College dining hall food

[Colleen27]

Most of the dining halls at the university I attended and the several we toured with DD, including the one she's attending, are open to the public. But the food at most I've tried has just been okay and the cash/non-student prices aren't exactly a bargain, so I'm not sure why you would unless you had a specific reason for being on campus. I almost never ate at the dining hall at my university; I had a car and preferred the (cheaper, tastier) food at the pizza or sushi places across from campus, or the soup/salad bar at the local grocery.

 

[mjkacmom]

You'd be surprised. The main dining hall at Rutgers in the early 80's used to attract many local families for Sunday dinner. Not that the food was anything more that adequate. But I suppose it was cheap compared to a restaurant and you could get seconds or thirds or even more.

My daughter went to Rutgers, she loved king Neptune night, we are 40 minutes away, did she ever unite us? No. But she ate her weight in seafood.

 

[okeydokey]

I didn't think you could just dine at one without having a student get you in.

We dined with my son a few times but he had is student ID and we were his guests.

At the University where I work, anyone can eat at on campus locations. If you do not have a meal plan you just pay out or pocket.

 

[NYCgrrl]

My daughter went to Rutgers, she loved king Neptune night, we are 40 minutes away, did she ever unite us? No. But she ate her weight in seafood.

Impressive!

 

[bcla]

My daughter went to Rutgers, she loved king Neptune night, we are 40 minutes away, did she ever unite us? No. But she ate her weight in seafood.

For something like this it wouldn't surprise me if it was restricted to students only if they are otherwise open to the public. Something like that is bound to be a huge loss leader.

 

[bcla]

Parking is tight and by pass only. And security today (as other places) is very different on college campuses than in times past.

Depends on the layout.

When we were at UC Davis for that retreat we mostly just parked in the campus lots although it was in August before school started. Even though there was supposedly parking enforcement, we were told by the organizers that there would be no enforcement at any of the campus lots for regular student parking spaces. I was mostly on a weekend though. The campus does seem more self-contained than other schools I've visited.

Now Berkeley is another matter. The campus is surrounded by the city. Many school buildings are technically off campus including most of the dorm buildings. If you ever saw The Graduate, they filmed in front of the Unit 1 (there are Units 1/2/3) residence hall complex, which is off campus. In fact there are city-operated parking meters right in front of the dorms on the street. The reason why we got curious was because we parked in front of Unit 3 and "Cafe 3", which is where my cousin lived for a year. I remember back when I was a student it had just been remodeled and frankly reminded me of Space Mountain. Still does.

 

[mnrose]

At my daughter's campus, you can totally eat in the main food service. Just pay, and there you are. Meals are around $9 (lunch and dinner) and it's all you can eat. I don't find the food particularly interesting or good. LOL. At my son's campus, the food service cafeterias are all in locked dorms, so you either have to live in that dorm or be admitted by someone from that dorm. Once you are in, there's no checking. You can pay cash and eat. Both my kids now live off campus, so they are cooking for themselves. They like it better. Although they both appreciate a good meal out when we come to visit (assuming we pay, of course). My daughter did buy a small block of meals as she is often on campus over the lunch/dinner hour and it makes sense to eat there vs. running home, cooking, and trying to get back. I don't blame her. I will also say that I think food service food on MOST college campuses today is heads and tails above what we ate. And, when I went, it wasn't "all you can eat." You paid for each item at each meal. I'd generally come out exactly correct, but I sure was not eating high on the hog or "all you can eat." I'd shop the best values. I like that kids are not required to do that anymore.

 

[takemethere]

I have 2 in college now and 2 that graduated last year, all at schools in various parts of the country and all the food is/was not something I would seek out. My youngest is a new freshman and he is the least picky of the bunch and he's already meh on it. We go for parents weekend saturday and he has a list of places to go eat. I also agree that it would seem odd to see a family having dinner on a random night.

 

[RedAngie]

My daughter went to Rutgers, she loved king Neptune night, we are 40 minutes away, did she ever unite us? No. But she ate her weight in seafood.

Well, they certainly didn't have King Neptune Night back in the dark ages when I attended. They did serve steamed shrimp on a few special occasions every year, and prime rib once per semester. Seafood was available every night, but it alternated between fish sticks and fried or broiled flounder or cod.

 

[bcla]

One of the really odd things is that I remember when it used to be possible to eat cheap. I started visiting the area around the campus when I was in high school either with friends or even by myself. My favorite pizza place wasn't that good, but it was 75 cents for an extremely heavy slice of cheese pizza at Blondie's or Fat Slice and a buck for pepperoni. It might have gone up. Now it's more like $4, which seems to have outpaced inflation. The campus area used to thrive on cheap eats. There used to be a bagel place that's now gone. And of course a lot places cater to ethnic Asians like boba/milk tea shops, although they're still extremely popular among the entire area among different demographics.

Now I think the de facto cheap eats are the hot dog joint and the new Taco Bell, which is one of the "Cantina" versions that serves alcohol. And their $1 menu is more like the $1.39 menu. Still - I remember back when I was doing a student project our group went to Taco Bell every Friday. I had to drive because was the only one with a car. These days we would just walk.

 

[Kae]

My DD is on an all you can eat plan. they have food courts and QS type places, plus dining dollars for Sunday Nights and extras

 

[amcnj]

Well, they certainly didn't have King Neptune Night back in the dark ages when I attended. They did serve steamed shrimp on a few special occasions every year, and prime rib once per semester. Seafood was available every night, but it alternated between fish sticks and fried or broiled flounder or cod.

In my time there we didn’t even get steamed shrimp. They did offer steak night once a semester I believe it was, and handed out a ticket so you could only get one (all other food was all you care to eat). The lines were very long, and the steak really was not so good.

But it was a big change from roast beef, which was offered frequently. The rumor was that they had taken a poll as to what food students preferred, and roast beef finished first, so they bought a lot of it. Thus it was served so often as one of the options that everyone grew tired of it.

I have read that colleges now use their food offerings as a selling point. A lot different than the high school cafeteria on steroids that was standard when I was in school.

 

[usnuzuloose]

You know I went to college for a short time. I never even saw the cafeteria. I used to go there on Sunday's for our church. What a shame. I want to continue with my college stuff.

 

[Magical2017]

The dorms where I work have dining halls, but there is also a university union with cafes, Chick fil A, and various other venues. The food is delicious. There is an arts center where many children take dance and art classes on weekends. There are various events hosted--karate tournaments and other sporting events, plays, etc. Faculty also get free or reduced tickets to many events. We often take our kids to lunch after an event.

 

[bcla]

I remember during my college days I'd buy stuff on campus. There were always little cafes around campus that had pastries, donuts, etc. However, that was more out of convenience than anything else. But it was great having off-campus options that were right across the street. Still - I was just curious about the state of campus dining halls and whether it seemed unusual for someone to take advantage of the option for the public to dine at one.

 

[DisneyHardin]

When I was in college 20 years ago at Murray State University, the dining hall that we had to eat in wasn't that great - very much cafeteria food. I think you could pay to eat there, but I'm not sure why anyone would want to.

I now live near University of Louisville and some friends and I went and ate at their dining hall (The Grill Ville) a few years ago and it was pretty good - it was about $10.

 

[MrsCobraBubbles]

I graduated from a rural campus of a big college. Our dining hall wasn't anything like colleges in the city. It was small; they offered a special of the day (like hot turkey, roast beef, etc.), pre-packaged sandwiches and salads, and a pizza hut window where you could grab a personal pan pizza and breadsticks. I never got there early enough to see, but friends told me there was cereal and various breakfast sandwiches in the mornings. there weren't many resident students, most of us commuted. The dining hall was a separate building on this huge, sprawling campus and the residents complained about having to walk to it from the dorms in the cold Pennsylvania winters I would totally go back to visit if I lived closer, I did a drive through of the campus a couple years ago when I was in the area and there was so much nostalgia. I loved college!

 

[mom2rtk]

Most of the dining halls at the university I attended and the several we toured with DD, including the one she's attending, are open to the public. But the food at most I've tried has just been okay and the cash/non-student prices aren't exactly a bargain, so I'm not sure why you would unless you had a specific reason for being on campus. I almost never ate at the dining hall at my university; I had a car and preferred the (cheaper, tastier) food at the pizza or sushi places across from campus, or the soup/salad bar at the local grocery.

Definitely far from a bargain these days. My kids have mostly stuck with the smallest meal plan available and supplement with stuff they can make in their room, or buy stuff elsewhere around town since it's not that much more.

Schools do have tons more options these days for on campus food, but it's all pretty pricey. It's great for the kids who don't have to worry about what they spend though.

 

[soccerdad72]

I can't imagine voluntarily going to a college's buffet to eat.

My son's college has like 10-12 different places to eat, but one main buffet-style cafeteria. As a freshman, he's required to have a meal plan that includes at least 5 meals at that location - the rest of his dining plan can be used as 'meal exchanges' at other dining places where he can get up to $9 worth of a la carte food for the meal swipe. Along with that, he has so much 'dining dollars' to spend on top of that. It seems to work pretty well, except he struggles going to the buffet 5 times a week, saying that most of the food served there is bland and boring.

All of the above places, I believe, are open to the public to eat at as well - the cafeteria would be my last choice, however.

 

[tvguy]

I went to College 1975-1979. Two years before I started our dining hall was ranked # 1 by Playboy magazine for best dorm food. Guy who ran food service took great pride in the food. And he always had special meals during finals week. Prime Rib. Lobster thermidor. Fresh produce. It was amazing.
My son attended the same College 30 years later. They no longer do their own food service. They have hired an outside company (Bon Appetit) to run it. Not so good now.