Campus Life

food in the dining halls is fine. but, if you can afford it, there are some really spectacular restaurants in greenwich village and beyond. there are also lots of spectacular cheap places to visit. dining in new york is a thrilling hunt that continues in each neighborhood you visit. basically, there is too much good food out there to eat in dining halls all the time.

Food and Dining is much better than what you would expect. Current students often tell you that the food is terrible, but remember that they've been eating the same variety of food for many years, so of course, they'd be sick of it. The food offered at Weinstein and Hayden are varied and consistently quality foods; every residence hall offers special nights, for example when Rubin offers steak night every Friday. But for you to find your favorite location, you must visit each dining hall. For one of the nicest dining halls, you can go to the Palladium residence hall. It is a sophomore residence hall, but it also houses one of the two NYU gyms and the Wasserman Career Center. The Palladium dining hall offers a delicious deli, sizzling pizzeria, made-to-order sushi, and hot grill line. Its philly cheesesteak, combined with seasoned waffle fries, are legendary.
For my dietary plan, I eat several small meals throughout the day, so I often get a to-go box that you can fill up with as much food as you can fit. Of course, each meal swipe is all you can eat, so you're welcome to sit down and eat until your stomach bursts. From breakfast until dinner, dining halls have waffle makers, cereal bars, salad bars, and a deli to satisfy whatever you crave.
Also, there are specialized dining halls like Kimmel and Weinstein's Kosher that offer entirely Vegan or Kosher menus. Each semester you are given dining dollars, and across the street from the Library is a Starbucks where you can spend those dining dollars without spending out of your wallet. Dining dollars are pre-loaded on your NYU ID card like a gift card, and you can spend it at small grocery-like pantries in the dining halls. These pantries offer everything from toilet paper to frozen pizza, and dining dollars carry over from Fall to Spring semesters (but not from year to year, like Spring to Fall), so if you can't spend it all, it will carry over and then you can bust it all on Red Bull during Spring finals.

Dining halls at NYU are pretty good overall. They have ones that have chains within them like chick-a-fillet, and jamba juice, and ones that simply serve food made then and there. I like to keep a balance between both types of dining halls as you won't find salads and "home-made" style food in the first type.