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Yelping the corporate cafeteria? I feel like I'm getting desperate and reaching some kind of low point. Must ... yelp ...
Going "around the world", we have the grill (burgers and fries), calzones, pizza, hot sandwiches, taqueria (tacos and burritos), stir fry "Chinese" food, and South Asian "Indian" food. The center of the food service area has the build-your-own-by-the-pound salad and sandwich bars.
All are quite good for a quick lunch that doesn't cost much, doesn't require driving and looking for parking, of reasonable portion size, and isn't terribly unhealthy. And you can take your lunch outside to dine at tables set near corporately manicured landscaping.
The downside is the gauntlet; you've got with lines to get food, lines to pay, lines to get your utensils and drink, and finally lines to put away your dirty trays, plates, and silverware.
You can also put cash on your employee ID and pay that way to avoid fumbling for change.
It's a cafeteria so no one will really find it that romantic. It is pretty mundane...but it sure beats whatever they served you in college (or grad school). URL's is a great reason to work for Yahoo, or date someone who does. ;=P
I've only been here a couple times as I worked at GA as opposed to the main campus.
I have never tried their entrees as it never suited my taste buds. What I would order is the Double Cheeseburgers for a little over $5. One may argue that it is expensive but there's a reason why it is expensive. The beef patties are from GRASS FED COWs. I brought my old boss from another company for the burgers and he swears they taste very noticeable and yummy. I personally cna't tell the difference but hey these are very thick patties and more healthy in an organic way so to speak.
All the food are made to order.
The water fountain w/ teas and milk and other stuff are all free. The food here is company subsidized as mentioned by others.
This place does get crowded over lunch. I try and come off hours.
I am no longer at Yahoo and kinda miss the burgers. actually I miss more of the company gym, but that's another review...
URL's is incredibly good value for the money. The turkey burger, tuna melt, Mexican and pasta options are my favorites. I have to point out URL's can get old pretty quickly though they spice things up on holidays with things like green macaroni and cheese on Halloween.
URL's, affectionately called "Earl's" based on the phonetic pronouncement of the acronym for "Universal Resource Indicator", is Yahoo!'s largest and most decked out cafeterias in Sunnyvale. Maybe in the whole world.
I've never been to Google's caf, but I spent a lot of time at Genentech's caf so that will be my contrast for this review.
Quality: I think it's generally pretty good here. It's not the best of the best. It's probably not even the best. I would just say very good. Genentech would occsionaly have REALLY high quality stuff. The sushi for example, was GREAT. No such thing exists at Yahoo!. I would say that Yahoo has more Indian and pedestrian selections.
Selection: Good. But I should qualify this, there are a fair number of things to choose from each day, but they are largely these same day to day. There are 4 or 5 stations that have rotating daily specials, which is nice. The oven sandwiches are pretty sweet. The new the pizza (thinner crust, less cheese, more sauce) is much better than the old pizza. It still needs a tangier sauce and better cheese to be great pizza. But I digress.
Price: It ain't free like google, but that won't last too long I don't think with Google. The prices you do pay at Yahoo! are very reasonable, usually no more than 6 dollars for a large, cooked, balanced lunch. Drinks are free from the soda fountain.
Seating: Generally excellent, and lots of outdoor selection, which is pretty nice actually.
URL's has a wide selection of foodstuffs, but i usually play it safe and build my own salad at the salad bar. sometimes i have the soup (it's usually good, and they always offer at least one vegan/vegetarian option) with corn bread. sometimes i have the pizza. the pizza is pretty tasty (salty crust!), but it's not hot enough. by the time i get it back to my desk, it's usually lukewarm. poo!
the corn bread here really is YUMTASTIC. try it.
the chinese food stand ("the wok") is nice, too -- they always have a vegan option. usually it's soy chicken or some spicy tofu-type thing.
the sweets (cookies, brownies) are just so-so.
overall, prices @ URLS are fair, but not as low as they used to be (they raised 'em last month).
For a corporate cafeteria, this place is pretty good! I have been here on occasion with a yahoo employee.
Food:
There are many choices including sandwiches, pizza, asian, italian. Since it tries to appeal to many, most of the food is pretty bland. Stop at the condiment bar and add pepper or sauces for some flavor. There's a salad bar I have tried that includes the usual accompaniments such as cucumbers, peppers, onions, tomatoes, sesame seeds, endamame, along with some fruit.
Service:
Lines move quickly during the busy lunch hour. The baristas at the coffee bars are friendly.
Value:
Subsidized food equals cheap lunch! Free soda. Free coffee...even more free coffee in each of the buildings on the campus!
Food: 4 stars
Service: 4 (fast food. but fast checkout, and free drink)
Ambiance: 1 (company cafeteria... duh.)
Overall: 4 stars
Heaven compared to local-company-across-the-street's cafeteria. Great value for the amount of food they pile on.
Have you tried the corn bread? You need to try the corn bread.
Revised! They are making changes and the corn bread is not what it used to be! minus one star.
first of all, the 5 star is to compare college and corporate cafeteria, not regular restaurants. first, the price is very reasonable. entree is around $5. last week i got steak for only $4.75 and it's tender!!! second, there is a great variety, they have burger, pasta, pizza, a great selection of salad bar, chinese fried rice, chow mein, desserts, soup, sushi bento box, etc. there must be something that you like. third, they are made to order. so it's fresh and warm. that's why it's always crowded. my favorite is the pasta bar and the chinese corner.
Oh WOW. I didn't know our Cafe was on Yelp! haha. I guess it makes sense since we are allowed to bring guests and our Cafe is pretty much renound for being super cool.
So. My very first day at Y! I was in heaven. I was coming back from being laid off for about 8 months and eating lunch wasn't part of my budget back then! haha. jk. I gained about 15 pounds my first year.
The food is GOOD. Sometimes Great. It's hit and miss. I don't get anything extravagant or specialty foods that I KNOW the chef's are attempting for the first time..like Pho or sushi. LOL.
We have a huge selection of food so I cannot be picky and say I hate it. After a while it does get old, but I venture out and eat around campus then come back after a few months and try again!
All I have to say about this cafeteria is WOW WOW WOW! I work at a different company and our cafeteria is CR8p compared to this. They have some bomb a$$ food for like no money. You can get a bomb omelette for $2.50 that will fill you up for the rest of the day for breakfast, and you can get a classic Thanksgiving Dinner for lunch for $5. They also have a mexican station, a pizza station, a salad bar, a deli sandwich with bomb pastrami and last but not least indian food. I would come here on weekends if I could and all the time. I don't think you can ever be sick of this place since there is so much to choose from! It has saved me so many times on lunch and breakfast occasion because of how crap my works cafeteria is.
Don't forget about the cornbread either :)
There is also free coffee and free soda. You can't get better than that! I'm so jealous that's all I can say =)
The food/selection/quality/price is awesome! It's easy to sneak in if you're not a Yahoo employee. Just say you are there to meet "(just say any name)" if security asks you when you walk in.
Blech. If you've been here for many years as I have, you'll understand. Same ol' shit most days. And on other days, it's just recycled shit with a new sauce on it.
These days, I only go to URL's if I HAVE to. Otherwise, I will gladly go off campus every day. Who cares if it costs more, at least I know I'll get better food. For the newbies on campus, URL's is probably 5-star dining to them. You can have it, newbies. Suckas!
just ok....
Well this is one exclusive cafe/food joint. Only those with a special pass or their guests can enter this highly restricted joint. :P
Serving breakfast, lunch and limited dinner, one has a choice of many styles of food.
From the grill to the pizza, sub sandwhiches, masala, asian influnced bowls and pasta, there is always something for everyone. The service is pretty fast even at peak hour.
My personal favourite is the sandwhich bar, great fillings, a selection of breads and rolls. The breakfast menu is quite extensive, but the oatmeal is almost as good as mums ;)
For the coffee freaks, the various coffee bars around campus serve up free barista made coffee.
3 stars for a wide selection of good eats at incredibly affordable (subsidized) prices.
+1 for somehow managing to remain tolerable (even quite good) after more than 700 meals over the past 3 years.
+1 for the off-the-charts chocolate chip cookies
other highlights:
- the indian food
- omelets from the breakfast grill
- free espresso bars throughout campus
-- update --
i'm feeling vindicated for showing Urls love. they were just named (by PETA of all sources) as the most vegetarian and eco-friendly corporate cafeteria. http://yodel.yahoo.com...
more like HURLS, amirite?
Your stuck working at the Yahoo! main campus and you gotta eat, you go to URLs. While the selection is pretty good and the prices are great, most of the food is not very appealing. Hey, it is a corporate cafeteria with a captive audience, what would you expect.
The corn bread IS the bomb. There was a time when I was getting corn bread and a bowl of chili every other day.
Way better than eBay's food, and not as good as Google's (they set the bar extremely high), but URLs… Read more »
I'm sure it's well above average for a corporate cafeteria, but I wouldn't normally choose to eat here.
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