No one sitting in an elementary school cafeteria would mistake it for a four-star restaurant. But while gourmet meals are certainly not on the menu, students should be able to expect at least a moderately tasty lunch that not only provides the necessary nutrition, but is also something kids want to eat.

One fifth-grade student at Guiteras Elementary School didn’t feel the lunch offerings at her school were meeting her and her classmates’ expectations, so she decided to do something about it, and earned an audience with school lunch executives to state her case.

Lindsie Medeiros, a 10-year-old from Bristol, said she had grown frustrated with what she described as inadequate lunch offerings from Chartwells, the Bristol-based company that provides daily school lunches to the Bristol Warren Regional School District and others around the state. Ms. Medeiros described cardboard-like pizza with rubbery cheese, and unappetizing, gray hamburger patties and chicken nuggets.

“A lot of kids complain about the food. They say it doesn’t taste very well,” Ms. Medeiros said. “I’d say the food tastes like trash, but I don’t know what trash tastes like.”

The complaints go beyond taste and appearance. Ms. Medeiros said the students have been served expired milk and rotten apples, and often find it difficult to exchange the expired products for new ones. The food does not have a fresh taste or appearance, she said, and is trucked in from elsewhere instead of being cooked at the school. Also, there is a general lack of choice in the cafeteria, she said. Elementary students are given three choices each day, two of which only change weekly. Middle and high school students have a much wider selection at lunch each day.

“As younger, elementary students, we think we should have more choices and more nutrition,” Ms. Medeiros said. “Their website says they cook the food local, but we see boxes with Chartwells on them coming from trucks. Food comes in boxes and they just warm it up. Chartwells is being misleading, I guess. I always complain to my parents, and they were like, ‘If you don’t like it, do something about it.’”

So that’s exactly what Ms. Medeiros did. She started a petition asking the school district to change food service providers or, at the very least, improve the offerings in the cafeteria. She circulated the petition at recess and spoke before Mass at nearby St. Elizabeth’s Church one Sunday morning, earning nearly 100 signatures and garnering the attention of Chartwells executives.

A group from the food service company visited Guiteras School last week to meet with Ms. Medeiros and three of her classmates to try and address their concerns.

“Our priority and focus is providing students in Bristol Warren with great tasting and nutritious food as well as maintaining open dialogue for formal and informal feedback,” Chartwells representative Kimberley Orr wrote in an email to the Bristol Phoenix. “In that spirit, our team along with representatives from the school enjoyed a meeting with a small group of students to discuss their school lunch program, ideas and opportunities. We appreciate all input and working with the community to provide a variety of menu options.”

The options were among the items discussed, according to Guiteras Principal Cynthia Sadler, along with wait times for lunch and seating arrangements in the cafeteria. Immediate changes will include the order students are called up to get their lunch, which will now be according to food choice instead of classroom to expedite the process; and the addition of a second “peanut-free table” to allow those who buy food at the school to sit with their friends who have allergies, Ms. Sadler said. The food options will not increase at the elementary level, though some recipes could.

“Chartwells kind of agreed the cheese on the pizza is horrible,” Ms. Sadler said. “It was very low-fat so not as flavorful. They are changing the cheese type.”

The freshness of the food can not necessarily change as the elementary schools in Bristol Warren do not have full kitchens. Instead, Chartwells cooks some of the food at Mt. Hope High School and Kickemuit Middle School and delivers the meals to the elementary schools.

“Cafe meals are prepared fresh daily,” Ms. Orr wrote. “Based on kitchen equipment requirements, some food is prepared at Mt. Hope and delivered to the school prior to service but most is made on site. The students are encouraged to first approach the café workers should they have any issues with their meal. Our staff is trained and can resolve most immediately if brought to their attention.”

As for the food quality, it is perfectly nutritious, Ms. Sadler said. Students are allowed to take two fruits or vegetables at every lunch, and can take a piece of fruit with them when they leave the cafeteria. The gray color of the meat and chicken is because of the use of dark meat in the chicken and the fact that burgers are baked, not grilled, so they don’t get that appetizing grilled appearance, she said. As for the sour milk and rotten apples, Ms. Sadler said she suspects those were isolated incidents.

Chartwells is making an effort to use fresh, local ingredients and provide food kids not only need but want, Ms. Sadler said. To that end, the company meets with students at the start of each year to gauge their tastes. Such a meeting this year resulted in a “more Mexican flair” to some of the food, including the beef soft tacos students were served Tuesday afternoon.

“I’ve been very happy with the meetings with Chartwells over the years,” Ms. Sadler said, adding the meeting with the students and Chartwells executives was productive. “I really appreciate Lindsie’s willingness to work for change. Kids should be encouraged to speak up; that’s how we make better kids. We kind of resolved some of the problems.”

Whether the kids are satisfied is another story. Ms. Medeiros said she appreciated Chartwells meeting with the students, but felt all their concerns weren’t addressed. She said she tried to present a comparison to another company that supplied food to a school she used to attend in Massachusetts — which she researched extensively, creating a side-by-side comparison — but the group from Chartwells wasn’t interested in being compared. They also did not address the petition she circulated calling for the company’s removal.

“Most of the changes aren’t going to be about the food,” Ms. Medeiros said. “I feel like they weren’t really listening to us. I don’t think they’ll do anything.”

While the students behind her may not see much change, Ms. Medeiros and her classmates have only two months left of the elementary menus before going from three lunch choices a day to 17 at the middle school next school year, something, Ms. Orr said Ms. Medeiros and her friends are clearly ready for.

“When the students graduate to the secondary school level, they will have a much larger variety to choose from,” Ms. Orr said. “After speaking with this group for fifth graders, it sounds like they are ready to graduate and move on from elementary school. Great group.”