Virginia tech is known for having great dining hall food and in 2014 gained national recognition when it claimed that top spot out of 396 colleges as the best campus food in the nation by The Princeton Review. However, now other schools have caught up dropping VT to 8th, but it’s still supposed to be great. If you happen to catch a campus tour going around, you can be assured that you’ll hear them highlighting the dining halls. On the two tours I’ve given to the international exchange students (part of my graduate assistantship), I mention dining halls a few times and always bring them past them, even though my knowledge is limited.
As my time at VT nears its end, I resolved to immerse myself in the renowned dining experience before I graduated. For that to happen, I needed to eat at Dietrick Dining Hall. Also known as D2, Dietrick Dining Hall is one of the largest non-military dining halls in the U.S. (it can hold 1,100 people) and sits centrally amidst the dorms. Built in the brutalist style of the 1970s, it lacks Hokie stone. Instead, you’ll find concrete and glass. Last year, the school attempted to enliven the facade with colorful banners between the exterior pillars. It’s debatable whether or not they improved the building, but I’m sure in their mind, they have.
The Dining Hall
Stepping into the dining hall, surrounded by freshman, I couldn’t help but reminisce about my freshman year at the University of Delaware. It made me wistful for the period in my own life when as a freshman fewer responsibility weighed on my mind. It was a period of exploration in a newly found independence, a formative experience that has significantly shaped my identity.
The dining hall is expansive. It sits on the second floor with twenty-five foot-plus ceilings and a curtain wall of windows offering views of Cassell Coliseum and the surrounding campus. When we arrived around 6pm, the sky was awash in purple and reddish hues of a picturesque sunset. If you don’t have a dining plan, it’s not cheap. It costs $16.95 per person without and only $5.69 with, but it is all you can eat and you can stay until they close for the night. Someone gave me a piece of advice that if you go on the weekends when they serve brunch, there’s no transition period between the two, so you can stay there all day having multiple meals while doing schoolwork. Maybe I have to go back for brunch.
The food selection resembles that of a mall food court, with various “restaurants” serving different types of food. They had Italian, Mexican, Vegan, Pizza, Southern, Indian (rotated weekly), a Salad, Yogurt and a desserts bar. By the time I got to the desserts bar they had unfortunately run out of cheesecake and switched to a red velvet cake. Instead, I indulged on one of my favorite drinks, Chocolate milk and had soft serve ice cream. Overall, the food was okay. It wasn’t anything exceptional and I’d much rather make my own food. However, I left feeling uncomfortably full, so much so, it made it difficult for me to fall asleep later that night.
An experience worth having!
Hi Joe, Lookin great, the food court looks great also, enjoy for the next 2 months!!! Love ya, grammy. Could you believe only 2 to go!!