As much as I miss waiting 20 minutes for chicken wings, the Colonel’s Retreat is a thing of the past, and I’m not sure anyone is too upset. Wild Blue, the Japanese restaurant new to the Student Union, was introduced at the beginning of the semester and has been busy ever since.

Their hours are 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Monday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Friday, and students can watch as they make the sushi rolls fresh every day. 

Despite the obvious difference in food selection, the main difference between the Colonel’s Retreat and Wild Blue is the wait time. I enjoyed visiting the Colonel’s Retreat, but everyone knew going in, you’d be there at least half an hour. At Wild Blue, unless you have way too much time on your hands and decide to specialty order something, you have your meal in minutes.

The sushi boxes are prepared daily and stay stacked with a variety of choices. The crunchy tempura roll and the chef sampler sushi roll are two everyone must try. Surprisingly enough, I even sprung for the seaweed salad; it was pretty good for green mush on a plate. 

Despite being a restaurant of traditional sushi with a modern twist, the place doesn’t just cater to sushi lovers. The specialty bowls have options like chicken teriyaki or beef and vegetables on top of steamed rice. It’s more than enough food to fill you up and it’s hot and ready to go. They even offer snack packs of fried dumplings and other favorites, all at very reasonable prices. 

Another reason Wild Blue has seen so much success is the variety it brings to campus. With busy schedules and people actually running to class and printing out papers in a panic, it just adds one more convenient option to grab something good and quick. Instead of all my Munch Money going to Chick Fil A, I’ll be in the union, trying different specialty rolls.