No one else does it like UGA. From top-notch SEC sports to endless academic opportunities, UGA is known for its excellence in many areas. Today I’d like to highlight one of its least celebrated aspects, its dining halls. Us big dawgs need to eat, so there are five dining halls spread around the massive campus. The food in each dining hall is great, and there is a massive variety of dishes across all of the dining halls. Everyone has strong opinions on the food here, and there are obvious crowd favorite foods throughout campus. Today I’d like to highlight the underrated dishes that people don’t make a fuss about while also spotlighting the foods that are not worth all the hype they get. Without further ado, here are the most overrated and underrated foods at each UGA dining hall.
Bolton Dining Commons
Starting with the biggest of them all, we begin at Bolton Dining Commons located smack dab in the center of campus. This is naturally the largest dining hall, and there are definitely some bangers and stinkers in its culinary line-up.
Underrated: The Bottom Floor
People normally run to the second floor of Bolton to head to places like Lemon Grass Kitchen or Buon Appetito, but they ignore the great food you can find on the bottom floor. Chef’s Choice and Classic Cuisine rotate simple, crowd favorite foods each day while supplying a wide variety of food. Each dining hall has a changing hot bar like this, but Bolton’s is undeniably the best since it is so massive. This bottom floor also has the best salad bar at UGA with every topping you could ever imagine. Overall this bottom floor offers so much variety, and it’s a shame people ignore it.
Overrated: Tanyard Grill
Here is another staple of each UGA dining hall, the place that provides made to order burgers and sandwiches. Tanyard Grill always has a crazy long line since Bolton is so popular, and a mediocre burger and fries is really never worth the wait. This grill-style food is not only a lot faster in the other dining halls, but it also just tastes better.
Snelling Dining Commons
Next up is Snelling, a much smaller, cozier dining hall that’s known for its customizable bowls and its 24 hour service on weekdays.
Underrated: Sanford Grill and Georgio’s.
The bowls are such a unique and popular food that they get all the talk, but this leaves this delicious corner of Snelling left in the dust. This area serves simple foods like pasta and pizza at Georgio’s and sandwiches/burgers at Sanford Grill. All of the food here is surprisingly good for a dining hall, and the fried chicken sandwich at Sanford Grill is a must get.
Overrated: Their food from 8pm-12am.
Eating at snelling late at night, more commonly known as Snellibrating, is a UGA tradition, and is a must do for all students. Just make sure that you don’t go from 8pm-12am because you will be extremely disappointed. During this time they shut down the stations to get bowls, pizza, and sandwiches. Now all you’re left with is the sub-par hot bar and whatever cold foods they still have out. This is overrated because people love to go at this time to “Snellibrate”, but this food is really not it. Please wait till after midnight so you can truly Snellibrate with the delicious breakfast food that they bring out.
Village Summit Dining Commons
Located next to East Campus Village, Village Summit is the dining hall hub for east campus, and hosts a crowd of students, residents, and gym goers all day long.
Underrated: The omelet station.
I am shocked that I don’t hear alot about this place because it is amazing. Who doesn’t love a made-to-order omelet station that makes you feel like you’re on an all inclusive cruise everyday? An omelet is the perfect tasty, protein packed post-workout meal, and the line for this station never reaches the crazy lines for the grill right next to it. Another plus is that it is open all day long, and we all know how fun it is to eat breakfast foods not for breakfast.
Overrated: The smoothies.
I know this is probably my most controversial take, but the hype around the smoothies baffles me. If Village Summit is someone’s favorite dining hall, they will always begin their justification of this opinion with the smoothies. The smoothies are not terrible, but they’re also not that good. The flavor and texture goes from ok to very off putting, and anyone can make much better smoothies for cheap at their own home. I’m sorry to all of the smoothie fans, but I’m personally not a fan of sub-par watery fruit mush.
Oglethorpe House
Oglethorpe House, or O-House, is probably what most people say is their favorite dining hall. O-Hacienda’s build-your-own style Mexican food and Deliciously Southern’s chicken tenders are both possibly the best food on campus, and it’s not hard to see why O-House is so beloved.
Underrated: Pasta @ Skillets
O-Hacienda and the chicken tenders are talked about SO much that nobody ever mentions the made-to-order pasta station. I was floored when I first found this place since it stands to be maybe O-House’s best station, but nobody talks about it. The station lets you choose your pasta, the toppings, and the sauce you want. No matter what you choose, it’s probably going to be delicious, and Skillets should join the O-House pantheon of greatness.
Overrated: Oishii Ramen
To be honest, it was hard to choose the most overrated food at O-House because all of the hyped-up food deserves all its praise. Nonetheless, someone had to be on the chopping block, and today its Oishii Ramen. Ramen at a dining hall seems really cool, but in actuality the execution is subpar. It’s by no means bad, but the salty broth, chewy noodles, and bland meat all combine for a less than stellar final product. The toppings station next to it does give it some bonus points, but to be honest I rather have instant ramen over what this place cooks up.
The Niche
Underrated and Overrated: Everything.
I know this may sound weird, but hear me out. All of the food at the Niche is by default underrated since it is not on the main UGA campus, and requires an extra bus or car ride to reach it. It’s such a shame that it is so far because the food at the Niche is amazing. It is all made to order, and you can either make a fully customizable sandwich or a pizza/calzone. Everything there is delicious, but its inconvenience makes it thus underrated.
On the other hand, I think the case can be made that everything in the Niche is overrated. While yes, the food is amazing, I’m not sure if it is worth all the hassle to have it. People always talk about the Niche, how it’s amazing, and how everyone has to go. I also think that you should try to go once, but after that you’ll probably not go back. That’s because the food is good, but not good enough to force me to trek across Athens on a regular basis. Thus, I also have to say it’s overrated since it’s hardly worth the hassle.
There you have it, the most underrated and overrated food at each UGA dining hall. This is by no means 100% a fact, and it all boils down to each person’s individual tastes. In the end, I hope this encourages you to try something new at UGA, or just not to follow what everyone else says is great.