Colleges with best and worst dining halls

[Anonymous]

Any intel on the food trucks at UVA? My kid is hanging their hat on that.
I had some undercooked pasta at orientation but the salad bar was ok .

[Anonymous]

Scripps

Claremont Colleges in general

[Anonymous]

Love that Wash U made intentional decision 2 years ago to bring 7 women/minority owned restaurants to campus.

[Anonymous]

My DC says that Bates has great food.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Any intel on the food trucks at UVA? My kid is hanging their hat on that.
I had some undercooked pasta at orientation but the salad bar was ok .

My kids primarily ate at the food trucks or the other little dining areas around grounds. They did go to O'Hill a fair amount and Runk for dinner but preferred to grab lunch at the food trucks. Once they moved off grounds, they have the Elevate meal plan which allows them to get food at a wide variety of restaurants on or near the Corner.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:George Washington has great food, actually.

Please don't confuse it with Georgetown.

W&M had the worst food of all the colleges we visited two years ago, but I've heard they overhauled their dining.

That must be new, because when I went there 20 years ago the food hall was truly pathetic.

Seriously, don't come on here with your opinions from 20 years ago. I just posted that W&M apparently improved its dining from two years ago!
GWU has done very nice renovations in its dorms and dining halls. It's got a great rec center, lots of new spaces.

NEW EXPERIENCES ONLY, please, or else mention how long ago your experience was.

Our rising junior DD confirms food has been improved under the new vendor for the last year. Just visited her and since she had extra meal swipes left, insisted I try dinner. The burger tasted between fast food & homemade (not this funky taste HS burgers have), the 4 veggies were all cooked well, the baked potato just right and personally I liked the meatloaf. Salad bar was basic, but it is only summer class after all. So limited menu. Didn't try the pizza or vegan option.

[Anonymous]

Has anyone tried food at Carnegie Mellon? We were surprised on our visit to hear that they no longer have big dining halls, but rather a distributed network of 30 eating places around campus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:from what we've seen

Best

Yale
Princeton
Middlebury


Worst

Georgetown
George Washington
Tufts

Cornell U is pretty amazing. Keep in mind good dining needs to be based on not just food options but also accessibility. Good dining options should have different time choices (for e.g. open late at night), place to pick up quick healthy lunches (b'cos honestly often kids have no time to sit and eat lunch between classes), and good variety for vegetarian etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I believe Niche and Princeton Review have covered this topic ad nauseum.

Because, after all, colleges should be chosen mostly on food hall quality (with some consideration for climbing walls and lazy rivers).

If your kid is an athlete, it matters a lot. Imagine paying for room and board, and then having to subsidize with more money so they can fill the tank. Quality and volume impact both athletic performance and academic learning. My older kids were not athletes but Mr. 14 is. Just started high school and our grocery bills have almost doubled. He is a combustion engine.

The question is valid, even if the answers are of no significance to you. I’ll be asking the same question three years from now.

That cute if you think D1 athletes eat the regular dining hall fare.

[Anonymous]

JMU the best

A little surprised to hear that. My marching band DC has done their summer program the last couple years. Loves a lot of things about JMU but was turned off by the dorms (Hillside / Bell) and the food in the dining hall. Maybe summer is different/worse?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:from what we've seen

Best

Yale
Princeton
Middlebury


Worst

Georgetown
George Washington
Tufts

Cornell U is pretty amazing. Keep in mind good dining needs to be based on not just food options but also accessibility. Good dining options should have different time choices (for e.g. open late at night), place to pick up quick healthy lunches (b'cos honestly often kids have no time to sit and eat lunch between classes), and good variety for vegetarian etc.

+1 to Cornell from an alum. Many options, great variety and quality food for different diets

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I believe Niche and Princeton Review have covered this topic ad nauseum.

Because, after all, colleges should be chosen mostly on food hall quality (with some consideration for climbing walls and lazy rivers).

If your kid is an athlete, it matters a lot. Imagine paying for room and board, and then having to subsidize with more money so they can fill the tank. Quality and volume impact both athletic performance and academic learning. My older kids were not athletes but Mr. 14 is. Just started high school and our grocery bills have almost doubled. He is a combustion engine.

The question is valid, even if the answers are of no significance to you. I’ll be asking the same question three years from now.

That cute if you think D1 athletes eat the regular dining hall fare.

At UMass, even the national champion hockey team eats in the dining halls: https://youtu.be/RMReGUIQx1g?si=HWQPSaT2dSkoNZ3w

If you count the Ivies as "real D1" schools, their athletes also eat in the same dining halls as everyone else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

JMU the best

A little surprised to hear that. My marching band DC has done their summer program the last couple years. Loves a lot of things about JMU but was turned off by the dorms (Hillside / Bell) and the food in the dining hall. Maybe summer is different/worse?

JMU food has been good for years.

My kid did a sports overnight camp this year and liked the food. They stayed in one of new dorms on East Campus; it is really nice.

[Anonymous]

How recent are the Cornell reviews? I remember visiting a friend at Cornell 30 years ago and being impressed with the cafeteria food. When we visited last summer for an admissions event I thought the cafeteria meal was just average.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Best: UMass Amherst

YES! I ate there this summer (tried several of their stations) and it was all amazing.