We know our “to go” options need some work. Is this a barrier to any of you eating with us? I don’t know. But I suspect we have a bunch of South Station customers who stop coming by once the weather gets cold because our takeout isn’t the best. And there are a few of you who have started asking for stuff “extra wrapped to-go.”
I think our food will always taste the best right as we hand it to you, but we’d be fooling ourselves if we thought all our customers will experience it this way all the time. And we want to make Clover’s takeout cheap, convenient, simple, and maybe even fun.
So we’re planning a re-work going into this Winter. This means now is your chance to chime in. Have you gotten anything “to-go” from us? What has your experience been like?
I’ve had a leaky to-go sandwich a few times.
Thanks for letting us know. Which location do you normally visit?
At Cambridge a few times a week for sandwich and often fries—the sandwich is gone by the time I get back to work, but juggling sandwich and fries is tough!
I love the egg & egg, but I’ve stopped ordering it from the MIT truck because the oil and veggie juice leak everywhere. In the 5 minutes between the truck and my desk, it’s usually soaked through the wrapper.
The weather is a barrier and the need to get it back to my desk means sometimes I can’t go. (I go to the MIT truck).
I love the BBQ Seitan but it also drips a lot, whether to go or eating right away. I find the salads delicious, but a bit too much food with a sandwich yet not quite enough for lunch.
Your problem is that hot bread does not stay hot and the sauces leak all over, If you were to get 1 oz containers for the sauce and deconstruct the sandwich the customer can assemble it upon arriving to there desired location . If you got Recycled cardboard boxes and lets say just cooked to the falafel and put them in the box with a bed of lettuce with the pickled veg and put the hummus and tahini in the containers with a plastic spoon and knife combo pack I am sure this would solve all your problems.
I’ve sometimes asked for something wrapped to go, and then as the person is handing it to me, s/he turns the sandwich upside down! Kinda defeats the purpose of the to-go wrap, which for me is to keep the sandwich together while I walk it back to my office.
Drippage is an issue with all the delicious Clover sandwiches. I’ve thought on a couple of occasions of bringing in my own sandwich tupperware to hold it in, but I feel I’d just end up with a soggy sandwich that is even messier to eat.
I understand that sometimes pitas leak, but these days, most sandwiches I get have been cut open over 2/3 of the way down and all the contents are spilling out so that the paper is what holds it all together (and gets all soggy). I know it is probably easier to make them this way, but it makes it really difficult to eat and even worse to travel. Also, with the paper being what holds the sandwich together, a lot of people don’t use enough so that when you take a bite into the sandwich, all the contents spill out over the paper. It seems that over time the opening in the pita keeps getting bigger and bigger and the paper gets smaller. I feel like it is another example of inconsistent and declining quality/service and why I don’t go to Clover as often as I used to. And why I generally just get soup when I do go.
I generally get it to go from the MIT truck, since I’m walking back across campus. I liked the previous, foil-ish type wrapping better than the heavy paper, though I understand if the latter is greener and/or more economical. I’ve never really had a problem with it, no leaking or opening by accident or whatever. Does seem like an excessive amount of paper sometimes….
I am a south station customer who stopped eating the breakfast sandwich For some time due to packaging. My favorite part of the bfast sandwich is biting into the soft boiled egg. Depending who made it, sometimes the egg was cut open, the sandwich wrapped completely, and handed to me upside down, causing the beautiful yolk to run everywhere and get cold nearly immediately. More recently however the sandwich has been made the way I prefer it- uncut egg, half wrapped, handed upright!
If I can’t eat at HSQ I never get a sandwich, I just order the chickpea platter. Too soggy/messy otherwise!
Currently, a south station regular- I just bring a plastic container from home, and started doing this out of necessity when biking + clover-ing. The circular ones from most chinese takeout are perfect for pitas.(hummus and textbooks absolutely need more division than folded paper!)
Also, while food from anywhere definitely is best when freshly made, sometimes the sandwich won’t even survive the truck->office walk a block or two down Summer St!
So, uh, yes there are problems, but I’ve been rocking my own solutions :p
i love your hummus! if you had those small pint or half-pint containers of hummus, soups, or salads to go, i’d get that. i don’t compost at my house so compostable to-go containers are not as good as plastic for me. (also i’ve heard that throwing away compostable containers is bad because then they will decompose in the landfill)
We love the idea of doing hummus to-go. Originally we had hummus as part of the salad rotation. Maybe it’s something we look into bringing back for the future.
Hi! I get things to go from HSQ about half the time I visit Clover. I agree that the sandwiches frequently leak, but that doesn’t bother me that much. However, I had an awkward experience with soup to go recently. I ordered a sandwich and soup to go, and was basically handed a coffee cup with soup in it. I asked for a lid, and was told to walk around to the back where the condiments are and get a lid there. I did, but the lids are open — they don’t seal the cup — and so I went back and asked what to do about that.
The counter person initially told me that was the only soup container option there was. I explained that as a mobility impaired person, I can’t have both hands full (one hand for the sandwich bag, one hand for the soup) and needed for both things to go into one bag. Otherwise, I’d just have to leave the soup there and not take it with me. Another quick-thinking employee suggested blue tape over the lid opening, and that sealed the container enough to put it in the bag. Problem solved!
Of course, the deeper problem is that a coffee cup with an open lid is not a solution for to-go soup unless you’re going to carry the soup in your hand when you go. I understand the utility of having one container that is used for coffee, soup, etc, but you asked about the problems of to-go options, and the utility is at the cost of portability.
Thanks so much for this. We totally hear you. Yesterday we think we found the perfect lid to solve this. Look for it rolling out soon (4 weeks at the max, we’re hoping way sooner).
Yay! I will look for it. I’m going home to the West Coast for the winter holidays, but I’m very excited — and I appreciate you guys asking about this and hearing me.