Lakeside Dining Hall - Tuscaloosa

Edit: up to 3 stars for improvements since the beginning of this year. The following comments still apply depending on the day. This is my third year on campus and my third year on the lake. Perspective students: not to be deceived! The only time that this place is even halfway decent when it is bound Bama / other college visits go. The rest of the year is a complete mess. Management holds the place at about 50% of the staff they actually need to run it. So, tables are perpetually nasty, the back terrace is almost never open, lines for pizza can take 20 minutes (pizza is often the only option available), the mobile order option works less than half the time, there are almost no good options after an hour before closing, the transition between meals takes 45 minutes or more leave almost no options, find a seat is difficult, even if not busy because they often stop trying to close stars. Go to fresh food or sola where the management seems to have a hint of what they do. Or better, get off the food plan.

Update, September 3, 2021: I learned that cartons of almond milk are available on request at the salad bar. I can't say if this was the case when I wrote the review. Also the Omelette cheese is of a decidedly low quality, but on the second thought its liquid consistency suggests a different provenance than strength singles. Finally, I have a more precise examination that the eggs are not in fact completely circular: whether they are a strength or a defect, the reader must determine. Where should I start? At 7 a.m. on a typical weekday, maybe when Lakeside's doors open, and bluary eyes students begin to flare. First come the ROTC Cadets, with their crew cuts and ponytails, black neck gaiters, and army brands gym clothes. Then follow the poor backpacks, the souls are driving for 8 o'clock lectures. Concessional others with less punishing schedules apply the dining room the rest of the morning; then again, perhaps not: finally, why would anyone choose Lakeside about the somewhat more distant Fresh Food Company for the most important meal of the day, except to get valuable minutes of sleep before an early morning class? Because it is at breakfast that Lakeside Dining falls to its nadir. The hot breakfast has a rotating shape of typical American dishes: eggs, sausage, bacon, biscuits and gravy, hash browns, domestic frits, pancakes, waffles. There are none of the intrepid culinary experiments sometimes on the later day, which is good. The problem lies in the execution. First, the eggs that either fried or serve as an omelette. The fried eggs come in perfectly circular slices, a test on the steel shapes in which they were so lovingly cracked. They are boiled until the egg yolk (always broken is powdery and the white wrinkly, but until they arrive on your plate, they almost always have the same laid at room temperature. The omelettes are subjected to a similarly generous cooking time, perhaps to ensure that the single force is melted thoroughly inside. The sausage combines, with its loose, peeling skin, taste better than they look. The bacon, on the other hand, is often less crispy than stretchable, such as fruit leather. Credit where credit is due: the carbohydrates the cookies, potatoes and pancakes are usually tolerable. Even the waffles, the seemingly toaster waffles cooked French toast style, are not half bad. I have heard that the grottos bought from the store immediately variety; all I can say is that once I tried them, they lubricated them like the cardboard container in which they were served. A few times I discovered blooming colonies of white, fuzzy mold in my blackberries, but otherwise I found little mistakes in Lakeside's fresh fruit offering, which are decently varied and available throughout the day. The coffee comes from a large Countertop Starbucks machine with a touchscreen, whose prompt What sounds good today? can be the most prosperous expression of the solicitude you meet at Lakeside. It is actually quite good (it is Starbucks, finally, although if you prefer to take your coffee with any kind of non-milk milk, you must B.Y.O.M. (I remember a Silk Almond Milk donor who embraces the counter when I visited the university for a summer program in 2019. I wouldn't complain if Bama Dining was chosen to bring it back. For some insecure reason, the employees of Lakeside seem to prefer cleaning the coffee machine in the morning after the dining room opens. (A word of caution: If you see an older white gentleman in a baseball cap that cleanse the machine, do not ask him how long it will take. He will be snippy with you and you will be forced to tear again during your 8 o'clock Calc course. Not that I speak of experience. Apparently there is a sign limit for Google reviews, so an evaluation of Lakeside's lunch and dinner offers need to wait for more advice.

Well, there are many options if you don't care what you eat, else tortillas with chilli sauce.

Usually the best dining hall on campus, the pizza especially is good. This being said, options are usually limited and very repetitive, dinning area is always dirty, and drink machines are often out of order. Also they dont have straws. Gotta love University dining!

Mostly Garbage besides a few things, half the time the food is so bland idk what i am eating. Stay away from any tacos or burgers they serve. Only the pizza and desert station are decent