UCLA Dining Hall
Where Do Students Eat At UCLA?
Where do students eat at UCLA? Student, professor, employee, and visitor meal options are available through UCLA Dining. It has now a limited number of restaurants available due to labor shortages. To provide the most opulent dining experience, the UCLA dining halls are only accessible to residents of the on-campus residential halls situated on the Hill. Reiber Hall, Sunset Village, Carnesale Commons, and De Neve Plaza are currently home to four UCLA dining halls. Bruin Café, The Drey, The Study at Hedrick, Rendezvous, and Epicuria at Ackerman are just a few of the quick-service eateries.
At every meal, each of the three residential restaurants offers up to ten different entrée choices. All meals are served buffet-style and are unlimited. Cash and credit cards are not accepted at restaurants; you must pay with a meal plan, BruinCard Easy Pay, or meal ticket instead (currently not accepted owing to labor shortages). To use at the eateries, guests and visitors can acquire Meal Tickets or Visitor BruinCards (due to labor shortages, currently not accepted).
North Campus
On North Campus, there are four ASUCLA restaurants. The North Campus Student Center, which has Northern Lights Coffee House, and Lu Valle Commons, which houses Jimmy’s Coffee House, are the two biggest locations. The North Campus Student Center is close to the Young Research Library, while Lu Valle Commons is situated between the Luskin School of Public Affairs and the School of Law. Both have a wide selection of dishes, such as salads, pizza, and grilled food.
Two smaller cafes serve tea, coffee, and light fare: Untitled is located inside the Broad Art Center, and Café 451 is located inside the Young Research Library (yes, the name is an art joke).
Il Tramezzino is a member of a small restaurant franchise. Within the Anderson School premises is an Italian café with both indoor and outdoor seating.
Central Campus
The Central Campus is home to several ASUCLA restaurants. The second floor of Kerckhoff Hall’s Kerckhoff Coffee House serves coffee and tea along with Baskin-Robbins ice cream and light fare.
The Greenhouse, Sbarro, Panda Express, Rubio’s, Rx Candy Coated Cures, Wetzel’s Pretzels, and Relaxation are available at the Terrace Food Court (1st Floor Ackerman Union). There is also a Wolfgang Puck, offering upmarket meals with beer and wine.
Avenue A (A-level Ackerman Union) features Bruin Buzz Coffee Bar, Carl’s Jr., Jamba Juice, Taco Bell, and Curbside. Tsunami, which is down the hall from the Viewpoint Lounge, serves Asian cuisine.
South Campus
Most of the restaurants on South Campus are also ASUCLA establishments. The Court of Sciences Student Center is the biggest (opposite Boyer Hall). There are local establishments including Fusion, Bombshelter Bistro, and Southern Lights coffee there in addition to a Subway and a Yoshinoya. Smaller eateries include Terasaki Café at the Terasaki Life Sciences Building and Café Synapse in the Gonda (Goldschmied) Neuroscience & Genetics Research Center. Engineering students manage Cafe by the Sea (5800E Boelter Hall).
Health Sciences
There are two places to eat at UCLA Health: Café Med in the Center for Health Sciences and the Dining Commons on Level 1 of Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center.
Hammer Museum
Hammer Museum AMMO at the Hammer (Hammer courtyard) serves freshly made paninis, soups, and salads throughout the year.
UCLA deployed food trucks that accept swipes to the Hill to shorten wait times at other dining spots in response to the lengthy wait times in all dining halls. Every day from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., food trucks are there, however, they close between lunch and dinner from 3 to 5 p.m. Additionally, at the front desk of their residential halls, students can exchange their lunch swipes for Associated Students UCLA restaurant vouchers.
How Many Dining Halls Does UCLA Have?
How many dining halls does UCLA have? Four full-service venues offer a variety of entrée choices. Let’s learn more about each UCLA dining hall and what you could expect in your dining experience.
De Neve
De Neve is situated on the De Neve Commons’ lower floor. De Neve honors the amazing variety of cuisines from North, Central, and South America. You can choose from dishes like Chicago-style deep dish pizza, Texas barbecue brisket, poutine, Cincinnati chili spaghetti, pollo en crema (creamy chicken), sopa de caracol (seafood soup), arepa (meat or cheese-stuffed corn cakes), and churrasco (BBQ skewers of meat), to name a few.
Additionally, it features a fantastic salad bar and an unbelievable “flexitarian-bar” full of mouthwatering salads, roasted vegetables, warm side dishes, braised meats, and other delectable items. De Neve is a terrific place to get together with friends for a delicious lunch and great discussion because of its convenient location and plentiful seating.
Epicuria at Covel
The basement of Covel Commons houses Epicuria at Covel. The concept of Epicureanism, which holds that the pursuit of pleasure and comfort regarding their attitude toward food and how they prepare it can be discovered by living a simple life, governs a Mediterranean marketplace.
Epicuria at Covel employs fresh California ingredients to create beautifully created dishes that are influenced by the cuisines of Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy, Lebanon, Spain, Turkey, and many other Mediterranean countries. However, the menus at Epicuria are seasonal.
Epicuria is a terrific place to get together with friends for lunch or late-night study sessions because of its friendly service, lively atmosphere, and décor influenced by traditional Mediterranean hues and textiles. It has plenty of charging outlets for your gadgets, plush seating, and contemporary lighting.
Bruin Plate
Looking for one of the country’s healthiest college restaurants? You’ve discovered it at Carnesal Commons!
Bruin Plate is an imaginative, sincere, and ethical restaurant that serves mouthwatering seasonal, inventive, and sustainable cuisine. Roasted Brussels sprouts, arugula-topped flatbread, roast cauliflower soup, yam tacos, bison burger stackers, lemon cod, and chipotle chicken bowls are just a few examples of the dishes that are popular. Even the sweets are nutritious!
Large floor-to-ceiling windows in Bruin Plate provide plenty of natural light as well as stunning views of the campus. The convenient location of Bruin Plate in the middle of the dense student traffic between the UCLA campus and the surrounding neighborhood makes choosing a healthy meal simple.
This Green-Certified restaurant is a creative, honest, and ethical community that serves mouthwatering seasonal, inventive, and sustainable cuisine. Using wholesome, nutritional, and locally sourced foods, Bruin Plate promotes thoughtful eating. It offers a diverse community with enticing, healthy, nutritious, and nutritionally balanced cuisine.
Spice Kitchen at FEAST at Rieber
Spice Kitchen at FEAST at Rieber is housed at Rieber Hall. The Spice Kitchen is a pop-up concept that introduces visitors to popular local eateries and the larger food community that makes Los Angeles such a fascinating international city. Throughout the academic year, rotating guest chefs combine new ingredients and concepts to produce delectable and inspirational dishes.
What Time Do Dining Halls Open At UCLA?
Depending on the needs of the University, capacity, and geographical preferences, the UCLA dining halls will be opened. Even as these standards change, UCLA Dining will continue to follow county, state, and university guidelines for serving meals on campus. Here are the operating hours for the residential dining halls to show what time dining halls open at UCLA.
Epicuria
General Hours:
Sunday – Saturday
Dinner: 5 p.m. – 9 p.m.
De Neve
General Hours:
Monday – Friday
Breakfast: 7 a.m. – 9:30 a.m.
Lunch: 11 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Dinner: 5 p.m. – 9 p.m.
Extended Dinner: 10 p.m. – 12 a.m.
Saturday – Sunday:
Breakfast: 9 a.m. – 10 a.m.
Lunch: 11 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Dinner: 5 p.m. – 9 p.m.
Extended Dinner: 10 p.m. – 12 a.m.
Spice Kitchen at FEAST
General Hours:
Monday -Wednesday:
Dinner: 5 p.m. – 9 p.m. – Featuring 8E8 Thai Street Food
Extended Dinner: 9 p.m. – 12 a.m. – Featuring 8E8 Thai Street Food
Thursday:
Dinner: 5 p.m. – 9 p.m. – Featuring Kogi BBQ
Extended Dinner: 9 p.m. – 12 a.m. – Featuring Kogi BBQ
Friday:
Dinner: 5 p.m. – 9 p.m. – Featuring Kogi BBQ & MuMu Bakery
Extended Dinner: 9 p.m. – 12 a.m. – Featuring Kogi BBQ & MuMu Bakery
Saturday – Sunday: Closed
The UCLA dining halls are busiest at dinner, with traffic reaching its peak between 6 and 7 p.m. For residential restaurants, peak half-hour traffic may exceed 300 swipes on average. The dining hall with the most swipes overall, De Neve, averages over 350 swipes during its busiest hour on Sundays from 7 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. The busiest meal times for most takeaway choices are often weekday lunchtimes. Except for a surge between 11 a.m. and 12 p.m., traffic is stable for most of the day.
Does UCLA Have Good Dining Hall Food?
UCLA dining halls were closed for dine-in on the Hill because of the COVID-19 outbreak. Incoming students may wonder “Does UCLA have good dining hall food?” The “2021 Best College Food in America” rankings have UCLA at the top. Out of a field of roughly 1,400 colleges and universities, UCLA was selected as the winner. Since the start of this rating in 2015, UCLA has been ranked first four times.
In 2020, UCLA was also ranked first. The best meal rating is mostly determined by user feedback, with survey questions about campus eating accounting for 85% of the total weight. The cost of meal plans makes up the remaining 15%.
Additionally, UCLA Dining just received the 2020 Excellence in Foodservice Award from the Washington, D.C.-based United Fresh Produce Association, winning the colleges and universities category. The honor highlights chefs and their organizations for coming up with inventive ways to serve fresh produce to diners, feature fresh produce on their menus, and introduce them to new cuisines. The award winners this year were also commended for their commitment to feeding their customers throughout the coronavirus outbreak.
The award-winning dining facilities at the University of California, Los Angeles are adored by students, employees, and visitors alike, even though traditional American college cafeteria food can occasionally be oily and unappetizing. Each UCLA dining hall and quick-service establishment has a defined and rotating menu that features dishes from a particular cuisine or concept.
One of UCLA’s most well-liked restaurants, Bruin Plate, is a health-conscious dining hall that provides fresh, wholesome meals cooked with ingredients that are acquired locally. Bruin Plate emphasizes foods that many American students are unfamiliar with, like amaranth and farro, a type of whole-wheat grain, with a focus on health and sustainability and recipes cooked from scratch (a pseudocereal that is a seed). Students can try healthier selections like roasted veggies, healthful grains, and lean meats there rather than going for usual dorm favorites like pizza, burgers, and ice cream.
How Much Is the UCLA Meal Plan?
The contract pricing for residents’ on-campus housing includes meal plans. When you accept your housing offer and pay your initial contract payment, you can choose your meal options. By filing a request using the “Ask A Question” button on the Ask Housing website, you can change your chosen meal plan at any time during the academic year.
Unless the request is made before 4:00 p.m. on the second Tuesday of September, there is a $25 cost for changing a meal plan. Now, let’s look at how much is the UCLA meal plan below.
Meal Plan Options for Residents of On-Campus Housing
19 Premier (19P)
This meal plan offers the most flexibility. At the start of each academic quarter, a predetermined number of meals are provided. Unused meals continue over from week to week and may be utilized whenever during the quarter to provide additional meals and snacks for you, your friends, or your family. By the end of the quarter, all meals must be consumed. To ensure that you have adequate food for the duration of each quarter, you should keep an eye on how much you eat.
19 Regular
The 19 Regular, the most affordable option, is made for students who want to dine at the on-campus dining halls most of the time. This menu offers brunch and dinner on Saturday and Sunday in addition to breakfast, lunch, and dinner from Monday through Friday. Meals not consumed during the week cannot be accumulated or saved, and they do not transfer over from week to week, unlike the 19 Premier. 19 Regular only permits one access at the allotted mealtime.
14 Premier (14P)
The flexibility offered by this plan is equivalent to that of 19 Premier, but it is tailored to residents who typically take the weekends off or don’t eat breakfast. 14 Premier is also eligible for the same carry-over permission as 19 Premier.
14 Regular
This menu offers 14 weekly meals. Meals that are not consumed throughout the week cannot be stored or accumulated. The 14 Regular only permits one access during each allotted meal slot.
11 Premier (11P)
This plan is made for residents who often only eat one or two meals per day, but it offers the same flexibility as the 19 Premier and 14 Premier. 11 Premier shares the same carry-over privilege with 19 Premier and 14 Premier.
11 Regular
For students who only eat one or two meals a day or who are not on campus during the weekends, this is the most basic meal plan. Meals that are not consumed during the week cannot be accumulated or stored, just like with the 19 Regular and 14 Regular. 11 Regular only permits one admission at the allotted mealtime.
| Full academic-year | 19P Meals | 14P Meals | 11P Meals | 19 Meals | 14 Meals | 11 Meals |
| Room portion | $8,267.28 | $8,267.28 | $8,267.28 | $8,267.28 | $8,267.28 | $8,267.28 |
| Meal plan portion | $6,178.80 | $5,850.48 | $5,298.72 | $5,558.64 | $5,387.64 | $4,927.08 |
| Social fee | $38.76 | $38.76 | $38.76 | $38.76 | $38.76 | $38.76 |
| Total contract payment: | $14,484.84 | $14,156.52 | $13,604.76 | $13,864.68 | $13,693.68 | $13,233.12 |
The Bruin Meal Plan
For students living off-campus, there is the Bruin Meal Plan. The school will not be able to offer the Bruin Meal Plan for the fall quarter of 2022 due to persistent personnel constraints.
It’s not just the UCLA dining hall that attracts students to attend this “Public Ivy,” the University of California, Los Angeles consistently ranks among the top public universities in the country, and with good reason. UCLA offers amazing opportunities in its academic programs, extracurricular activities, and vibrant campus life. If you want to boost your chances of getting into UCLA, feel free to contact AdmissionSight. Being one of the top college admissions experts in the field, AdmissionSight can help you craft an impressive application and prepare yourself for college. Book an initial consultation now.
