Campus Life

There are four different dining commons at UCSB and each has its own specialty. De La Guerra (DLG) specializes in Mexican food, Ortega always has sushi at lunch and dinner, Carillo's specialty is Mongolian barbeque and Portola always has different types of bars (chili bar, burger bar). There are also always vegetarian and vegan options at every meal. Ortega provides take-out sack breakfasts or lunches for students who don't have time to sit down to a full meal in between classes (or if you want to have lunch on the beach after class with friends!). DLG also has late-night dining from 9pm to midnight on weeknights and serves everything that is not very healthy for you like burgers and fries (but that's all you really want at 9 o'clock at night anyway!). It's fun to take a break from cramming for finals to grab a bite to eat.
The dining commons post their menus for the week online, which is nice because you can check which dining commons has the best food for that evening. Also, if you have certain allergies (nuts, gluten, milk, etc) or a food lifestyle (vegan or vegetarian) there is an online program where you can see what options fit your needs at each dining commons for that meal. All dining commons have a salad bar, fruit, breads, cereals, stuff to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and pizza.
The quality of the food is actually quite good! I was expecting average cafeteria-style food and was pleasantly surprised with how good the food is.
As far as meal plans go, students have several options. If you live on campus you are required to have a meal plan. Students can choose from have 10 meals per week, 14 meals per week, 17 meals per week or unlimited meals per week. I would recommend 14 meals per week because it keeps you covered by the dining commons meals, but is flexible enough that you can go out to eat with friends if you want. By meals these are meals you are allowed to use in the campus dining commons. You also have the option of adding $300, ...

The dining commons at UCSB rival any other UC hands down. There are countless dishes to choose from and they are buffet style, meaning once you swipe in using your ID card you can stay there for however long you want to eat as much as you want. And if you don't want to go to a dining common, there are plenty of restaurants on campus and in Isla Vista (the community walking distance from UCSB) to choose from.

if you're a freshman, you're going to have a meal plan. dining commons are all-you-can-eat, so that's great.

the de la guerra and the ortega dining commons are right next to each other for some reason. both are close to the chi-5 dorms. dlg is much better, generally speaking. it's bigger and has slightly more selection, and has great cookies. ortega is open for breakfast, lunch,and dinner, while dlg is open for lunch, dinner, and late-night (9-12 all weekdays except friday).

carillo is located next to manzanita and is regarded as the best on campus. they're open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. they have a frozen yogurt machine with rotating flavors, and food selection is comparable to dlg's.

portola is the dining commons for santa catalina, since they're off-campus. portola's food isn't the best. that wouldn't be a problem except that if you live in san cat, you're going to be eating a lot of it.

there's an online menu at https://appl.housing.ucsb.edu/menu

and of course, there's isla vista. iv has tons of restaurants. there's the habit, freebirds, hana kitchen, naan stop, spudnuts, woodstock's, buddha bowls, and rosario's. try all of them at least once!

tbh despite what a lot of people have said, i think the food here is pretty good! a lot of it is grown locally, and as a vegan, i can say that i found no trouble in trying to find options on campus (in fact, every dining common had vegan options).

DLG is great, only downside is they don't offer breakfast and brunch on weekends isn't open early. Ortega has breakfast but less options than the DLG. Carillo has a soft serve ice cream machine, and Portola has a bad reputation but I haven't ever eaten there. Unlimited buffet style dining with good food and service makes it incredibly easy to overeat though.