<p>Is Okenshields the eatery where students go who have classes in Arts quad? Are there long lines at lunchtime? Is there time to eat there?</p>
<p>Okenshields is the only dining hall (where you can use a meal swipe) on central campus. It is used by people from all quads who absolutely need to use a meal swipe, instead of using their BRBs at an a la carte place.</p>
<p>There do tend to be long lines at lunchtime, but I’ve always found enough time to get my food and still eat. </p>
<p>PROS: Happy Dave, Happy Dave’s Crazy 80’s and 90’s Playlist, Great Location
CONS: Set Menu every week (so if you go on the same day each week you will be eating the same thing).</p>
<p>The same building, Willard Straight, also houses the Ivy Room (a staple favorite for some), and Cascadeli’s, both of which only take Big Red Bucks.</p>
<p>yeah, most students will order a la carte at the dozens of places on central campus.</p>
<p>I recommend going to Oakies as soon as it opens (line starts to form) or when it’s about to close for lunch (con is that the food might be gone) </p>
<p>FYI ==> Oakies is now trayless…which makes it even more of a ***** b/c in order to get the same food you now have to sit down and put one plate down just to get in line for another >_></p>
<p>In my opinion, Okenshields is the worst dining hall at Cornell. However, being the only conveniently located meal plan dining hall in central campus, it is very popular. There will pretty much always be long lines, but they are usually well worth the wait. As ResurgamBell said, getting there right when it opens can save you a crapton of time and frustration.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t say it’s the worst, it’s better than most of the west campus dining halls. But it’s definitely more repetitive than the north campus dining halls, and their desserts aren’t that good. The main dishes tends to be okay, but a bit too greasy.</p>
<p>It’s not specific to the Arts quad. It’s in the center of Ho plaza, which almost all students walk across every day. The quality of the food is pretty bad, though. If you’re on Central I’d definitely go for Trillium instead (at the corner of the Ag quad on Tower Road), though they only accept BRBs/cash/bursar, no meal plan.</p>
<p>I never really liked Okenshields. It’s a huge difference coming from RPCC or Appel which have much wider selections and better tasting food. I’d recommend using BRBs and eating at Trillium, Statler (Macs or Terrace), Ivy Room, or Synapsis.</p>
<p>^If I had enough BRBs, I would eat at the Ivy Room every day!</p>
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<p>with this recession though…i’ve noticed that the quality at RPCC and Appel mirrors that of Oakies now…</p>
<p>Agreed with resurgamBell. RP sucked towards the end of the school year.</p>
<p>Wow cow…</p>
<p>i think oken is better than RP. i never liked rp food</p>
<p>the RP downgrade is huge news. I’m disappointed.</p>
<p>I thought the food always got worse once the parents left. It seemed like for orientation week everything was really good and then again for parents’ weekend and then at the end of the year too.</p>
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<p>yes freshman you will notice that they go all out whenever parents are visiting or when high school prospects are visiting… </p>
<p>to the dining hall’s credit they did try out new menu items this year…i love appel’s chicken waffles (grilled chicken, waffles, some cream sauce and cheese ^_^)</p>
<p>I also have to keep in mind the spoiled propensity of some Cornell students. Try eating on a SUNY campus. Or any state school campus. Or 75% of private school campuses. It’ll change what you think about the food at Cornell.</p>
<p>its true, although cornell’s food sucks, its better than most campus food</p>
<p>Meeting Happy Dave makes going to Oakenshields worth it.</p>
<p>Cornell dining halls suck, but the a la carte or points dining is fantastic (like Ivy Room, Hughes, Trillium, etc…). And state schools, some of them have way better dining halls than Cornell.</p>
<p>The worst dining halls are on West, especially for lunch. Those lunch meals, basically the same exact crap every single day, are just horrendous.</p>