gbh875

I'm currently deciding between Max P and Pierce and am wondering how the food at Pierce is. During my visit, i ate at bartlett and found that the food was pretty good. I know that Pierce food is believed to be worse, but how much worse is it?

Cosmos

I'm in BJ and eat at our dining hall, but I ate at Pierce when I visited last year. I didn't like the food there at all, but some people really like it. It's definitely not as good as Bartlett in any case, and I think it's worse than BJ, too. If I were you, I'd pick Max P over Pierce, but that's just my opinion...

somedumbnoob

I hear that Pierce food is all you can steal though. So if quantity is more important than quality...

WindSlicer

#1: Yes, Pierce is all-you-can eat which means you can have as much as whatever you want for the same price :O It's kind of nice to be able to sit around and chat for a while with friends and be able to go back and get seconds or dessert or both lol..

#2: Pierce's dining hall is IN the dorm. This means you can roll out of bed on Saturday, fall down a few flights of stairs, and grab an omelet to start your day! This is not trivial! When it's less than 20 degrees out, chances are you're really not gonna weather the weather just for some breakfast at Bartlett.

#3: Bartlett food is better than Pierce food. It's fresher, more diverse, and just better. There's just no arguing it..

#4: What does not kill you makes you stronger. When all those Bartlett-eaters have to face real life and cook their own food, their disappointment will be so immense they probably won't be able to function for months. Piercians on the other hand will adapt extremely quickly, stomaching their odd creations with delight, happy just to know what actually is in their food

So.. 3 to 1. Obviously Pierce wins. :P

Don't stress too much about it, you'll probably be happy at either place. And it might happen that no matter which one you put 1st or 2nd, the housing people will know you're a fit for a particular one and put you there anyhow.

kodama

I realize there is intended irony, but:

1: Bartlett meal plans come with enough points that it is effectively all-you-can-eat for most people.

2: Bartlett is on the same block as Max. I don't think that many people skip meals because of weather. Shoreland? Maybe.

4: Bartlett eaters aren't all that sure what goes on in those kitchens either. It is better cafeteria food, and novel in some ways, but still cafeteria food.

glomp

A general trend I've noticed:

- Bartlett people tend to run out of points more so than Pierce people. (This is especially true if you like to get lots of different dishes...which you have to pay for separately with the Bartlett point system.)

- Pierce people don't run out of points, unless you eat 3x a day, every day, every week, which is virtually impossible. More likely, Pierce people run out of points from swiping in upper classmen and Bartlett friends.

- The food quality in Pierce is only marginally worse than Bartlett food. Cafeteria food is just bad, in general. (And yes, I know UChicago actually has better cafeteria food compared to many other campuses, but that doesn't necessarily make it good.)

- Food is not fresher at Bartlett. All 3 dining halls source from Aramark. Bartlett has the best presentation.

- And yes, one HUGE advantage is that Pierce is IN THE BUILDING. It may not seem like a huge difference now, but when you have a giant hangover and can't be bothered to put on jeans, there's no way you can run across the Bartlett Quads in your boxers and flip-flops.

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HOWEVER, cafeteria food shouldn't really be your primary concern. I would think more about the cleanliness / social atmosphere in each dorm.