Rice University
- Campus Dining

Food at Rice

Everyone knows that the food varies by servery... Or, at least, it used to. That was last year. This year, we had a switch in providers for food and the food is pretty *blah* wherever you go on campus. HOWEVER, the pizza at North servery is best and the desserts are good there too. While ethnic food options suck pretty much everywhere, East servery does a fairly good job.

As for other options, a new one has opened up this year. The new convenience store on campus is SO much better. They take tetra points and have all kinds of goodies for extraordinarily affordable prices. There is also the Hoot, which is also a late-night food option. It has pizza and Chick-fil-a and other tasty treats.

Residential College Dining

Since life at Rice is defined by the residential college system, dining is no different.

If you live on campus, you are required to purchase the all-inclusive meal plan, which covers every meal except for Saturday dinner and Sunday breakfast (serveries are closed then).

There are four serveries that serve multiple colleges (North, South, West, and East). Sid Rich and Baker have their own serveries. Your meal plan allows you to eat at any of the serveries whenever you wish, although most people choose to eat at their own colleges with their friends. That makes dining a very social experience, I always looked forward to dinners when I knew I was going to see all my friends. Food is only available in the serveries during very restricted times, which means everyone goes to lunch at 12:00 and dinner at 5:30 or 6:00 (and there really aren't classes during those times).

There really aren't many food options other than the serveries. Coffeehouse is great, but it is more for snacks than actual food. There are a few other options, and they all take Tetra, but since you already have the meal plan, they are more for off campus students or if you miss a meal than a substitute for the servery. The system really encourages you to eat in your colleges (which may sound odd, but when you understand residential college life, it makes more sense)

The servery food is pretty good, except for on the weekends.

Food Is Ehh

We do have a variety(7) of serveries on campus, but for the places I've eaten at, the food is ok. But I do understand that they have to cook in a very short amount of time for a very large amount of students.