<p>UVA food may be bad comparing to home cooking. Comparing to other schools, they are not that bad. When we did college visits, we ate lunch at every school visited.</p>
<p>Ha ha Dean J, DS says the only decent thing to eat is sushi. But it can get expensive. And I guess one gets tired even of sushi after a while.</p>
<p>the lead actor on Entourage said he got serious mercury poisoning from eating sushi every day for lunch.</p>
<p>Are we debating sushi now? </p>
<p>Remember that not all sushi contains fish. Some is vegetable and some has seafood. Eating certain kinds of sushi might lead to high mercury intake, but the same is true for eating some kinds of fish in other forms.</p>
<p>The sushi I eat is $2.99 per pack. There are definitely bigger and more elaborate rolls available.</p>
<p>LOL! Oh yes… the food question! I’ll start off by saying this: UVA is amazing school. </p>
<p>Now to answer you question:</p>
<p>Dining Halls
The food is definitely hit or miss. This year, (imo) Newcomb has the best lunch and dinner. Though Newcomb repeatedly serves such items as baked chicken, potatoes, beef with gravy, the food doesn’t taste bad. I refuse to eat at O-Hill after being served uncooked chicken last year. O-Hill, however, makes the best sandwiches, and has a stir-fry station that many people rave about. O-Hill also has pretty good vegetarian food, but I like meat so… Runk is average; the pancakes served at Sunday brunch are pretty good, though. Runk also has something called “Runk After-Hours” which is from 8:30 PM to 10:30 PM. The food served during after-hours is actually pretty good (through the eyes of a college student). Some examples of food served are: Hot chicken nuggets, french fries, cheeseburgers. </p>
<p>Other Locations
There are other places to eat on Grounds. After a certain time, you can use your meal swipes at these places to purchase a variety of things.</p>
<p>1) The Pav (In Newcomb) - There’s a Chick-Fil-A, a sandwich station, an Italian joint that serves pizza and cazones, and a smoothie place. </p>
<p>2) West Range - A fire occurred here about a month ago and now it’s closed indefinitely! But they serve the best food on Grounds; ie: Bacon cheeseburgers, chicken sandwiches, french fries, other amazing sandwiches. They also serve smoothies, and baked goods.</p>
<p>3) The Castle (Located by Old Dorms) - They serve a variety of sandwiches, grilled food, and pizza. Oh, and you must order the CYCLOPS.</p>
<p>4) Crossroads (Bottom floor of O-Hill) - They serve grilled food, boneless wings, and a variety of sandwiches. I LOVE the chipotle chicken sandwich, though you cannot purchase it with a meal swipe and the price has risen since last year.</p>
<p>There’s also other places on Grounds to eat. And I must also add that UVA buys local organic produce, which is usually pretty tasty.</p>
<p>Got any more questions… Inbox me!</p>
<p>To be frank, the food at UVA is actually quite good speaking in terms of what you would’ve seen in your childhood and adolescent years in the school system (regardless of whether you went to public or private school). As a First Year who’s done a great deal of exploring this semester, I’ve found that most all of the dining halls specialize in making a certain food, but that may not necessarily be served at all times. </p>
<p>Also, remember, that your location is everything when it comes to First Year dining as, unless you pulled some strings, do not have any means of transportation besides the UTS or CAT. Personally, I live in Gooch, so I am naturally drawn to Runk dining hall. </p>
<p>The following are the dining halls/eateries I’ve had luck with this semester for one thing or another:</p>
<p>Runk Dining Hall- You definitely don’t want to miss out on brunch here. The made-to-order omelettes and chocolate chip pancakes are weekend staples and they’re really delicious. Also, the ice cream machine is best here as it’s actually smooth in consistency, which can’t be said of that at Observatory Hill. Theme dinners are common to this dining hall and are generally very pleasing (Carnival, Halloween, Thanksgiving dinners- all excellent). </p>
<p>Observatory Hill Dining Hall- No real standout dishes, but it’s the easiest to access if you’re in the Engineering School or live in McCormick Residence in the heart of Central Grounds and, probably due to the heaviest lunch hour traffic, has to have the most variety to meet the demand. Stir fry is unique to O’hill and tends to be a fall back if all of the other food doesn’t work for you. </p>
<p>Newcomb Dining Hall- I’ve only been here a couple of times, but I can say that the pizza is best here; however, you can get better pizza at Crossroads or by using plus dollars for Dominos. Also, fruit tends to be of greater quality and abundance here. The Newcomb-to-go program seems to be quite popular and convenient, but haven’t tried myself. </p>
<p>The Pavilion XI- Meal exchange progam comes in very handy as you can exchange a swipe for a meal at Chikfila, or at a pizza, burrito, or sandwich place respectively. The Chikfila is truly amazing- you can watch them make the chicken sandwiches from scratch in their open store layout and it definitely attracts many customers (myself included) as you, at the least, know that you’re consuming fresh food. </p>
<p>The Castle- I am a huge fan of the Subs to be had at Claymore’s as it’s pretty much equivalent to Quizno’s. Personally, I like it more than any other sandwich place on campus as the toasting is very nice and the store workers aren’t stingy with any of the toppings. Burger place as well, but I refrain from eating red meat, so that cannot be evaluated by me. </p>
<p>Crossroads- Sbarro is a prime pizza place for the value you’re getting with the swipe, and it’ll surely give you your fill. That being said, they have to cater to a lot of people and are overly generous with the oil at times, so this is not for you if you’re a health nut. The baked ziti is a respectable alternative to the pizza. </p>
<p>Let me know if you have any other questions about UVA dining! I think you’ve got a fairly good grasp on the system if you’ve read through many of these opinionated posts haha</p>
<p>One place that hasn’t been mentioned yet is Wilsdorf Cafe. You can use your Plus $ there, and they have various sandwiches, pastries, coffees, etc. It’s great for science majors and those living in McCormick because of it’s location. When our D was a first year, she spent hours there studying and drinking lattes.</p>
<p>As a Brownie, I’m required to have a meal plan. They have their pros and cons.</p>
<p>To begin, the price is ridiculous; ten meals per week is too much food for me. The quality of food at the dining halls isn’t bad, but at $1,820 PER SEMESTER it should be better ($2,045-2,100 is standard).</p>
<p>On the other hand, you can’t beat the convenience of the dining halls and other options. During the last semester, I used the to-go option at Newcomb nearly every day (who has time to actually sit down and eat with friends, right? :P)
Plus dollars are very nice, and the meal-exchange program is nice as well. I love the convenience of Newcomb (what with living at Brown), but if I could go without a plan, there’s a good chance that I would.</p>