<p>Okay, so how is the food at the Marketplace? Can you eat in other places as a freshman?</p>
<p>The Marketplace wasn't that bad last year, and I've heard it's improved this year (including hours). The freshman meal plan doesn't cover all meals, so you have to eat elsewhere sometimes.</p>
<p>Meal plan:
Breakfast or lunch Monday-Friday (5 meals total)
Supper all week and/or brunch Saturday and Sunday (7 meals total)</p>
<p>the food at the marketplace is pretty good this year. dinner has been fab :)</p>
<p>The food (i'm a freshman) is pretty good. It's healthy (sort of) and they give you small portions. I'm getting a bit tired of it, but I can eat wherever I want, although I have to use food points, which isn't really that bad. There are some great places on West Campus, like the Loop.</p>
<p>You can eat in other places or order in, although that usually means dishing out more cash for food points. I would go to the Marketplace whenever you can, seeing as you've paid for it already.</p>
<p>Yeah, by the end of the year you'll be wishing you went to the MP more as mom and dad yell at you for charging $50 a week in food points to your bursar bill.:)</p>
<p>okay uhhh all y'all who say marketplace food is pretty good....WHAT have you been eating???? </p>
<p>i'm just so curious because i find that every trip i make to the marketplace makes me so much more miserable...</p>
<p>i live pretty far from the marketplace (blackwell) and though it's not THAT far, it's far for someone from Los Angeles who drives everywhere and doesn't like walking because i have back problems. so i hardly ever go to the marketplace ever, only if my friends call me up and ask me to go to dinner with them. usually i'm pretty hungry if i go, and it always starts piling up in there around 6 or 7 for dinner. everyone's crammed in there, people are constantly bumping into one another, and the worst part of it is, THE FOOD TASTES HORRIBLE.</p>
<p>i've had some AWESOME food at duke, so i do not think it's impossible to have a good meal here, just not at marketplace. i admit that in the first couple of days the food was actually not that bad, but it's just been getting worse and worse and all the people i've talked to agree about this. the asian or pacific food has uncooked rice and everything just tastes like starch. the pasta is okay at times, but the marinara sauce is just disgusting. and the meat is just a crapshoot...whether you get cooked meat or undercooked meat or if the meat is stone hard. i hate the marketplace food...i find that it wastes an hour or more of my time and by the time i get back to my dorm room i'm still really hungry so i end up spending more money by ordering food or raiding the vending machine downstairs</p>
<p>west campus has awesome food--east campus, does not.</p>
<p>Oh man. I'm a sophomore, and I ate dinner at the new MP last week.</p>
<p>Seriously, you have no idea what a blessing the new Marketplace is. Compared to last year, it is a godsend. You have noooooooo idea how good the MP is compared to what it once was...I didn't stop complaining for HOURS (literally) about how good the froshes have it this year. You think it's bad now, I don't even wanna KNOW what you would have thought of it last year....(shudder)</p>
<p>Blackwell isn't that far from the Marketplace. You could be in Belltower. ;) Remember that the freshman meal plan also allows you to eat supper at the Freeman Center Monday-Thursday.</p>
<p>If you can't stand the walk from Blackwell to the MP, I don't think you're going to be a huge fan of living on West next year...</p>
<p>Well, the Marketplace is pretty good in the beginning, but just like anything good, it cloys pretty fast. The food is bland, oily, and generally unhealthy for you. Get more food points. Trust me. You'll end up eating more Jimmy Johns or Cosmic Cantina than MP food.</p>
<p>(Cosmic Cantina is oily and unhealthy...:) but awesome)</p>
<p>ok, seriously warblers threw out a INCREDIBLE suggestion. If you haven't been to the Freeman Center yet GO. It's COMPLETELY wonderful, especially Thursday. Also, dessert from Freeman is generally awesome! </p>
<p>I'd highly suggest it...we went almost every night last year. It's a smaller atmosphere too, for those of you that hate how hectic the MP is.</p>
<p>Also, ok, this may be just something that works for me because I'm one of those ppl who eats early/goes to bed at 11. BUT my rooms and I would hit up the MP at 5pm when we went and it was EMPTY plus food was 100x better...literally. Try it. Figure out what works for you.</p>
<p>Yeah I definitely agree with everything you said. I always try to go to the mp before 6:00. If it's after 6 I go to the Freeman center because it's less crowded than the mp and the food is better. I actually went to the Freeman center three times this week. you can check the menu online to see what they're serving each night.</p>
<p>ok if there is even one person that thinks the mp is good, then count your blessings because i don't think one person in the class of 2006 will tell you that there is anything remotely positive about it at all. It must have improved a ton.</p>
<p>though i do miss blazing sea nuggets. that's the only good part.</p>
<p>I'm now tired of MP and have been using my points on west. MP is good though, it just get's a little old after a while.</p>
<p>yah MP did get ridiculously old ridiculously fast. i haven't eaten at the "new and improved" MP since really, why waste the foodpoints when i don't have to? but to the poster who doesn't like the walk btwn blackwell and the MP -- good luck the rest of your four years at duke. i hope you don't live in edens as a sophomore.</p>
<p>i had my car shipped from LA and so now i just drive to marketplace :)</p>
<p>...are you serious?</p>
<p>Wow, you are going to have a few things to say next year about parking in the Blue Zone.</p>
<p>[Postings have been having technical problems.]</p>
<p>For those who are unfamiliar with East Campus:</p>
<p>Blackwell is 900 feet from the Marketplace. Driving this distance should not be considered a normal part of the freshman experience.</p>
<hr>
<p>Too, I think the complaining about the food is puzzling to me, particularly if this year has made dramatic improvements. Even four years ago, there was fresh fruit available, all-you-can-eat desserts, an excellent grill, pizza - and quite good pizza at that - ice cream, salads, etc. Their experimenting with ethnic food was often questionable, but their main course area virtually always had something quite edible. The Marketplace is not up to the standards of, say, a restaurant, but as far as dorm food goes I always thought it was around the median. Don't come to college expecting to be eating at the Cheesecake Factory, but you will not starve as a freshman.</p>
<p>Especially if it's made strides this year, then certainly I think complaints should be kept in perspective.</p>
<p>The only foods that are good consistently at the Marketplace are the desserts, fries and hotdogs, homemade pizza, and the salad bar. Stay away from the unsalted pasta and station that serves "asian" food. The center station with homecooked american fare is a toss up.</p>