UCLA has the best ranked best dining halls of any university in the country.
Yes, our salad bars do not consist of slimy peas and frozen carrots. And, yes, our dining halls offer more than sandwiches made of unrecognizable meat and day old pizza.
But, let's spend a moment together taking a closer look at UCLA's dining halls and all they really have to offer.
We begin our journey with De Neve Residential Restaurant. De Neve is UCLA's "tour of the Americas" dining hall.
This consists of the classic American burger and fries station, the Southern American station, a station that seems to only ever serve cornbread as a side to some selection of meat, and an average salad bar. While the actual dinner at De Neve is almost always certain to leave your stomach churning, the desert is delectable. Bread pudding, pies, congo bars, cookies… The list goes on. Whatever your sweet-tooth, hungry heart desires, De Neve will provide it (in addition to an extra long bathroom break the next morning).
For the Bruins who have never denied a plate of pasta, Covel Commons Residential Restaurant is your haven.
With french fries, sandwiches, and spaghetti, Covel is a carb-load's best friend. However, its inherently greasy food has the tendency to sink to the bottom of your stomach directly after consumption. After only having visited Covel once within my time at UCLA, I deemed the dining hall naaaasty and looked down upon those who said their favorite dining hall was Covel. How????? But, after forcing myself to be open minded and deciding to look beyond Covels montorous, heavy fettuccine alfredo, there it was: the Mediterannean station. The creamy hummus and chewy pita bread makes Covel completely worth the meal swipe. And not to mention it is the only dining hall that serves melon. Yum.
https://giphy.com/gifs/michael-scott-pW20pm7oAQtK8
Next, we come upon Feast at Rieber Residential Restaurant.
Feast is an enigma. Looking at the dining hall's menu, its variety of soups, stir-frys, and dumplings always makes my mouth water. I then make my way through each station, discussing with my friends -- as if in a political debate -- which dishes look the best. In the end, however, I am always disappointed. The food never matches the promise of the menu. Maybe the green tea ice cream drags Feast a few rungs up the totem pole. Still, not worth the swipe.
Last, but certainly not least, we come to Bruin Plate Residential Restaurant.
UCLA'S prized child, or should I say... food baby… *wink* Bruin plate is essentially the embodiment of a New Year's fitness resolution. The dining hall always serves an overwhelming amount of tasteless quinoa, sauteed spinach and kale, and lean meat. They have replaced a pizza station with a "flatbread" station in attempts to make a skinny version of pizza. The nerve. And their sweets station serves different types of "dessert bread" (which is simply a healthy way to label cake). Despite the dining hall's sometimes unsuccessful attempts to make the delicious healthy, there is always something good to eat at B-plate. That is why the dining hall is always packed with people. You will never enter B-plate without seeing a sea of tables overcrowded with an ungodly number of plates holding the smallest portions known to man. B-plate's crowd is also unique, consisting mainly of work-out junkies, sorority girls, and those, like myself, who come for the chocolate banana bread on Mondays or the frozen mango.
https://laugh-all-day-all-night.tumblr.com
My rather harsh analysis of UCLA's top ranked dining halls may seem a tad snotty. And it is. But, in reality, while UCLA students are fortunate enough to have access to a variety of healthy and fresh food, it doesn't always satisfy in the way you might expect.
