This week I went to the West Food District. I was eager to try this one, as many people had told me that they believed that this one was the best.
The first time I went, however, I was woefully disappointed. My friend and I went around noon and it was extremely crowded! It took us forever to find a seat, and the lines for food were way to long. You couldn’t tell what was being served, and when you did get up there, all they mostly just had fish. (Fun fact: I hate fish) I ended up getting just a slice of pizza, which I thought was actually a lot better then the pizza at the Pollock Dining Commons.
Later when I complained to a friend, they told me I was being unfair, and that I needed to go back at a different time, and that many people do enjoy fish. I decided that they were probably right, and was determined to give it another go.
I arrived at a much later time, and found that it was not extremely over crowded. This time, since the lines were not so extremely long, I was able to see all the different parts of the room, and found that yes, there was a wider variety of sections. They had a taco bar, a salad bar, and pasta, alongside the other line that I had got in the last time. I found the food to be better this time, and learned not to cut off something just because I had just one bad experience.
Something that the West Food District did that I thought was kind of cool was that even though it was somewhat like a buffet, you had to talk to the person behind the counter to get the food. This is probably more cleanly than in other dining commons, like Pollock, where they just set out bowls off food for you to pick up. While if they see you pick something up and put it back down, they do have to dispose of it, but at Pollock there is always the chance that someone else had touched your food. At the West Food District, this is not a problem since the food is going directly to you.
When the Food District was not overly crowded, I found that there was actually a lot of seating. The seating area was a split-level, making it seem as though it was even larger than it actually was. There were a lot more places were large groups could sit if necessary. With that said, I believe that many of the large tables actually were occupied by many different parties. The option for larger groups is there though.
Just to clarify, I did not eat at the entire West Food district, only at the Waring Square. Attached to the seating area, there was another section that I did not go to, since it did cost extra, called the West Wing. There they served things that you would be able to take out with you, like a sandwich or a snack.