University of San Diego - Campus Dining

Quick Stats

College Prowler Take

Students find the food on the USD campus surprisingly good. There are six different places to eat in the University Center, and you are likely to see a large portion of your 4,000 or so schoolmates pass through there during lunch, munching on a sandwich or burger. La Paloma is perhaps the favorite spot. They serve excellent sandwiches as well as tremendously popular smoothies. The Main Dining Room (known as the caf) serves hot food all day, but it is most appreciated for its excellent breakfast fare. The Caf actually has a loyal following of campus gastronomists, as does the Torero Grill, and the Marketplace Deli. Aroma’s also serves excellent coffee and muffins. Meal plans are mandatory for freshmen, and by the end of the year, the lack of variety can wear on them, but they usually look forward to one or two special dishes when they get back to school.

Meal plans may be used at the caf, La Paloma, Torero Grill, and the Marketplace Deli. This flexibility leads many students to vary their meals during the week. The Deli is a huge spot during the day. They serve amazing sandwiches and many an alumni head straight for the Deli when they visit campus. Few students complain about the food on campus, and in fact, once students leave campus, many of them yearn for the days of their meal plan when they knew an excellent variety of three square meals awaited them every day.

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Students Speak Out

smo says: University of San Diego 2012 Other

No Fast Food Chains on Campus. B Here every eatery is something unique to USD. There is no chain restaurants on campus minus our coffee shop which is a small chain owned by one of USD's very own alumni. It's nice to have local options. Don't worry though if you need your fast food fix. There are plenty to choose from nearby off campus. 12345 Campus Dining: December 15, 2009 Report

kurtys says: University of San Diego 2013 Business

So Many Choice A+ You just have everything: A just renewed cafeteria where you can eat all you can at night(you have a grill, Chinese food, Mexican food, European food, healthy food...) a fancy restaurant, and 3 bistros. 12345 Campus Dining: December 14, 2009 Report

RS2012 says: University of San Diego 2012 Business

Dining at USD D+ I think the meal plans and format of dining services is awful. The SLP is new this year and is great, but it is extremely frustrating that there is only one place you can use your meal plan. Everything else takes dining dollars. I have 38 meals left and only 10 days left in the semester, but I only have $50 in dining dollars. The SLP gets extremely crowded during brunch and especially dinner and it is often difficult to find a table. Also, the area where you actually get your food is really small and gets crowded easily. I don't think the meal plan is set up well at all. On a good note, the food here is awesome. Every eating location has great food/beverages/coffee. 12345 Campus Dining: December 08, 2009 Report

courtskiis says: University of San Diego 2013 Undecided

Good Food, Yet Waste of Money A- SLP (dining hall) has really good food with many options. Plus there are other places to eat on campus during the day, but sometimes they can take forever to make your food, but its worth the wait mostly. Buy the smallest meal plan or else your meals will go to waste 12345 Campus Dining: December 12, 2009 Report

Anonymous says:

The food on campus is pretty good.... The food on campus is pretty good. I seem to go through stages where I’ll eat at one place for a couple months, then switch it up. For me, the dining hall was where I ate mostly when I was a freshman and wanted ‘home-cooked’ meals. Then when I had my own kitchen, I usually only ate sandwiches during the day or maybe grabbed breakfast at La Paloma. 12345 Campus Dining Report

Did You Know?

USD also has an excellent bakery and market, and local magazines often cite campus dining for its excellent fare.

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