Brown University - Campus Dining

Quick Stats

College Prowler Take

While most schools have contracted with Marriott or fast-food companies for their dining needs, Brown prides itself on maintaining a University-run food service. Why exactly this is a source of pride is another question entirely. The main dining halls—the Ratty and the V-Dub—serve what can only be described as average food. Chances are, you won’t return home for the holidays demanding your mom cook more like Brown Food Services (BFS). A lack of variety and the inability to use credits in real restaurants close to campus can be frustrating. The few cafés and restaurants run by the University are equally frustrating because they are more expensive than independent cafés and diners on Thayer and Wickenden Street. The Brown meal plan feels more like a middle school lunch program than a welcomed dining experience.

Year after year, the Ratty is the butt of new and old jokes, but as demonstrated by the Ratty Recipe Repository, many Brown students embrace the standard cafeteria-style eating. Besides, the meal plan provides much more than hot food every day. The meal plan is a state of mind. From your first week on meal plan, you will undoubtedly enjoy meals with friends, meet lots of new people, and sing karaoke with your fellow Brunonians at the V-Dub. Good or bad, surviving meal plan freshman year is a defining experience and undoubtedly a right of passage. In time, however, you’ll find the right balance of splurging for off-campus meals and eating creatively at the dining halls. Students who are off the meal plan might enjoy better food, but it is costly and time-consuming to fend for yourself.

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Students Speak Out

esrice says: Brown University 2016 Computer and Information Sciences

The meal plans are complicated and... The meal plans are complicated and convoluted but allow you to have a wide array of choices of where to eat a given meal. Besides the Ratty, which is basically a stereotypical college cafeteria, there is a smaller, cozier dining hall with better food, a pizza place, a vegetarian dining room, and many snack bars. The dining halls allow you to take a box of food with you instead of eating there, which is convenient. Being vegetarian is incredibly easy here because there are so many of us, and the dining services take that into account when devising meal plans. 12345 Campus Dining: March 03, 2009 Report

BroES says: Brown University 2016 Undecided

The traditional dining halls are... The traditional dining halls are decent—they always offer enough options to keep everyone happy. The informal eateries are all great, especially since they're open until 2 a.m. The Gate has great pizza and panini, Jo's has great burgers, quesadillas, and fresh salads, and the Ivy Room has great falafel. We also have a campus café called The Blue Room that has great coffee and pastries, and a campus pub called the Hourglass, which always has really great music on Saturday evenings. 12345 Campus Dining: March 03, 2009 Report

BroNG says: Brown University 2016 English Language and Literature

The food is pretty tasty, with the... The food is pretty tasty, with the V-Dub being the preferred of the two main dining halls. The Gate and Jo's have pretty good food at decent times. My only gripe would be the V-Dub being closed on weekends, so you have to resort to the Ratty, which is consistent but generally worse. 12345 Campus Dining: March 03, 2009 Report

BroGH says: Brown University 2016 Biological and Biomedical Sciences

V-Dub, Jo's, and The Gate are... V-Dub, Jo's, and The Gate are good. The Ratty is less good. 12345 Campus Dining: March 03, 2009 Report

Anonymous says:

I went to both cafeterias. I went... I went to both cafeterias. I went to the Ratty more, but the V-Dub is nicer. The atmosphere at the V-Dub is nice; they play music, and it feels more like a restaurant. It’s the same food no matter where you go. 12345 Campus Dining Report

Did You Know?

There is a Ratty Recipe Repository link off of Brown’s Daily Jolt Web site which has student-submitted recipes for meals using ingredients in the University’s cafeteria. Recipes include “Curry Chicken Salad,” “Fruity Desert Crepes,” and “Macaratty and Cheese.”

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