In the past year, a number of new dining options have opened on campus; Glen’s Island Retreat is one of them.
Glen’s Island Retreat is a small eatery located in the Florida A&M University recreation center. Effective this semester, two sisters Collisa and Glenda Salmon, are the new owners of the Island Retreat.
The sisters are originally from Great Britain, but their Jamaican roots are reflected in their menu.
“We have always wanted to own our own restaurant and this is the first stepping stone in doing it,” Collisa Salmon said.
The sisters came to take over the establishment by the previous owner, who was a friend of theirs and had moved on and expanded to other business endeavors.
Glen’s Island Retreat serves a variety of foods. The menu includes Jamaican beef patties and coco bread, spiced bun and cheese, salads and wraps, tofu, grilled chicken, jerk chicken, smoothies and more.
“My favorite thing to get is the fruit smoothies, at most health food places the food especially the smoothies taste so bad or like nothing at all, but here everything is so fresh,” said Jasmine Leslie, 19, a second-year engineering student from Chicago, said.
Due to limited space, there is a schedule in place as to what day each food will be served. Each day there is something different on the menu. On Mondays, oxtails are served, Tuesdays curry chicken and Wednesdays are jerk chicken. All items come with a side of rice and peas.
The restaurant doesn’t serve the typical food students receive in the cafe’.
“Being an athlete, sometimes we’re giving certain diets and it’s kind of hard to follow them when chicken and burgers are thrown in your face almost everyday,” said Elliott Bonner, 21, a public relations student from Memphis, Tenn.
“It is nice to go to a place and eat good food that’s healthy for you, I always grab something from here after I’m done working out,” said Bria Bennett, 18, a second-year broadcast journalism student from Philadelphia, Pa.
The mission of the restaurant is to serve different types of healthy food.
“Our goal at Glen’s Island Retreat is to cater to all FAMU students and faculty members by adding a selection of new and diverse healthy food,” Collisa said.
Flex bucks are not accepted at Glen’s Island Retreat as of yet, but it is something to look forward to in the near future. So if the same old run of the mill food from campus is becoming less intriguing, Glen’s island retreat offers something new. It is open Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. in FAMU’s recreation center.