Part 2: What is Otay Ranch’s Best School Food?
- Kalani Patel and Tyson Pruitt
- 6 days ago
- 10 min read
Expert rating from professionals with more seasoning.
This is a continuation of last month’s article, “What is Otay Ranch’s Best School Food?” If you have not read that article, you should really go do that. It has all the items ranked below the ones that will be gone over here, and contains a lot of important information for your reading guide. This article picks up directly where Part 1 left off.
14th place: Pizza: 8/10
Category: Primary Offering
Rarity: Common
K: The pizza is good. It’s just a Domino's pizza, but there’s none of that good crumbly stuff on the crust for me to lick off my fingers. This is like where the baseline of a “good” item is for me. It’s good to get it, but it's been here since the dawn of time. It’s also always here on a constant schedule, so I choose many rarer things over it when I have the chance. Good when there’s only common items, though.
T: Ah, good old pizza. I’m reasonably confident that this will end up being the most controversial rating in this entire two-part series. This is the most common item in circulation, and seemingly the most highly stocked and popular. I mean, how could it not be? It’s a slice of pepperoni pizza. About as simple and reliable as it gets. We ranked this lower because of more exciting and tasty alternatives that are also more filling, but the pizza is still really solid and belongs in the upper 50% of items. I do wish there was more cheese on it, though.
Both think pizza is good, but there are more unique options that take priority.
13th place: Korean BBQ Wings: 8/10
Category: Primary Offering
Rarity: Uncommon
K: They are good. I think they have only been served this year, as far as I know. It's like the other wings but with a sauce that's more akin to Asian cuisine. I wouldn’t say Korean BBQ, but maybe I just haven’t had enough KBBQ. Anyway, it’s pretty good. I like the other ones more, though. The bread is also not the best. I’d take it over the pizza, though.
T: I’ve never had these before. So you and I can both take Kalani’s word for it.
Tyson’s never had it, and Kalani thinks it's good but not as good as the other wings.
12th place: Takeout Box: 8/10
Category: Primary Offering
Rarity: Rare
K: For me, I hardly ever get the takeout box. It’s ok, I guess. I don’t remember actually putting it this high, but I guess Tyson likes it. They’re pretty good, but I only get them when there's no other good things left. Real-ish meat inside, good veggies, honestly, but the rice is brown, and I always have that at home, so I don’t need it at school. Together they come together nicely for a sweet little meal. Nothing more, nothing less.
T: For me, it is at this point in the list that there is a dramatic increase in the quality of items. I love these boxes, man… The chicken in them tastes very real, and the sauce on it is excellent. The broccoli and carrots are simply wonderful, but maybe I’m just a sucker for vegetables. Put this on top of a base of a bunch of rice, and you’ve just made my day. It’s a shame they don’t offer these more often because they’re genuinely so tasty and are one of the most filling offerings of all.
Both agree that the veggies and chicken are good, but Tyson likes them more than Kalani does.
11th place: California Burrito: 8/10
Category: Primary Offering
Rarity: Rare
K: Oh, California burrito, how I love you. French fries in a carne asada burrito is probably the best idea of modern times. The school version is not as good as the normal one, though it’s better than most other things. It comes with good amounts of tomatoes and veggies; the meat is a little strange, but at least it's real, and the fries are okay. But in the end, it's a California burrito, and those are good.
T: Here lies the best burrito of them all. This San Diegan staple contains most of the classic toppings, with the French fries and carne asada leading the flavor. These are super filling and taste really good. I just wish there were more cheese in them or sour cream. Regardless, the rarity of them makes it super exciting to see in the lines, and I cherish each one I eat.
California Burritos are good with good filling.
10th place: Real Chicken Sandwich: 8.5/10
Category: Primary Offering
Rarity: Vaulted
K: It was one random day, when the chicken sandwich was real chicken. So yummylicious. The real chicken actually tasted good, and it wasn’t spicy, which was a plus. Nothing else really to say, it was just a real chicken sandwich, which is leagues better than a fake chicken patty that compensates with spice.
T: This is pretty funny. I don’t really know what happened, but one random day a while back, they offered a crazy, upgraded, restaurant-quality version of the standard chicken sandwich we discussed in part 1 of this series. I have literally eaten it one single time, because, well, they never brought it back. Not sure why. Either way, it was really good, and it’s a shame we are back to square one in chicken sandwich land.
Rare occurrence with an actual good chicken sandwich.
9th place: Buffalo Wings with Bread: 9/10
Category: Primary Offering
Rarity: Common
K: Buffalo wings are so good dude. I love buffalo wings and buffalo sauce. I put buffalo sauce on my chicken every time I eat some. While the flavor is dulled for the wings, they are still so good. While it's true they get on your fingers, you can just lick them up, so really it's just a benefit in disguise. The bread is still just mid though I wish it were better. But overall, the taste of the wings is not affected by it, so it's a good meal overall.
T: This offering being placed so high is simply because of Kalani. I personally don’t like them, since I don’t like buffalo flavoring. Furthermore, these are unbelievably messy and get your fingers covered in sauce, which will ruin your afternoon if you don’t have millions of napkins or if you don’t go out of your way to wash your hands before 3rd/6th period. It’s one of the items I am very curious to hear the public’s opinion about, because I really don’t know how many people feel about it. And if it were up to me, this would be ranked really low, so Kalani’s opinion holds more weight for this article. Kalani loves them because he loves buffalo sauce, but Tyson doesn’t like buffalo sauce, and it’s messy.
8th place: Mac and Cheese & Nuggets: 9/10
Category: Primary Offering
Rarity: Uncommon
K: This is actually a good one. The mac and cheese is made with processed cheese (you can tell by the taste), but sometimes it has a spicy taste with it, which strangely works and makes the whole meal better. The nuggets on top of them are so good with the mac and cheese as well. It leaves you filled for class, and it’s really good overall.
T: The mac and cheese and nuggets are an all-time favorite, which is reflected in how quickly they run out of stock. It’s pretty difficult to mess up mac and cheese, and they do a decent job, which, when topped with the chicken nuggets (that are of much higher quality than the chicken in the chicken sandwiches), creates a very filling meal that tastes really good since the two components complement each other well.
A truly filling meal with good chicken nuggets.
7th place: Spaghetti Bolognese: 9/10
Category: Primary Offering
Rarity: Super Rare
K: The spaghetti is good. All the pasta that they serve is good now that I think about it. It comes with little meat bits, I think, and those are good. The actual pasta is good enough, too. It makes for a good lunch meal overall. For some reason, I’m blanking on specifics, so I can’t be too in-depth about it.
T: One of the best items in circulation, the spaghetti Bolognese is outclassed by few. Again, pasta is hard to mess up, and the sauce is genuinely really good; like, I would eat this outside of school happily. The cheese on top makes me very happy, and the serving size is pretty good, to where I am left about as full as I can be after school lunch. This offering is very rare, but they did serve it just this last week, so I am hopeful they will make it more often.
Good serving size, but a rare sight, so Kalani doesn’t remember as well.
6th place: Garlic Bread Pizza: 9/10
Category: Primary Offering
Rarity: Legendary
K: These are like ONLY served during half days when we get out early, and when they serve lunch at the end of the day. It’s like a pizza thing on top of garlic bread. They like to put sauce and cheese on the garlic bread and throw a little bit of leek or something on the top, and it creates a great mini pizza thing. A shame it’s only served during half days.
T: I have never had this offering before, but I’ve seen several of my friends eat it. It’s unbelievably rare; I can count those sightings on one hand. According to Kalani, these are common on half days when they open the lines after school, but I don’t know. Trust his word on this really high ranking.
Tyson’s never had it, Kalani loves it.
5th place: Nachos with Cheese: 9/10 (credit for being the best last resort item
Category: Backup Item
Rarity: Rare
K: Tyson loves the processed cheese. Personally, I’ve been eating nachos with processed cheese since middle school, so it's been good to me for many, many years. The nachos are okay on their own, being lightly salted and all, but with the cheese, they become a good, savory meal. Call me weird, but it tastes really good. Tyson’s on another level, though. He LOVES that cheese and nacho combo.
T: Alright, alright, first and foremost:
The nachos with cheese are NOT the 5th-best item offered at our school. Under standard circumstances, they would probably be ranked somewhere around 12th-14th. However, we elected to give these a huge boost in ranking and call it a top 5 choice because of the fact that it is by far the best backup item in circulation. This should always be the last item instead of the falafels or taco salad, man… The nachos taste really good and are salted, and don’t even get me started on the cheese… I’m actually such a fiend for it. It’s one of my favorite flavors in existence, and it makes this offering amazing. I’m so, so happy when I walk in and see these at the counter, so we put them up here.
Both agree it’s a strange choice for 5th, but both love the nacho and cheese combo.
4th place: Caesar Salad: 9/10
Category: Primary Offering (?)
Rarity: Common
K: The Caesar salad is good. It’s totally carried by the dressing, but the dressing is always there, so it can be considered top 5. It’s a standard salad with Caesar dressing and sometimes croutons. If you shake up the dressing in the box (the method by the way), you get a perfectly layered salad. It’s really good. Sometimes I take it over pizza.
T: Oh sweet, sweet Caesar salad… It’s great that they serve this often, because it’s so good. There’s not much to talk about. It’s literally just a standard Caesar salad in a box. The method is to pour the sauce into the box, close it, and shake up the box. I absolutely love Caesar salad, man, this is a peak cafeteria offering.
It’s good if you shake the dressing in the box.
3rd place: Chicken/Mac/Potato/Corn Platter: 10/10
Category: Primary Offering
Rarity: Super Rare
K: During winter, they served a platter of mashed potatoes, chicken, and corn. It was amazing. I remember sitting under a building when it was raining and eating this warm platter while talking with friends, and it warmed my soul. The mashed potatoes come with a little cheese on top, with chicken nuggets and corn sides. It's a very filling meal that I wish they could serve during other seasons.
T: Here we have the number one most satiating item in our school’s recent history. I wish the amount of food in this platter were standard for all the other items, because this thing gets you SO full if you eat all of it. There’s a lot of chicken, as well as a side of mac and cheese, which is literally just the chicken/mac bowl from earlier, an already highly ranked item. On top of this, we also now have mashed potatoes and corn, two more tasty and filling items.
This offering is SO good, they just gotta serve it more. It’s so filling and tastes really good.
The platter had an assortment of food items that leave you filled and warm.
2nd place: Big Daddy’s Pizza Pocket: 10/10
Category: Primary Offering
Rarity: Recently Unvaulted
K: Big Daddy’s are good. It’s a pizza pocket, but not one of those fake ones. It has actual substance to it. Good cheese, bread, and sauce ratio in a small packet. They were gone for 2 years, but recently they have made a triumphant return. I had the fortune of getting some before they ran out, and it was just as good as I remember.
T: Ahhh, nostalgia. These pizza pockets were recently brought back to the school in a dramatic turn of events after like two entire years of being gone. The pockets were my absolute favorite item in freshman year. Now they’re back, and they run out of stock in like 5 minutes, so I have not gotten to try one. It’s been years, and they’re still an all-time favorite of mine. I hope to eat another before I graduate. The cheese and pepperoni flavors are brilliant.
Gives good pizza flavors. Tyson hasn’t had it recently, while Kalani has.
1st place: Fettuccine Alfredo: 10/10
Category: Primary Offering
Rarity: Rare
K: This is so good. The meat, the sauce, and the pasta are all top-tier. It’s something I would actually eat in larger portions at a restaurant, I think. This is an actual good meal that the school serves. I enjoy every bite. Some don’t share the same sentiment, though.
T: Literally nothing else could have topped this. It’s fettuccini alfredo, and not some mid stuff either. The sauce is so good, and they don’t skimp on the cheese. This stuff is addicting, and really filling too. It’s truly delicious, and the true pinnacle of our school’s offerings.
Actual meal with real ingredients, making it the best.
That concludes our rankings for Otay Ranch’s school lunch options. We enjoyed writing these rankings and look forward to outside opinions. Thank you for reading!
