thing I’ve had here, food-​wise are a churro and a Fuze drink. The churro was average. My friends have had the pizza and pasta and none have complained so at the very least, the food must be average.
It’s a nice chill lounge for the students to chill, eat and be merry. Apart from pizza, pasta and salad, they also have coffee, ice cream, pastries and deli sandwiches as well. It’s all really not that bad! Though I wish they had at least a little organic/​vegetarian/​vegan food.

I eat here because it’s convenient. The food itself is okay, but the prices are ridiculous and not worth it for what you are paying for and there are plenty of good food places near and around campus.
Inside Crossroad Café:
Pasta Section: They usually rotate about 3 – 4 different types of pastas. The sauce is fairly good, but the pasta is nearly 6 bucks for the size of a small (Asian size) bowl. That’s pasta without meat too. Sometimes they can be quite stingy about it as well and only scoop half the metal container full despite the enormous prices for a small bowl of pasta. I have to say it is fresh though and the tomato sauce is good.
Asian/​Global Section: I give it to them for trying to be international, but sometimes the food isn’t that great there. I’ve had the Indian once and the naan was a bit hard. The chicken was a bit hard and the flavoring was off.
Ice Cream: Overpriced, but contains Ben and Jerry and some Popsicle along with chocolate bars. A decent selection and I love Ben and Jerry’s cherry garcia ice cream.
Salad/​Dessert Bar (fridge and adjacent counter): I’ve had the tuna and egg sandwiches from here. Not great, but it’s all right. The sushi in the «salad» bar section was okay, but then again you can’t mess up a California Roll at least not really. Since it’s in the fridge, it feels a bit frozen though. The dessert such as the cheesecake isn’t too sweet. I like it.
Coffee Bar: It is known for organic fair trade coffee so I’d give the café a + plus here for trying to be globally conscious. The coffee isn’t bad and it always makes me wired enough to stay awake for rest of the evening. Fair warning that the lids and cup holders sometimes run out and are located adjacent (not next or on the coffee counter), but on a metal cart near it. The milk and cream are also on a separate counter.
Utensils: I think the utensils at this school deserve a 4 star because everything is recyclable and made with corn. It’s «green» and good for the environment. Props for that one.
Operating Hours: Closes way too early. Cmon’ 8pm?!#!
Seating Area: Ample space. Tons of space and tables. Good for group meeting if necessary, but maybe a bit too loud.
Pricing: Overpriced and food is just mediocre. Also, they charge $ tax if you pay with credit card, but they don’t charge the extra $ if you put money in your Dons card and charge it to that. Little things like that can add up. Also, if you plan on eating in cafeteria, might as well not use a takeout box because they will charge you for that versus if you just got a bowl from them.

Some good (a massive amount of granola) was offset by some bad (no turkey for sandwiches). Sticking with a three average till they get some turkey back in. Still wondering how you can run out of turkey.

get the calzones! they are the only good thing because you can choose what goes in it (rather than falling prey to the employees’ whims about what tastes good on pizza.) plus, as it has been stated before, the pizza tastes like cardboard. the sandwiches are worse than the ones upstairs because the student workers down here are even more incompetent than the people working in the caf. it was only worth it to come here when i had a meal plan and lived on campus. the attractive part about it was that it was open later than anything else on campus and was perfect for late-​night munchies or hoarding sodas and cranberry juice for mixers. now when i actually pay for campus food i feel like i’m being robbed due to the outrageous prices.

Unilocal defines «2 stars» as «Meh. I’ve experienced better.
Question: Has anyone experienced better? Better pizza, pasta, or how about better coffee?
Sadly, yes, yes and Yes!
While I refuse to spend my money on anything on the pasta side, and only on coffee in desperate times ie no time to go to starbucks, Crossroads does have great sandwiches!
So, no complaints on the sandwiches, they are actually quite good, except when the service is painfully slow (sometimes), when they are out of avocado (most of the time) and when the employee mistakes cheddar for american cheese (only once, thank god!).
check out the review in The Foghorn (very funny):

Crossroads is pretty bad, for the price. I can’t remember how much pizza costs, it’s probably more expensive than it was when I was a freshman and sophomore– definitely not worth it. The worst thing is that everything is so hit or miss. Pizza is good, decent, or bad depending on who makes it (whatup austin– your pizza is good), though it is rarely good. Sandwiches are the same. Making a good sandwich requires focus and care, something which few crossroads employees have. They usually just slop some mustard and mayo on there, put the veggies on lopsided, etc, and stuff is falling out all over the place. Try not to support the evil Bön Appetit if at all possible.

The everything tastes bad, and the workers can’t take a coffee order to save their respective lives. The only upside is that you or your friends who go to USF can spend Flexi on chasers.

Forget about picking up a quick coffee during the few spare minutes between back-​to-​back classes. It takes them about 10 minutes to make an espresso drink when you’re the only person waiting. Once I waited for 15 minutes just for an Americano, which merely consists of espresso shots and water.

Gah. I can’t wait to get off campus so I won’t have to eat this cardboard anymore.

USF tries to go hip with Crossroads Café. Which actually means loud music, expensive food, and long lines. It would be interesting to see if any of the admin mucky mucks own stock in Bön Appetit! Must’ve gotten a big signing bonus…

Crossroads Café at USF is supposed to be an alternative eating area to the Bön Appetit cafeteria, as well as a study area. In my last year at USF, I probably studied here once and grabbed bottled water a few times in passing. They remodeled it and perhaps I’m a purist when it comes to USF and I’m a little bitter that in my last year everything seemed to change a bit.
Basically it’s the same food as the cafeteria, just a smaller selection, and there’s a big screen tv.