GauchoGrub

Gaucho Grub is a full-stack web application that allows UCSB students to view real-time dining hall menus and submit reviews for specific menu items. Built by Nathan Ngo and Alvin Lee as a collaborative project at UCSB to enhance student dining experiences by combining live data with crowd-sourced feedback.

Live Website Here

Features

• Daily Menus - View current menus by dining hall pulled from UCSB Dining API (Carrillo, Portola, Ortega, etc.)
• Give Feedback - Submit reviews and ratings for specific dishes
• Read Feedback - View average ratings and user feedback per food item
• Smart UX – Fast loading indicators, mobile-first layout, and one-click interactions
• Profanity Filter – Automatically blocks offensive content client-side
• Average Ratings – See what dishes students actually enjoy
• Menu Caching – Daily UCSB Dining data is cached in PostgreSQL for fast access

Technologies Used

Frontend:

• React (JSX), React Router, Axios, React Bootstrap, Material UI
• Vite for fast builds and local development

Backend:

• Flask (Python), psycopg2, Requests
• Scheduled data fetch via update_database.py

Database:

• Supabase (PostgreSQL)
• Profanity-checked review system with one-review-per-user enforcement via localStorage

API:

• UCSB Dining API

Deployment:

• Frontend: Vercel
• Backend: Microsoft Azure
• Automation: GitHub Actions (runs nightly data pulls)

Package Managers:

• pip (Python)
• npm (Node.js)

DevOps:

• GitHub Actions
• .env files

Database Schema

The PostgreSQL database uses three main tables:

menu_items

Stores metadata for each unique menu item across dining halls and meals.

Column	Type	Description
id	int4	Primary key
name	text	Name of the menu item
dining_hall	text	Name of the dining hall (e.g. Carrillo)
meal	text	Meal type (Breakfast, Lunch, etc.)
station	text	The food station serving the item
avg_rating	float4	Cached average rating for quick reads

---

reviews

Stores all user-submitted reviews tied to a specific menu item.

Column	Type	Description
id	int4	Primary key
menu_item_id	int4	Foreign key referencing menu_items(id)
rating	float4	User rating (supports half-stars e.g., 4.5)
comment	text	User review text (max 300 characters)
created_at	timestamp	Timestamp of when the review was created

---

daily_menu

Stores pre-fetched UCSB Dining API data to reduce request latency.

Column	Type	Description
date	date	Primary key (one row per day)
data	text	Full JSON blob of menu data for the day
last_updated	timestamptz	Timestamp of last successful refresh

API Routes

Method	Route	Description
GET	/	Returns current menu data for all dining halls
POST	/<dining_hall>/<item_name>	Submits a review for a menu item
GET	/<dining_hall>/<item_name>	Returns all reviews + avg rating for an item

Deployment & Automation

• update_database.py pulls new dining hall data from UCSB API every 24 hours and inserts it into the SQLite database.
• Flask API runs locally or can be deployed to any cloud provider.
• React frontend runs locally or can be built for production.

Screenshots

Home Page – Dining Hall Selection

Menu View – Food by Meal and Station

Review Submission – Leave Feedback on Items

Review Display – See What Others Said

Contributors

• Alvin Lee
• Nathan Ngo