<p>just a heads up- lakeside is terrible. you will want to eat elsewhere</p>
<p>^^ Another matter of personal preference. My D likes Lakeside. Of course, that probably says more about my cooking than anything else.</p>
<p>Please be more specific in your negative comments, in order to help future students with their choices.</p>
<p>My S enjoys Lakeside Dining, and he alternates between Lakeside, the Ferg Fresh Foods, and Bryant, depending on where his classes are. He does not take advantage of the late-night hours at Lakeside (a definite “plus” for some students). S has never said anything bad about ANY of the dining options at UA.</p>
<p>My son loved Lakeside too! I did notice on the map that students can pay a surcharge and eat at the athletic dining hall. What is the difference in the food?</p>
<p>No, there are NOT tornado warnings that often. I will say that Tuscaloosa and UA test their outdoor warning systems once a month, including today.</p>
<p>As a Tuscaloosa native (who went to high school in Birmingham, college in Boston, work in Mobile, and now back home), I can shed some light on the weather down here. We tend to have high storm activity in March-May and October-December. It’s interesting that several of the most damaging storms historically have come through in mid December.</p>
<p>But our topography in West Alabama makes it so that we are always at risk of severe weather developing. UA sends alerts on days where the meteorologists are pretty sure that a system will develop into some strong storms in our area.</p>
<p>I’d say it’s fairly normal for us to be REALLY on hold due to weather 2-4 times each year, including ice in the winter. Two years ago, we had two major systems come through in April (April 15 storms and April 27). But then we didn’t get a storm that even produced hail until late June.</p>
<p>It’s the weather, so who knows at the end of the day. It’s not that often, but when it is, we want everyone to know what to do.</p>
<p>On a side note, this summer we installed some emergency info on the back of every room door in our residence halls - “what to do in case of…” This way, all of our residents have some general info before they determine whether to evacuate or shelter-in-place.</p>
<p>Janine Gascoigne</p>
<p>that’s strange. most of the students i know here have a negative attitude towards lakeside and prefer to cook or eat at the other dining halls (fresh foods or burke)</p>
<p>there is variety but the food is of low quality for the most part. for instance, the eggs are instant eggs poured out of cartons. the salad bar and desserts are good, though.</p>
<p>tjmom: Bryant Dining has limited hours. Lunch is from 10:30am until 2pm on most days. Last year, any student with a meal plan could eat there at lunch. I have eaten there several times and the food was delicious. Your student can eat there for dinner from 4:30-8pm on most nights. It will cost one meal swipe and ten dollars. (This is last year’s info). There was a better selection of meat and other foods. I never tried it and neither did my D.</p>
<p>Current students, please feel free to correct me.</p>
<p>[Bryant</a> Hall Dining Schedule](<a href=“http://bamadining.ua.edu/calendar/bryant.html]Bryant”>http://bamadining.ua.edu/calendar/bryant.html)</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.campusdish.com/en-US/CSS/Alabama/Locations/BryantSportsGrill.htm[/url]”>http://www.campusdish.com/en-US/CSS/Alabama/Locations/BryantSportsGrill.htm</a></p>
<p>S has lived in riverside west the last 2 years. He chose to,go with a lesser meal plan this year, and he cooks some meals in the dorm. He says lakeside is ok, but they put raisins in everything and have meatloaf too much. He eats lunch at fresh foods in the Ferg, and he also likes the athletic dorm cafeteria. These kids are so spoiled! It is nothing like the meal offerings when I was in college!</p>
<p>There are quite a few dining venues on campus for meal plans, but there is a Publix supermarket within walking distance to stock up on groceries. It is always a good idea to have some staples for those late nights when you just don’t want to go out. There are restaurants on “The Strip” which is also within walking distance for dining, and there are several chain and local restaurants that will deliver as well.</p>
<p>tjmom, my bedroom does not have a water view, but the living room does. I like my room because it’s on the end of the building near a side staircase that leads right to the bus stop. My room is high enough to have very little noise and is on the same floor as a kitchen and a laundry room. Unlike many posters, I did not choose the slightly larger “D” room, but chose a “C” room because it is an actual corner room, but like the other rooms only has one window.</p>
<p>Apart from certain specialties at each dining hall, the food served comes from the same types of packages and brands. Part of why the short-lived fine dining restaurant didn’t last is because the food offered was almost the exact same as what was being served at the dining hall. I like Lakeside for certain foods and unlike Fresh Foods, it doesn’t run out of juice and milk by the time Friday comes along. The manager at Lakeside, Chef James, is also very responsive to questions and complaints. I’d guess that half of what I eat at Lakeside is special ordered because I don’t enjoy some of the standard combinations, such as hash browns in a gyro. </p>
<p>While the quality seems to have gone downhill since previous years, Bryant Athletic Dining Hall is still the best and doesn’t have an upcharge for lunch. Dinner is around $20 or a $10 upcharge with a meal plan, which is to discourage most diners. I ate dinner there with a free meal certificate and it was a relaxing dinner with 10 employees serving 15 diners. As Bryant is on a separate foodservice contract, it still has trays, but does not participate in any promotions or offers a weekly steak lunch.</p>
<p>As with anything in life, if one is having a continually bad experience somewhere, go speak to the manager. All of the Bama Dining/Aramark managers I’ve met have been very nice and responsive to the few concerns I’ve had.</p>
<p>One thing normal buffet goers may be surprised to see at UA’s dining halls is that most of the food is not self-serve and certain items are self-serve depending on the time of day. Some of my most enjoyable dining hall experiences have been right before breaks when there is a limited menu, but most everything is self-serve and almost everyone working is a manager.</p>
<p>Now that I am not required to have a dining plan, I only eat at the dining halls for the occasional Lakeside Wednesday steak lunch ($9.00), Fresh Foods/Lakeside $5.45 Friday (every other Friday, always on UA’s payday), the very rare Late Night Lakeside ($6.30), meatloaf or fried pork chop day at Bryant ($9.00), or whenever there’s a $5.45 lunch/dinner. </p>
<p>For those not from states with a Publix, you have to try the Publix Deli fried chicken tenders and the Publix Deli lemonade, the former being even better as the meat in one of their huge made-to-order sub sandwiches.</p>
<p>My S is in a room on the fourth floor and overlooks what they call “the ring of fire”, which is the circular benches outside the main entrance. That’s where everyone smokes. He does hear people out there sometimes. I’d guess he would try to get a room on the other side next time.</p>
<p>What dorm rooms in Ridgecrest face the water? Is it possible to know that when choosing a room? I wish I could go into the dorm and look at every single room to decide!</p>
<p>Palmer Lake (which I’d call a duck pond, not a lake) is to the north of Ridgecrest East. My daughter has an odd numbered room in Ridgecrest West and faces south, so if the numbering is the same in RCE (I’ve never been in that building to know) then the even numbered rooms would be on the water side. In RCW, I think only the end units on the east side would have a window that faced the water - those would be the rooms that end in 19 and 20.</p>
<p>I forgot to mention that in the spring, I’ll often wake up to ducks quacking outside my window. :)</p>
<p>In Ridgcrest West, Rooms ending in 19 or 20 will have a partial water view. Some even-numbered rooms on the 3rd and 4th floors may have a river view.</p>
<p>I have had my mind set on Ridgecrest South for awhile but one of my future roommates mentioned she actually liked the layout of Ridgecrest West better. I checked it out on the ua housing website and loved it! It seems like a more complete room rather than two people on one side and two on the other like in Ridgecrest South. The furniture in the living room just looks nicer to me for some reason based on the pictures. Are the pictures on the website what it really looks like? And are east and west basically the same now that they are both honors?</p>
<p>[Student</a> Affairs | Housing & Residential Communities](<a href=“http://housing.ua.edu/halls/hall_list.cfm]Student”>http://housing.ua.edu/halls/hall_list.cfm)</p>
<p>The pictures on the website are representative of what the suites really look like. It’s obviously a matter of personal preference, but I agree with you. The RCW living area is much larger and I prefer its furnishings to the cafe table and modular sofa/chairs in RCS. Ultimately, though, they’re all really nice.</p>
<p>FWIW, my son lived in RCW his first two years at UA and loved it.</p>
<p>In my opinion, they need to get rid of the high cafe table with two chairs in Ridgecrest South. The students don’t really use it to eat at, it works more like a counter to just drop stuff on. It is not really that useful.</p>