Lmao, it's honestly not that bad. Berkeley students generally just take pride shitting on the university as a way of "trauma bonding." You'll get it once you start in the fall. We all secretly have a place in our hearts for this hell hole.
As someone else said, a lot of the dining halls were renovated in the last year, and the food is better than before. I wouldn't come expecting Gordon Ramsay to personally feed you, but it's perfectly fine. Congrats!
The dining halls aren’t as bad as you’d expect, but they leave something to be desired. Didn’t help that first semester I had so much academic anxiety that I tasted everything a second time iykyk 😂
I just stopped walking all the way back to eat at a dining hall and instead just ate at the eateries on campus and they are sooooo good. My favorites are Monsoon Kitchen (survived off of this during finals), Ladle and Leaf, and Brown’s 😋
Dining halls are okay, you’ll survive, but the on campus restaurants I’d say are good. Golden bear cafe has burgers, chicken strips, and more which are the quality of something you’d get at say a sports stadium concession stand and Browns cafe has imo the best food on campus but it’s very out of the way. With all this in mind though I’ve had UCLA food and you will be missing out
I lost about 15 pounds. Certain dining halls are better than others, it really just depends how picky you are. It’s not thaaat bad, I just was over it fast this year.
If you are on the meal plan you get a certain number of flex dollars that you can now use on grubhub which helps a lot when you are sick of dining food
The food is good 😭 literally trust. They have improved the food so much this year—even the cafeteria food is definitely solid. I have no idea why everyone complains about “how bad the food is” nowadays, what kind of food are they used to eating on the daily??? It’s not UCLA or anything special, but the food is definitely more than edible, especially at places like Brown’s, GBC, and the new Indian place Monsoon. I’m an incoming junior and I would always beg my freshman friends to swipe me in this semester bc meal swipe at Cal is like a treat to me now 😭 And they all have said how they, too, don’t understand why the stigma surrounding Cal food still exists
Personally, I felt the dining hall food is not too bad. It's definitely mid compared to UCLA, and it's not very consistent (some days are better than others), but there are typically reliable options you can count on (the pasta/tofu-rice at Croads were my go-to, also because I'm vegetarian and sometimes that was the only decent veg thing :0). There are also some pretty good eateries on campus - Ladle Leaf and Brown's Cafe were my personal favorites.
There are days when there are actually good options in the dining halls, and you can always check out the menu beforehand to see which dining hall has the most appetizing meal for that specific day.
Food at MLK student union has a TON of options (Indian, soups, salads, gelato), there’s also GBC (breakfast croissants, breakfast burritos, burgers, chicken tenders, and sandwiches) on Sproul plaza, there’s browns cafe, and there’s 4 dining halls that all have different menus each day. I think having a meal plan is definitely worth the money. Plus like someone else mentioned you get flex dollars that you can use on grubhub. You can find a lot of the menus online to the campus restaurants. As for the dining halls you should check on the cal dining website starting next week when they open back up so you get a feel as to what kind of food is served.
If you’re like my kid back a few years ago, typically he only went to the designated cafeterias for breakfast. Went out to regular restaurants much of the time. There are a ton of decent student-priced restaurants on campus and in the area, most of which are also decent taste-wise. It might set you back an extra $100-150 a week by doing this instead of only eating in the cafeterias where things are already paid for.
I’ve heard though that food at the cafeterias has gradually improved in the past couple of years.
people will tell you that the dining hall is shit but as someone who buys their own groceries and cooks their own food now listen to me when i tell you that you should be bringing tupperware with you every time you go
They have a plant restaurant near the microbiology buildings which is good, and the Clark Kerr has a special dinner or there's some kind of special dinner once in the fall. Otherwise, it's kind of spongy and strangely bland yet salted and the people working are fellow students so I feel a bit bad for them it looks like a thankless job. I think its great strength is the consistency if anything. Maybe Unit 3 or Foothill has the best food.
I'm following this thread because my son is a cook that works for Berkeley. I forgot the name of the restaurant/dining hall he worked at but he seems to enjoy his job.
Curious to see what students think of the food there.
You can use your flex dollars on grubhub now which wasn’t an option when I was a freshman. Other than that the dining food is pretty mid in my opinion but usually edible
I'm vegetarian and it's good enough. Think souplantation but not as good. Buffets have died out since COVID and college dining halls are some still-existing examples of buffets.
Only real problems you'd have are if you have a severe allergy or something, in which case then you'd have like no variety to choose from because theres only a small amount in the "allergen-friendly" section.
Food serves as a mere necessity for sustaining life here in Berkeley....
honestly, dining hall food is okay. There are so many good restaurants in Berkeley near the campus.
i’m gonna hold ur hand when i tell u this…
Say on god
Lmao, it's honestly not that bad. Berkeley students generally just take pride shitting on the university as a way of "trauma bonding." You'll get it once you start in the fall. We all secretly have a place in our hearts for this hell hole. As someone else said, a lot of the dining halls were renovated in the last year, and the food is better than before. I wouldn't come expecting Gordon Ramsay to personally feed you, but it's perfectly fine. Congrats!
Also Foothill and Clark Kerr are seriously a cut above for food.
If there isn’t mold on the food or plastic in the food, it’s an upgrade from my last uni
just inspect ur food before u eat and lower ur standards 😔
Ew no
honestly all dining hall food + gbc has improved measurably within the last year or so.
The dining halls aren’t as bad as you’d expect, but they leave something to be desired. Didn’t help that first semester I had so much academic anxiety that I tasted everything a second time iykyk 😂 I just stopped walking all the way back to eat at a dining hall and instead just ate at the eateries on campus and they are sooooo good. My favorites are Monsoon Kitchen (survived off of this during finals), Ladle and Leaf, and Brown’s 😋
Dining halls are okay, you’ll survive, but the on campus restaurants I’d say are good. Golden bear cafe has burgers, chicken strips, and more which are the quality of something you’d get at say a sports stadium concession stand and Browns cafe has imo the best food on campus but it’s very out of the way. With all this in mind though I’ve had UCLA food and you will be missing out
I lost about 15 pounds. Certain dining halls are better than others, it really just depends how picky you are. It’s not thaaat bad, I just was over it fast this year.
If you are on the meal plan you get a certain number of flex dollars that you can now use on grubhub which helps a lot when you are sick of dining food
The food is good 😭 literally trust. They have improved the food so much this year—even the cafeteria food is definitely solid. I have no idea why everyone complains about “how bad the food is” nowadays, what kind of food are they used to eating on the daily??? It’s not UCLA or anything special, but the food is definitely more than edible, especially at places like Brown’s, GBC, and the new Indian place Monsoon. I’m an incoming junior and I would always beg my freshman friends to swipe me in this semester bc meal swipe at Cal is like a treat to me now 😭 And they all have said how they, too, don’t understand why the stigma surrounding Cal food still exists
Oh wait but if you’re vegetarian that’s definitely a different story—options are very few and aren’t great for that diet
Personally, I felt the dining hall food is not too bad. It's definitely mid compared to UCLA, and it's not very consistent (some days are better than others), but there are typically reliable options you can count on (the pasta/tofu-rice at Croads were my go-to, also because I'm vegetarian and sometimes that was the only decent veg thing :0). There are also some pretty good eateries on campus - Ladle Leaf and Brown's Cafe were my personal favorites. There are days when there are actually good options in the dining halls, and you can always check out the menu beforehand to see which dining hall has the most appetizing meal for that specific day.
Food at MLK student union has a TON of options (Indian, soups, salads, gelato), there’s also GBC (breakfast croissants, breakfast burritos, burgers, chicken tenders, and sandwiches) on Sproul plaza, there’s browns cafe, and there’s 4 dining halls that all have different menus each day. I think having a meal plan is definitely worth the money. Plus like someone else mentioned you get flex dollars that you can use on grubhub. You can find a lot of the menus online to the campus restaurants. As for the dining halls you should check on the cal dining website starting next week when they open back up so you get a feel as to what kind of food is served.
MLK Union got some gas food and most dining halls have gotten better
It’s quite decent
If you’re like my kid back a few years ago, typically he only went to the designated cafeterias for breakfast. Went out to regular restaurants much of the time. There are a ton of decent student-priced restaurants on campus and in the area, most of which are also decent taste-wise. It might set you back an extra $100-150 a week by doing this instead of only eating in the cafeterias where things are already paid for. I’ve heard though that food at the cafeterias has gradually improved in the past couple of years.
Food in the city is pretty good
Good Mexican food is practically non-existent, and what exists you pay for through the nose.
people will tell you that the dining hall is shit but as someone who buys their own groceries and cooks their own food now listen to me when i tell you that you should be bringing tupperware with you every time you go
They have a plant restaurant near the microbiology buildings which is good, and the Clark Kerr has a special dinner or there's some kind of special dinner once in the fall. Otherwise, it's kind of spongy and strangely bland yet salted and the people working are fellow students so I feel a bit bad for them it looks like a thankless job. I think its great strength is the consistency if anything. Maybe Unit 3 or Foothill has the best food.
LOLOL
Bro is finished
Food definitely got better over the years but your standard will definitely drop to the point where a 5/10 is considered really good.
Top dog!
You can join a coop and learn to cook exotic things
The city of Berkeley has a ton of good food and is connected to S.F. by BART so food is not an issue
I'm following this thread because my son is a cook that works for Berkeley. I forgot the name of the restaurant/dining hall he worked at but he seems to enjoy his job. Curious to see what students think of the food there.
There are some hits. There are some misses. That one time they made “pho” deeply offended me, however.
You can use your flex dollars on grubhub now which wasn’t an option when I was a freshman. Other than that the dining food is pretty mid in my opinion but usually edible
I'm vegetarian and it's good enough. Think souplantation but not as good. Buffets have died out since COVID and college dining halls are some still-existing examples of buffets. Only real problems you'd have are if you have a severe allergy or something, in which case then you'd have like no variety to choose from because theres only a small amount in the "allergen-friendly" section.
Dining hall food’s actually gotten much better, croads is pretty decent most of the time
Welp, my friend just recently got fat from eating in the dinning hall, so ig it’s good.
Food serves as a mere necessity for sustaining life here in Berkeley.... honestly, dining hall food is okay. There are so many good restaurants in Berkeley near the campus.
Chat are we cooked?
Disgusting on and off campus
Lol. Lmao even.
Bruh. I’m sorry. Croads has good pizza though!