<p>For off-campus food, anything in NYC takes the cake easily (NY pizza and all-night diners as far as the eye can see, not to mention good Chinese food). However, for on-campus food, I'd have to say that Columbia is a bit lacking.</p>
<p>Bowdoin has some of the best food around.</p>
<p>DukeofHazard, do you go to Chico? I visited once and had THE BEST pizza I've ever had out West. I can't remember the name of the place, but it was right near campus, open late, and roughly across the street from that crazy bar with the dancing bears in the windows. Do you know the place I'm talking about?</p>
<p>i've eaten at Binghamton, University of Rochester, Columbia, Cornell, Rutgers, Albany, Syracuse...</p>
<p>and the winner by far is Cornell (no other school even came close). Cornell boasts 8 all you can eat dining halls and like 15 or 16 a la carte places to eat. The #1 rated dining hall is located on the Cornell campus (Northstar Dining in Appel commons). Eating at Cornell is like arriving at a massive all you can eat buffet, but with each item of food being the freshest and best it can possibly be (as opposed to buffets where you often get stuck with old mush). </p>
<p>Cornell own and manages its own dining halls as opposed to outsourcing the operations to an outside agency like most colleges do. </p>
<p>It's weird to think that the best steak i've ever eaten came from a college dining hall.</p>
<p>Add practically any college that uses Aramark for their dinning to the terrible food list.</p>
<p>I have never understood the appeal of In-N-Out.</p>
<p>Here in Silicon Valley, the meat is undercooked, the fries have a lot of rotten spots, the shakes give me the runs, the service is super slow (but usually friendly), and they never have any hot coffee after midnight.</p>
<p>The only tolerable thing is the walk-in service until 1 a.m. Walk-in service at almost every other fast food joint shuts down at 10 p.m.</p>
<p>gsp,</p>
<p>That's unfortunate. The In-N-Out by my parent's house is superb. But it doesn't match the Beacon Bar and Grill in Washington, DC.</p>
<p>If I'd ever fly across the US for a burger, I'd go there. It's that good. It's on Rhode Island, NW across from the UCDC center and a stone's throw from Dupont. Yeah, go there.</p>
<p>I've heard Cornell has the best food....</p>
<p>Off campus, Berkeley can compete with even NYC. On campus is getting better and better, but has a ways to go before matching UCLA's food.</p>
<p>A LOT of love for Cornell, huh? And I, too, am sorry to hear about your poor In'N'Out experience, Silicon Valley. The one in my town is by far the best fast food place around. And I have friends who work there who assure me that everying is REALLY fresh: they cut the fries, tomatoes and onions themselves, and shape their own meat patties. One who used to work at McDonald's said the burgers there are like a long brick of meat that is scored and then you break the frozen patties apart. Yuck, yuck, yuck.</p>
<p>LOL, that sounded like a commercial.</p>
<p>off campus, Tulane rocks.
on campus, not so much</p>
<p>CaliCollegeGirl: Salistinos. It is the most amazing pizza Ive ever had and quite a surprise for Chico, CA. The dining hall however is TERRIBLE! I think its taken about 6 months for my system to adjust.</p>
<p>In my own college search I was forced to surrender the pizza and diners point. I expect my separation from pizza and diners for the next four years to be especially painful. I've been to the local diner three times already this week.</p>
<p>I have to suggest NJ to you. NJ has a plethora of pizza places and is, of course, the land of diners. Being a purist, I refuse to eat pizza or at diners outside the state of NJ or in the city. I've had only bad experiences.</p>
<p>So, NJ: Rutgers, Princeton, TCNJ.</p>
<p>I've heard that TCNJ's dining hall has basically the worst food imaginable though. So expect to be going out to eat frequently.</p>
<p>Tufts, Cornell, UCLA, Bowdoin - all known for culinary prowess.</p>
<p>I go to Bowdoin--we're rated #1 in food for a reason. Still college food, but it's good college food. Plus, we get lobster when we come back in the fall. Beat that!</p>
<p>Cornell students did as well :)</p>
<p>We dont get lobster that often (it's available everyday for like $7 plus a meal swipe) but there's usually some sort of seafood available everyday. The chinese new years dinner at one of the dining halls had some crazy shrimp thing ... i forget the name since it's chinese. It was delicious none the less.</p>
<p>Bowdoin rated number one in food? Like every other rating, I ask, "By whom?"</p>
<p>Princeton review--I dunno, seems to get thrown around a lot for "quality of life" type ratings. I think Bowdoin, Cornell, Tufts, and Middlebury (at least from what I've heard) tend to have the best food, and honestly, food is kind of important if you're eating there every day. I'm glad I picked a school that has edible food--it actually does make life a lot more pleasant. Cornell sounds good too though, mm. Oh, and if you're also considering food in the surrounding area as part of the "food score" I guess that changes things too. Maine has good seafood, but it isn't really in Brunswick--food in Brunswick itself isn't all that great. But yeah, Bowdoin gets the thumbs up from students, in general, as does Cornell, it seems, which is all that really matters.</p>
<p>the same few names seem to be popping up on this thread. </p>
<p>I doubt there's any clear cut winner: one magazine I was reading listed Cornell #3 for dining hall food overall, but they also gave the #1 individual dining hall award to Cornell. Food is great at some places, just so-so at others on the Cornell campus, i'm sure it's the same way at other places. Good taste is in the eye of the beholder. </p>
<p>It'd be cool for somebody to hire me to write the new rankings of dining hall ... somebody just carts me around all day to different campuses to eat. Ideal...</p>