Does this University have a BIG BIG dining hall?

<p>Never had a chance to visit but from the internet, I couldn’t find a pic of CMU’s dining hall? You know, the big classic room with really tall ceiling, some huge paintings hanging on the wall, long long classic wooden table, able to contain 100+ people in the same time?</p>

<p>So does CMU even have one of those or it’s too young to have one.</p>

<p>Umm… the only university I’ve ever seen that had one of those was Hogwarts. And maybe Harvard. CMU has Schatz Dining Hall, which has a portrait of one of the Deans on the wall, but it’s much nicer and more modern than a dining hall. It has several sectioned rooms and a food/drink dispensory area.</p>

<p>Oxford and Cambridge colleges (in England that is) have dining halls like that. In formal dinners, the college fellows sit on a high table and the college master says a prayer in Latin before dinner is served. BTW, the “Hogwarts” scenes in the movies were actually shot in an Oxford college. </p>

<p>CMU of course is a “new” university (founded in the 20th century). It doesn’t have anything like an Oxbridge dining hall.</p>

<p>And to be clear, there’s no “gothic” looking buildings with a chime tower and live ivy growing all over the walls either…</p>

<p>But we have the GATES Center…many more yards of fiber optics than ivy…</p>

<p>I’m sure the big dining hall is not a Harvard thing. At least all the Ivies and lots of liberal arts colleges have those. Just google something like Columbia dining hall or Williams dining hall and you’ll find some pics and get my idea. </p>

<p>By the way, how big are the dining halls in CMU? The size of local restaurants or big rooms containing 100+ students?</p>

<p>If this –> <a href=“http://www.kdwp.state.ks.us/var/news/storage/images/other-services/education/becoming-an-outdoors-woman/2008-bow-workshop-photo-gallery/williams-dining-hall-lunch/145611-1-eng-US/Williams-Dining-Hall-Lunch_imagelarge.jpg[/url]”>http://www.kdwp.state.ks.us/var/news/storage/images/other-services/education/becoming-an-outdoors-woman/2008-bow-workshop-photo-gallery/williams-dining-hall-lunch/145611-1-eng-US/Williams-Dining-Hall-Lunch_imagelarge.jpg&lt;/a&gt; is what you’re looking for, then that’s essentially what Schatz is, albeit a little fancier looking with a better view - it overlooks the main campus field and trees/tennis courts. </p>

<p>if this is what you’re looking for –> <a href=“http://farm1.static.■■■■■■■■■■/22/26212127_6fdd91a00f.jpg[/url]”>http://farm1.static.■■■■■■■■■■/22/26212127_6fdd91a00f.jpg&lt;/a&gt; then you’re flat out of luck ;)</p>

<p>There is only one dining hall and the rest are cafes or restaurants with traditional tables and booth seating. Schatz has a capacity of about 100-120, I’d estimate.</p>

<p>What are students’ opinions on the good and the bad foods at the dining halls, and at restaurants within walking distance from CMU campus? Best sandwich, best pizza, best late-night food?</p>

<p>Some new establishments were built this past year and others got a little bit of a “buffer” in the form of a new menu or new food offerings. Everyone always told me “Oh CMU food sucks” so that’s what I was expecting, but it’s actually pretty damn good.</p>

<p>Dining halls: Schatz has an omelette bar, yogurt, fruit, and traditional breakfast foods (sausage, ham, eggs, hash browns, pancakes, waffles, cereal, coffee, juice, etc) available every morning. It closes for lunch and then at night it offers a different dinner selection each evening. usually it’s not that great - just fried chicken or baked potatoes or something - but CulinArt also caters to “professional” events at the school and around the city. Sometimes they have extra premium food, and they put it out for breakfast or dinner- things like roast duck or pasta bars or random awesome things.</p>

<p>A week ago there were chocolate covered strawberries at dinner. All-you-can-eat. It was sooo good.</p>

<p>There are a lot of restaurants within walking distance. Pamelas, Quaker Steak, Chipotle, Panera, Five Guys’, the Famous Hot Dog shoppe, Dave & Andys, froyo (four different stores) and various cafes/Chinese/Indian places are available in about a 10-15 minute walking radius. You definitely won’t have trouble finding off campus places to eat.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Best sandwiches: Gingers. Hands down. There is just no comparison. They are a contracted local deli that makes sandwiches in Posner hall (the Tepper building) and everything there is awesome to the max. They changed the name to ‘The Exchange’ this year, but that is a stupid name and no one uses it.</p></li>
<li><p>Best pizza: Vocellis (which you can order on your meal plan) or Tartan Pavillion.</p></li>
<li><p>Best late-night food: Probably Carnegie Cafe. They serve shakes, malts, and all-night breakfast food, diner style. Also coffee. It’s pretty good.</p></li>
</ol>

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<p>We have many places to eat in different locations that are convenient, not one large dining option. There is some big rooms for dining , but they are kind of centralized so you can order from x, y, or z restaurant and sit there.</p>

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<p>On campus dining:
Good - Gingers/The Exchange(In Tepper), Spice it up Grill, City Grill, Stir Crazy, the Salad Place, tartan pavilion if you want pizza, smoothie place(its very pricey though)</p>

<p>Okay- The Underground(Good ^ food, ****ty sides), Anything that doesnt serve food food/Maggie Murph, la prima expresso, the cafe at the bottom of gates, zebra cafe, Asiana, the sandwich place in the UC, take comfort is hit or miss depending on day, carnegie mellon cafe(went downhill after cost-cutting measures), indian place.</p>

<p>Bad- Skibo(because its the only thing open at 2 am besides maggie murph, and it gets old), Si Senor, Mitchells Market, vegetarian place im not a fan of, but im not vegetarian.</p>

<p>Good foods: cheesesteaks at the Underground, steak/shrimp/salad at spice it up, carnegie mellon cafe used to have kick ass fries but they incorporated cost cutting measures and now they suck, city grill fries are the best on campus, custom stir fry at stir crazy, hot dogs at si senor, anything at gingers/the exchange, anything at city grill, mac and cheese at tartans before they changed the cheese, italian sodas at zebra cafe</p>

<p>Bad Foods(Avoid like the plague!)- greek quik pik salads, anything at mitchells(i got food poisoning and clearly spoiled food here), the soups at si senor, skibo italian stuff, the mango drink at the indian place(there was a fly floating in it…), carnegie mellon cafe beef sliders(tell them you want it almost burnt, its not done in the middle, but its generally good if it is! One of my favorites), underground french fries, dont tell the smoothie place you want a smoothie without x fruit(they end up not having enough of the actual smoothie, and scrape at it until it fills the container, and it ends up containing old smoothie from someone else…), the rice at asiana was overcooked when I had it. The place in between asiana and mitchells mainstream market kinda doesnt give you enough food. Spice it up grill charges extra for the fries, heads up.</p>

<p>Off campus:</p>

<p>Eat and park takes diner dollars. The one that does kinda has roach issues though. Go to steak and shake if you can afford it in the waterfront.
Vocellis does too, but get the student plan or they are going to charge you like $20 for a medium pizza.
Kiva Han takes plaid cash.</p>

<p>Erm, get the meal plan with the least blocks and most dineX. It doesnt seem like enough, but you will thank me.</p>

<p>@ Metal</p>

<p>I do believe you have a promising career as a food critic!</p>

<p>Your imagery was wonderful although sickening…</p>

<p>Gosh- food poisoning, flies, fruit guock…OMG, I feel for CMU student stomachs - this is gruesome stuff you write of sir!</p>

<p>The foods okay if you avoid one or two places. I really recommend Gingers/The Exchange.</p>

<p>Thanks for the great answers, metal and kate!</p>

<p>Some more thoughts on food, from a recent alumni:</p>

<p>CMU food is eatery style. There is just one dining hall, Schatz. That has all-you-can-eat, generally not very good food. It’s pretty good for breakfast but other than that isn’t the best place on campus.</p>

<p>In the University Center and right near Schatz there is an eatery with several places: a salad place, a smoothie place, a sandwich place, which are all good. A grill place with burgers, hot dogs, veggie burgers, cheese steaks, etc., which can be a little gross but is good if you’re in the mood for unhealthy food. And an Asian place that used to be really bland but has made improvements and is now decent. </p>

<p>On the same floor in the University Center is Skibo, which is known for being open until 2AM. People generally eat there way too often because of the hours so it gets kind of boring. It has sandwiches, pizza, pasta, salads. It’s pretty decent, although not exciting.</p>

<p>A floor lower is Si Senor, which has burritos, quesadillas, etc. and also burgers. Some of the food is decent, some not so much. They tend to take a little longer than other places to cook the food, which is annoying.</p>

<p>In Resnick (a couple buildings over from the University Center), there is another cluster of food places, eatery style. Tartan Pavilion has pizza and other Italian things like some pasta and is good. The Indian place has a buffet option, and it’s delicious. There’s another salad bar which is cheap and good. There’s a sushi place which is good. There’s Carnegie Cafe which has some great desserts but I don’t like too much of the food. There are some other places there too, like one that has steak and things like that, but I’ve never eaten there. </p>

<p>In Morewood is the Underground. It has sandwiches, pasta, appetizers, burgers, wraps, etc. I like the food here, especially the desserts. Seems like most people like at least some stuff from the Underground, there’s a lot of variety.</p>

<p>There’s also Gingers in Tepper, which is very popular, and some other places like another Asian place and a pizza place. Basically, there are places scattered around campus.</p>

<p>There are lots of very good places right near campus. Craig Street is about a 2 or 3 minute walk and has Kiva Han (which I love), Quiznos, Subway, a grill/sandwich place that’s good, an Asian place that’s good, pizza place that’s ok, an Indian place that’s great, and lots, lots more. There’s also an Asian place right on Forbes that’s even closer than Craig street.</p>

<p>If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask!</p>