University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Top Questions

In campus housing, the food options are expanding. Surprisingly there are more options in public housing than private because the public dorms have an amazing new dining center. It is called the Ike, and has amazing food. When I was a freshmen it wasn't built yet, but I was able to try it this year. There are about eight different food styles in the dining hall, and each one changes its menu each night. There are vegetarian and kosher options available. Off campus eating is also great. Downtown Champaign has plenty of great restaurants that most people don't try, but they are missing out on the best part of Champaign. There is an amazing tapas restaurant called Radio Maria, and sushi at Kofusion.

You'll never go hungry: Our university does a fantastic job feeding its students knowledge as well as food! The residence halls have many options ranging from vegan, vegetarian, stir fry, "soul food," and various other specialty meal nights through out the week. In addition to this, we house one of the largest dining halls in the country at Ikenberry. Check it out: http://www.housing.illinois.edu/Current/Dining/Locations{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c}20and{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c}20Hours/Classic/Ike.aspx We also have a little place called "Green Street" where over a dozen restaurants await you and your friends. There are specialty spots as well as common chains. Here's a great link: http://www.urbanspoon.com/n/106/46343/Champaign/UIUC-Campus-restaurants If this is all a bit much to handle, U of I has the usual college food... hotdogs, pizza, chicken tenders, fries and other basics.

As a vegetarian, dining for me was a little bit different but overall it's not bad. If you're trying to stay on a healthy diet, the options are there, but you have to get a little more creative and not get too sucked in by the glory that is an endless buffet of prepared food. I liked eating at the dining hall just because it was one less thing to worry about in your already busy schedule. The food quality is pretty good, but it varies by dining hall, and all of the dining halls have special nights where they make fun food, like Asia night or Lobster Night. The best advice I could give is use your imagination and get creative, look at the buffet more as a bunch of ingredients instead of separate meals and you will never get bored!

Your first year on campus you have to live at the dorms and buy a food plan. It is very overpriced and unreasonable. Moving out of the dorms tends to be better economically, but no one is making your food anymore :-)

Living in University Residence Halls means that you're in for a lot of good food. This is my third year eating it, and I still enjoy meals here. It's free flow dining if you live in the regular residence halls, so you don't have to just eat where you live. It's really quite convenient. If you choose Private Certified Housing, you can usually only eat in your own hall (there's a couple of exceptions, but check that out with the hall you're signing for). The university dining plans are pretty straightforward. You get a certain number of meals per week, and a certain number of Cafe Credits per week, and there are a variety of plan sizes to choose from. The classic meals you use in the regular dining halls to buy a whole meal like breakfast/lunch/dinner. You swipe in with your ID card and can then eat as much as you like while you're in the dining hall. There's always 3 hot options for every meal, one of which is always vegetarian, and there's a huge selection of hot and cold side dishes, an awesome salad bar, soups, make your own sandwiches, waffles, cereal, and desserts. Different dining halls (there's 6) have different food on different days, so if you don't like what they're serving at your place, you can just go next door or whatever to eat at another hall. There are also weekly theme nights at the dining halls, like breakfast for dinner, soul food, vegetarian-only, and Mexican. Cafe Credits are equal to a dollar, and they can be used to buy full meals, or in the a la carte locations to get snacks or sandwiches and drinks etc. between classes or whenever you're hungry. They're usually open til midnight or 1am. A lot of people don't know what their eating habits are going to be before they get here, so Housing allows you to change your meal plan up until a month into each semester. I did that during spring of my freshman year because I had waaaay too many Cafe Credits per week. They make it pretty easy. And, if you ever run out of meals or credits one week, you can just add more online with a credit card. Plus, Cafe Credits roll over from week to week, with 2x your weekly allowance as the limit. I'm definitely going to miss the dining halls when I move to an apartment next year. They're so convenient!

Well, U of I is known for having many student from Chicago...so we have Chicago deep dish pizza. When you are not in the dinning halls, definitely go to Papa Del's...BEST PIZZA EVER! Anyway, like I have said in many many answers, we are a diverse campus and thus have a bunch of restaurants for every taste bud. I personally love Cravings which is Chinese, Papa Del's for their pizza and Noodles and Co. when I want Mac and Cheese. Every restaurant is reasonably priced so even if you don't have a job on campus, you can still go out with friends for dinner and not be stretching your wallet too thin.

Well, U of I is known for having many student from Chicago...so we have Chicago deep dish pizza. When you are not in the dinning halls, definitely go to Papa Del's...BEST PIZZA EVER! Anyway, like I have said in many many answers, we are a diverse campus and thus have a bunch of restaurants for every taste bud. I personally love Cravings which is Chinese, Papa Del's for their pizza and Noodles and Co. when I want Mac and Cheese. Every restaurant is reasonably priced so even if you don't have a job on campus, you can still go out with friends for dinner and not be stretching your wallet too thin.

Dorm food can be good or bad. It has improved a lot since I was a Freshman but it still is not always the best. The dining halls are self serve in a buffet style where you can choose from selections like salad, pasta, stir fry, steak, chicken, rice, and other entrees. These can be hit or miss but you can usually find something you like. UofI does a point system and a meal system. You can either choose from 2-3 meals a day or a number of points which you use like cash. It costs points every time you walk into the dining hall. Also you can use these points to buy snacks at different food "stores" in dorms around campus.

As a freshman your dining options will depend on the dorm you live in. If you live in public university housing you will buy a meal plan at the beginning of the year and use meal points as dollars in the cafeteria. Anyone who lives in a public dorm may eat at any other public dorm and several other locations around campus with their credits. You are also able to swipe any friends in and buy food for them. When I was a freshman I lived in Bromley, which is a private dorm. Our cafeteria was specifically for residents. Instead of a point system, we chose how many meals we wanted per day. I got three meals a day although I hardly ever ate breakfast in the cafeteria- I usually had a granola bar or pop tart in my room. One of the good things about the closed cafeteria was the tighter knit community it formed. I could always find someone to eat with since the only people allowed in were those who lived there.

As a freshman your dining options will depend on the dorm you live in. If you live in public university housing you will buy a meal plan at the beginning of the year and use meal points as dollars in the cafeteria. Anyone who lives in a public dorm may eat at any other public dorm and several other locations around campus with their credits. You are also able to swipe any friends in and buy food for them. When I was a freshman I lived in Bromley, which is a private dorm. Our cafeteria was closed specifically to residents. Instead of a point system, we chose how many meals we wanted per day. I got 3 meals a day although I hardly ever ate breakfast in the cafeteria- I usually had a granola bar or pop tart in my room. One of the good things about the closed cafeteria was the more tight knit community it formed. I could always find someone to eat with since the only people allowed were those who lived in.

I thought that the dining options at Illinois were pretty vast when I was a freshman, but now they are even more expansive. Every residence hall location has its own dining hall, and many residence halls have specialty dining locations on top of that, such as Field of Greens, a healthy vegetarian joint, or the Cracked Egg Cafe, where you can get all your favorite breakfast foods. Illinois dining halls realize that students want to eat healthy and would like to know what's in their food. For most main courses and side dishes, nutrition facts are listed so that serving size and health benefits can be taken into account when students are serving themselves. "Late Night" is also popular at Illinois--some of the dining halls stay open later to accommodate students who cannot make it to dinner and they offer refreshments and quick, warm meals. Students who have meal points to spend can use them up at one of the "shopping" restaurants by purchasing small items to keep in their rooms. On top of dining hall options, there are plenty of places that students frequent on Green Street when they feel like eating out. Hotdog joints, pizza places, sandwich counters, and sit-down restaurants are available. Check out Green Street during your visit to Illinois!