It's me, back again with a review of North Dining Hall. I know that everyone was waiting on the edge of their seats to hear what I have to say about the renovations of NDH now that it’s pretty much finished. In my article last semester, I discussed how I was disappointed with North Dining Hall’s renovations because I had really grown to love the old NDH, and the new North wasn’t as inviting. I concluded that the gray chairs were uncomfortable, the chairs with arm rests didn’t slide across the floors, which made them difficult to push in, and the food lines didn’t have a set direction to move in, so there were always people coming from different directions to grab food that made it very confusing. I also talked about how the upstairs dining area was very dark whenever it became dark or cloudy.
I know that things were being done to work on a lot of those issues, as North Dining Hall was really a work in progress last semester. Things such as televisions being added above the stations so that people know what food is where, line barriers to direct and more lights in the upstairs are all coming or have already been added to help with flow and make things easier for people. While new NDH isn’t old NDH, I’ll be honest and say that, like I admitted to in my last article, this dining hall has really been growing on me. It is extremely nice and different from a lot of things on campus, so it’s refreshing. Having the lobby area with seating and booths to do homework or wait for friends is convenient, and the overall open concept is nice.
However, the fact that Grab ‘n Go is nonexistent in NDH baffles me. Grab ‘n Go is forever relevant and only having it in South is inconvenient. The Marketplace in North, while an interesting idea, is simply a satellite Huddle location, and I’d rather have another place that I can use my dining hall swipes when I don’t have enough time to sit down and eat in the dining hall than have the swipes go to waste. Bringing back Grab ‘n Go or adding it to the Marketplace would be my only real change to new finished NDH. As always, North > South.
