Dining Hall Food

WiseGuy57
Thu, 13 Feb 2014 05:24:23 +0000

I eat there quite frequently, so I do know that every item served isn’t that great, so let me suggest first that you may have just gotten unlucky - you learn what to avoid pretty quickly. That said, the reality is that Northeastern is above average in terms of food quality, at least in terms of what I’ve observed. Some students will hold that other dining halls on campus are better than IV, so that may work out for you. There are plenty of places to eat outside of Dining Halls - Rebecca’s cafe in the basement of Churchill Hall accepts meal swipes as payment, as does West End in Curry Student Center. Curry also has a decent variety of dining options otherwise, and there are a few other restaurants on campus (there’s a Subway in Ryder Hall, Chicken Lou’s is a small sandwich place next to Cabot on Forsyth St.). Marino Fitness Center houses an Au Bon Pain and a Boloco (burrito place), and there’s another Mexican place that makes up the Huntington side of White Hall. Food Trucks have also become fairly regular features near Speare Hall.

Most off-campus food options are going to be on Huntington Ave, but only really if you head towards downtown. Just off campus there are about two blocks that have quite a few restaurants including Panera, Five Guys, Unos, Pho and I (an Asian Fusion place), BHOP (Boston House of Pizza), a shawarma place, a Mediterranean place, a frozen yogurt place, a former Asian/Spanish fusion place that closed and now appears to just be an Asian place of some description, a wing place, a sushi place, a couple bars, etc. This ends when Huntington intersects with Mass(achusetts) Ave., though if you go down another block you reach the Prudential Center, which has a number of restaurants inside, but is a bit of a walk if you’re just going to grab lunch. On a similar note, If you turn North on Mass Ave there are quite a few places to eat, especially as you get closer to Boylston and Newbury St., but again, if you’re just running to grab lunch, not going to happen. There are also a few places you might consider on the North side of the Fens, but once again, it’ll take a bit. As far as I know, South of campus isn’t exactly a restaurant heavy area, but I haven’t spent much time in that area so there could very well be more than I’ve realized. Heading west, aside from UHOP (University House of Pizza) and a solitary bar neighboring it, food options are pretty limited until you get past Wentworth and Mass Art, and even then Longwood Ave doesn’t have much food aside from the Galleria Food Court, and just getting to Longwood is a good ten minute walk from the nearest corner of campus, plus a few more to get to the Food Court. A T-Stop down from Longwood (another five minutes or so walk) is a bit more food at Brigham Circle, which is good to know about as an Upperclassman, even if you live on campus - there’s a Stop and Shop there, and it’s a better value than shopping at Whole Foods (located quite close to campus).

So there is food, but if you have a meal plan (and as a freshman, you will), use it. It’s expensive. I hope the situation is more that you happened upon an unappetizing dish (out of curiosity, what did you eat?), rather than you having a particularly sensitive palate.