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The Dartmouth
March 29, 2024 | Latest Issue
The Dartmouth

Lone Pine reduces, modifies offerings

Lone Pine Tavern, the Dartmouth Dining Service location known for its live music and sit-down service, has drastically altered its menu this term.

During the break between Summer and Fall Terms, DDS changed Lone Pine's menu to accommodate the Big Green Bean menu, eliminating many traditional dishes in the process.

This past spring, the Student Activities Office, which had previously operated the Bean, turned the late night dessert and coffee bar over to DDS.

The SAO did this after a request by the Office of the Dean of the College for the Big Green Bean and the Lone Pine Tavern, both of which operated in Collis during overlapping hours, to scale back operations.

Rather than operate the Bean, DDS decided to shut down the late night dessert and coffee bar that once occupied Collis Caf's dining space and integrate its menu into that of Lone Pine Tavern.

"The Big Green Bean was not cut by DDS," said DDS Associate Director David Newlove. "We were asked to take it over and then we absorbed it into Lone Pine ... because the Big Green Bean didn't make any money."

Newlove said that the new Lone Pine menu is "greater than it has ever been."

"There is a whole menu," he said. "We've incorporated the popular items of the Big Green Bean with those of Lone Pine."

Newlove indicated that the consolidation of the Lone Pine and Green Bean menus does not reflect a cost-slashing effort by DDS. He acknowledged that the new Lone Pine menu is smaller than the previous menu, but said that DDS has spent "quite a bit of money" to facilitate the menu change.

"Lone Pine now has an order window, shake machines, and a pie display," he said.

According to Newlove, it is still too early to tell whether the new Lone Pine menu is a success or not.

"We haven't operated it long enough to know for a fact yet," he said. "It's only been open for a few weeks. We've been busy some nights and slow other nights ... Generally the feedback has been positive."

Some students have been less enthusiastic about the changes to Lone Pine, however.

Chris Foster '06 expressed concern about Lone Pine's new character as well as the shortened menu.

"The music was blasting too loud to play Trivial Pursuit," he said. "They don't offer real meals anymore -- just salads and wraps."

Faith Perez '06 also was unimpressed by the new Lone Pine.

"It is a more impersonal experience this year," she said. "Lone Pine is now less like a restaurant and more like a fast food place."

Perez explained that she was not satisfied with the shortened menu.

"They took the best things out," she said. "I went with a bunch of friends and we got up and left because there was nothing we wanted to eat. We were very upset with the menu."

Perez said that she might eat at Lone Pine again but she doubts that she will go there as often as she did last year.

Eric Winn Jr. '04 ate at the new Lone Pine this term, but unlike Foster or Perez, he was impressed.

"I think that the menu combined with the new format is much better than it ever has been," he said.

Winn's first impression was that this year's dinner menu was much shorter than last year's menu. However, he said that within the limited menu, there were many good options.

"A lot of the old menu revolved around burgers and fried foods that you can't get anymore," said Lone Pine Supervisor Sarah Edes. "It is much shorter ... The dinner menu at Lone Pine now consists primarily of wraps, nachos and salads."

While Lone Pine now offers many of the items formerly handled by the Big Green Bean, the hours in which students can buy them has been significantly shortened.

The new Lone Pine also serves its dinner menu only from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. and its Green Bean drinks and desserts only from 10 until closing at 1 a.m. The former Big Green Bean was open until as late as 3 a.m.

Edes said that the menu is split between times because "having the student staff to provide a full menu all of the time is challenging." She said that students had expressed concerns that the service at Lone Pine had been too slow, and that the divided menu should improve service.

In fact, Winn expressed his satisfaction with the service at the new Lone Pine.

"Lone Pine's service used to be terrible; it was slow and inefficient," he said. "Now you get your food much quicker."