<p>Is the food in the dining halls at UCSB good? What kind of food do they serve? Is it hard to eat healthy there?</p>
<p>Also, are there good desserts? lol.</p>
<p>That is also what i want to know!!! I’m sure they have many healthy food options though.</p>
<p>You can take a look at the dining menus, though they just tell you the kind of food they serve: [Dining</a> Commons Menus](<a href=“http://www.housing.ucsb.edu/dining/dining-menus.htm]Dining”>http://www.housing.ucsb.edu/dining/dining-menus.htm)</p>
<p>If you really want to know about some dish on the menu, I guess I could give you my professional insight. And FYI, many of the dishes probably sound better in your imagination than they taste in real life.</p>
<p>Personally, the food that I eat here is probably healthier than what I ate at home. They don’t serve many fried things… though that may explain why I jump on the opportunity to eat tater tots during brunch on the weekends.</p>
<p>Im a first year at UCSB and initially started with 19 meals a week. Loved it the first few weeks cuz there is a lot of variety buffet style, the problem is that it gets OLD very quickly. Lowered to 14 in winter quarter and eventually to 10 this quarter. I highly recommend 14 to start off and see how that is, I usually have 3-4 four meals in Isla Vista.</p>
<p>Professional insight Flushmaverick please :)</p>
<p>Well, it’d be easier if you wanted me to describe something particular on the menu here, but I’ll give it a shot. I know the most about Carrillo, so I’ll tell you about that.</p>
<p>Carrillo:
- Has its own pizza oven, so the pizza tastes better there than the other commons (if I weren’t so used to it, I’d say it’s better than Domino’s, which I think is kind of crappy)
- Has a “pasta bar,” and serves two kinds of pasta for dinner every day, one meat and one vegan. It’s okay, though I guess if you hold your pasta to high standards, you’d be disappointed.
- Has a salad bar, but it’s less extensive than the one in Ortega or DLG (I don’t know too much about anything at Portola)
- Has a “stir fry” area, which usually might have something like teriyaki beef on one side and some vegetarian dish on the other. You could also just get a bowl of rice here, I guess.
- They have certain “staples” like baked potatoes, fruit, and breads (with tubs of peanut butter and jelly) that are always there.
- There’s an area that usually has some kind of seasoned rice, a meat, and steamed vegetables. I’m not too keen on the chicken here (unless it’s from the stir fry area), and they’ve fooled me when they’ve called dishes jambalaya or paella. I get there to see some dry-ish yellow rice with random vegetables in it.</p>
<ul>
<li>Has the most kinds of cereal out of the commons (all normal stuff - Kellogg’s brands), though they run out of some cereals like Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Frosted Mini-Wheats fairly quickly.</li>
<li>Something unique it has for breakfast is that the chefs will make you fresh egg whites on the griddle right in front of you. It’s less greasy than the scrambled eggs that are always available, so it’s nice to have every once in a while.</li>
<li>Carrillo, like all the other commons, always has a waffle iron at breakfast. They’re good - at least as good as Eggo waffles, maybe. (It’s made from batter that you pour into the irons.)</li>
<li>There’s always fruit (cantaloupe, honeydew, pineapple), yogurt, and cottage cheese available for breakfast.</li>
<li>There are bagels a few times a week for breakfast.</li>
<li><p>In the breads section, there are always English muffins, among many other breads (wheat, sourdough, rye).</p></li>
<li><p>Has soft serve ice cream, but has less choices (only two) than Ortega and DLG. I’ve heard that Portola has frozen yogurt.</p></li>
<li><p>The desserts here are pretty standard… different kinds of cakes, maybe a pie or torte every once in a while.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>I probably missed a few things, especially since I don’t eat in the dining commons for lunch. I’ve had a 14 meals a week plan since Winter quarter, since I was usually wasting a meal a day with the 17 meals a week plan.</p>
<p>All in all, I think Carrillo is the best dining commons, with the most options as well as consistency, even though there are days (during dinner, especially) where nothing seems that appetizing and you might be best off just having some cereal. I’m in Manzanita Village, so I don’t make the trek to Ortega or DLG just because the menu here doesn’t sound good.</p>
<p>I think CC has made my procrastination good for something, judging by this lengthy post.</p>
<p>are there ever lines in the dining commons to get food? if so are they fast?</p>
<p>thank you flushmaverick !!! 
</p>
<p>which dorm is the Carrillo closest to ? and how far is that dorm from the campus.
thanks again :)</p>
<p>^ carillo is next to manzanita…</p>
<p>its about 5 minutes to the center of campus</p>
<p>we are able to go to the different dining areas, right?/</p>
<p>
Ususally the lines are pretty short for breakfast, and get a little bit longer for dinner especially after six (dinner starts at 5:00, and goes until 8:00). It’s never really a frustratingly long wait for food, except when they have some special dish like fajitas or something. I don’t know about lunch. On the whole, I’m more annoyed by aimless wanderers in the dining commons (“I’m going wherever you’re going, but slower!”) than long lines.</p>
<p>
Yes - you can go to any dining commons you want.</p>
<p>what are the times that food is served? i saw that dinner is from 5-8, but what about bfast, lunch, and late night?</p>
<p>[Dining</a> Commons Hours of Operation](<a href=“http://www.housing.ucsb.edu/dining/dc-hours.htm]Dining”>http://www.housing.ucsb.edu/dining/dc-hours.htm)</p>