<p>I've read a few times on here that you should sign up for the plan with the most Dining Dollars and the least meals. </p>
<p>Do you agree/disagree?</p>
<p>after talking with a bunch of my friends from Columbia…
I agree. seems like the food isn’t stellar, and you won’t want to/be able to go to the dining hall so often.</p>
<p>I got the fewest meals and it worked out the best for me. I actually had about 10-20 meals left over each semester that went to waste.</p>
<p>I’ve wondered this too…</p>
<p>How’s Tom’s Diner?</p>
<p>tom’s diner is great. some of the fastest service of any restaurant i’ve seen. the burgers are ok, it’s the milkshakes that are really spectacular. Ask for the Broadway shake (it’s not on the menu).</p>
<p>For brunch / hangover food, get the Lumberjack. You get an obscene amount of food, something like 2 eggs, 2 pancakes, 2 pieces of bacon, 2 sausages, and 2 hash browns for like $8. Very worthwhile.</p>
<p>About the only better deal in the CU neighborhood than the Lumberjack at Tom’s is the Salmon Maki Trio at Saji’s, a hole-in-the-wall sushi place on 109th st just east of broadway. $8 gets you a 3 roll combo.</p>
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<p>Terrible.</p>
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<p>With Shake Shack now in the UWS, no excuse not to go there.</p>
<p>Tom’s Diner is terrible. You’ll go once for a meal for the sake of novelty. The next three times you’ll go will be when you’re drunk, with friends, and are suddenly jonesing for a Milk’s Shake and fries. The fries will be soggy and tasteless. This place survives because of Seinfeld novelty, drawing in tourists, visiting parents and freshmen.</p>
<p>John Jay and Hewitt are OK. The latter has generally better food and trays, the former has enough variety and reliably good brunch items. The hours are inconvenient, such that if you’re dependent on the meal plan in times of indigence you can really only go twice a day-- John Jay is open from 10:00 to 1:30 and then 5:00 to 8. </p>
<p>Dining Dollars and Flex are convenient. The latter’s accepted all across the neighborhood (but not for alcohol) at various stores and restaurants, and the former saves your spending on sales tax for on-campus establishments. These Blue Java stations will be where you get your yogurt, sushi, coffee and croissant for four years. You’ll get to know the wrappers well-- as well as the taste of poorly brewed coffee from Butler (the water’s not hot enough in the peculation process), chemical-ish splenda residue and lingering soy/wasabi at the back of your throat. And the realization that you should wash your hands, but do you dare risk your laptop, and oh that boy over there is cute, and man, you should get off Bwog because you have **** to do. And you’ll leave Butler or wherever at 4 AM, with nothing done, self-flagellating, and it will be cold and dark outside. </p>
<p>Welcome to Columbia.</p>
<p>How about vegetarian options? Are they plentiful or will I be eating a lot of veggie burgers?</p>
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I live 2 blocks from shake shack. I go there maybe once a month. If I lived 2 blocks from Tom’s diner, I’d go there, and more than once a month. Shake Shack doesn’t serve brunch, and they don’t serve quickly. Heck, they’re even more expensive than Tom’s.</p>
<p>I think you’re underestimating the value of convenience, of having it right freaking there without a subway ride involved.</p>
<p>So the fries are a little soggy late at night. Don’t get the fries.</p>
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<p>Yippie, Toms is wonderful because they serve 140 crappy items instead of 20 great items!!</p>
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<p>Your obsession on this thread with quick service is interesting. Why don’t you just go to McD’s if you want quick food?</p>
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<p>You get what you pay for.</p>
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<p>Toms is pretty low on most Columbia students’ depth chart.</p>
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when I want junk food, I don’t usually want to wait in line for 20 minutes and then wait 20 minutes while they put together my order. The two best burgers in the Columbia area, M2M and HamDel, are essentially instant gratification. They’re probably 80% of the quality of shake shack, without the 40-block commute or the waiting in line.</p>
<p>So when you state "With Shake Shack now in the UWS, no excuse not to go there. ", the answer is, of course there’s an excuse, the excuse is not spending a marginal hour+ roundtrip just for the privilege of paying more money for a marginally better burger.</p>
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I know a lot of current and former Columbia students for whom it’s their go-to very-late-night place and their go-to brunch place. It probably has the 4th best burger, behind the aforementioned M2M, HamDel, and Deluxe. It has the best shakes. It has the best breakfasty stuff (unless you order Cafe con Leche delivery), good coffee, very good chicken fingers, and is above-average on most other standard-issue diner food as well - on top of the very speedy service.</p>
<p>Is it the place I’d take my future wife for our first date? No. But it’s a pretty damn good option, and as a Columbia student the only reason I’d head to Shake Shack would be the one-time novelty of it, or if I were coming back from AMNH.</p>
<p>I honestly think most of Toms business is done friday, saturday, and sunday morning around 4am. It’s on the way back from cannon’s and gets packed with drunk people when cannon’s closes. same with Koronett’s. Tom’s isn’t the best food in the world, but it’s edible, and beats the hell out of john jay. same with Koronett’s, Famiglia’s better but Koronett’s gets more publicity 'cause of the jumbo slices, and gets a lot of business from drunks since drunk people apparently have trouble crossing broadway.</p>