Marywood’s dining options have long received mixed reviews. Executive Chef Rob Misko recently announced an expansion for meals that members of the Marywood community can enjoy.

It was first announced Sunday that The McGowan Center for Graduate and Professional Studies has added the Pacer Food Court, which will include two first-time food offerings and two renovated returning choices.

The selection at the market has expanded immensely, with over 600 choices between candy, chips, beverages and much more.

Expanding from its inaugural semester on campus is a sandwich shop: now dubbed as Pit Stop Hoagie Shop. It now allows students the ability to use meal swipes for sandwiches when previously the only payment options were with cash, card or Pacer Points.

New additions to the food court will include Barrio Burrito Shop and Peggy’s Wings. Barrio Burrito Shop allows customers to get made-to-order burritos of a wide variety. As for Peggy’s Wings, the Scranton staple will sell boneless and traditional options, as well as bottles of their locally loved sauce.

Misko isn’t the only one who sees the vision. Student Government Association’s Dining Representative Sampson Moyik understands the importance of providing more variety for the students.

“With all the new options at Pacer Food Court, it was a response to hearing about students wanting more options,” Moyik said. “[Whether it’s] people living on campus or even commuters, this is the only source of food, unless you go off campus. Most students here, during the day, rely on the dining services, so we communicated with Chef Rob and I think he got [it] to the point that [it’s] as good as possible for students.”

Pacer Food Court had its grand opening Wednesday morning, allowing students to try the newest addition on campus.

However, Misko wasn’t done with making adjustments on campus. Not long after the original announcement, he doubled down on the growth of the menu at Marywood, with changes to dining for Nazareth Dining Hall and the Learning Commons.

Breakfast was a focal point between the Learning Commons and Nazareth Dining Hall, with the former having morning weekend hours, from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. The time change allows students a chance to get food before Nazareth’s weekend brunch hours.

“[We realized] that if you wake up early on the weekend and it’s quiet and you’re hungry, there was no place for you to go,” explained Misko. “As for sports teams, it came to my attention that if they have to grab an [early] bus, they’d miss [brunch at] Naz, so where would they eat?”

Made-to-order omelettes and pancakes are making a debut in the dining hall including a special for each on Tuesday and Thursday, courtesy of Chef Jim McNally.

“I feel like we’re in a world where, because of allergens and different diets, just making it [appealing] is not always easy,” Misko said. “Now, it gives the opportunity for a menued item to be made to order, you can customize it the way you want.”

The last major adjustment for dining was changes to “Late Nite.” With the addition of new options, such as different french fry variations and egg rolls, all orders would now have to go through Boost, the app that allows students to place orders in advance.

“The decision behind that was mainly to solve the issue of people waiting a long time,” said Misko. “With Boost, everything’s coming from one place, allowing our cooks to move faster.”

Whether it’s at the Learning Commons, Nazareth Hall or the McGowan Center, the Marywood community has an abundance of varying cuisines to try.

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