Dining halls at any university are often a common topic of discussion. Whether you love or hate them, many universities like Iowa State provide them. Busyness and food quality are additional reasons why some students avoid them altogether.
Ryan Humphrey, a sophomore in biomedical engineering, said the Memorial Union (MU) Food Court is his favorite dining hall due to the flex meals.
“Anything up to $1,250 I can get from any of the different restaurants that they have here,” Humphrey said. “I can also go down if I want to use dining dollars to get coffee or if I want to get Panda Express or sushi, I could do that too. But also around lunchtime, the [Union Drive Community Center] and Friley Windows can be very busy, so the MU this semester has been a lot better for me.”
The busyness at UDCC is also why it’s one of his least favorite dining halls, but he also expressed dissatisfaction with Seasons.
“Seasons is just kind of out of pocket for me,” Humphrey said. “So I guess [my least favorite] would most likely be Seasons, but UDCC on a bad day would probably be worse.”
He also mentioned that more seating options should be available depending on group size instead of “having one person sitting at a six-person table.”
Kathryn Adams, a first-year in animal science, says UDCC is her favorite dining hall.
“They just have plenty of space for everyone to talk, and I feel they have the most options,” Adams said.
However, she wishes there was more food rotation.
“They often have many options, but it doesn’t rotate what they are,” she said.
Natalli Besch, a sophomore in elementary education, works in the dining halls and said Conversations is her favorite dining hall.
“I currently work there too, but I like that it’s a good GET & GO place,” Besch said. “You don’t necessarily have to wait. You just stand in line, get your food and go wherever you please.”
Besch, along with Humphrey, finds Seasons to be her least favorite dining hall.
“It just seems like they run out of food kind of fast, and sometimes there are a lot more kids that go there, and it just seems like they’re not necessarily prepared for all of that,” Besch said.
However, she admires that the dining halls accommodate the students at Iowa State.
“I think all the students and other workers are good at helping students if they’re confused,” Besch said. “First-year students don’t necessarily know how our dining halls work, and they’re just good at accommodating the students who have a gluten problem or need some kind of dietary restrictions met.”
Despite her appreciation for accommodation for students with dietary needs, Besch does wish there was more variety.
“I know that some dining halls, like [Friley] Windows, get different food from different countries and cultures, but it seems like a lot of dining halls tend to have the same things, and I think that it would be good to kind of bring the variety out there for students,” Besch said.
More information about Iowa State Dining and dining halls can be found here.
