NYU Eats Cheat Sheet: A Dining Hall Breakdown (2024)

The primary objective of coming to college is to explore your interests academically. However, I believe it’s equally important to explore the yummy food options NYU Eats has to offer! All residents assigned to traditional-style residence halls are required to participate in a meal plan. The same goes for first-year, transfer, and visiting students living on-campus in residence halls. Making the best use of your meal plan is super important, so here are some tips and tricks!

An NYU meal plan has two components: Meal Exchange and Dining Dollars. Meal Exchanges are accepted at our residential and retail dining halls. Dining Dollars are accepted at retail dining halls, marketplaces, and our popular on-campus coffee shops. These include Starbucks (next to the Frederick Loewe Theatre), Dunkin’ (at University Hall near Union Square), Peet’s Coffee (Kimmel Center for University Life), or Cafe 181 (Paulson Center). You can use Dining Dollars at marketplaces for nonfood items, like pencils, over-the-counter medication, or chapstick! At this point, you may be wondering: What’s the difference between a residential and retail dining hall?

• Residential Dining Halls: An all-you-care-to-eat buffet-style dining hall accepting Meal Exchange. Just tap your ID at the entrance.
• Retail Dining Halls: An à la carte–style dining hall accepting Dining Dollars and Meal Exchanges. Use your ID for a Meal Exchange consisting of an entrée, a side dish, and a fountain drink or Dining Dollars to buy items separately or in addition to a Meal Exchange.

Oftentimes there are days when you may prefer to eat lightly. Other days, you may want to get a filling meal for one meal swipe with a good return on investment. Here’s my take:

For a quick bite:

• Check out One Sushi at Kimmel, Upstein, and Palladium. One Sushi is easy to take on the go, and each roll includes eight pieces.
• Go to the Sidestein Marketplace for prepacked sandwiches and wraps. I’ve found these sandwiches are perfect for when I’m rushing to get something to eat in between classes.
• Head to Third North for its sandwich bar. Many students think it’s a perfect spot to grab something to go after an all-you-can-eat meal.

For that full-course meal:

• Try the highly filling salad bowls at Crave NYU cafe and the Kimmel dining hall. The caesar salad at Crave and the salmon bowls at Kimmel hit every time without a doubt!
• Visit the Crave NYU cafe on the 6th floor of the Paulson Center for two of my favorite and most filling options:
  • Create your own pasta: These pasta bowls are super delicious and the portion sizes are often enough for me to have leftovers.
  • Bánh mì sandwiches: These sandwiches are SO good. I recommend the BBQ pork sandwich. It’s very yummy and filling.

For something in the middle:

• Head to Third North and Downstein for their all-you-can eat buffets. Each hall serves the sweet—cereal, pancakes, and soft serve—and the savory—pizza, home fries, burgers, and more!
• Try Lipton Hall’s different dine-in and take-out options. They are particularly known for their pasta and breakfast potatoes.
• Visit 18 Below, located in the Torch Club, for a balanced variety of different global eats.

Every dining hall has its personality, offering signature foods and events that make each of them stand out.

• Lipton’s dining hall is known for its chocolate chip cookies. They get the award for Best Cookies year in and year out in NYU Eats’ Best of Competition. I have friends who have used an entire meal swipe just to stock up on said cookies!
• 18 Below is an NYU dining hidden gem. They offer seasonal, authentic flavors in a fine-dining setting below the Torch Club. Every week they serve a different primary dish. It is a perfect place for student foodies who want to experience a pop-up restaurant-style lunch.
• The Palladium dining hall is renowned for their sushi. Although Kimmel and Upstein also have a sushi bar, Palladium’s sushi is known for being the freshest and perhaps the best comfort food in the middle of the semester. Living in a residence hall close to Union Square my first year, I admittedly had Palladium sushi five days a week. Their staff is super sweet, too!
• Palladium Hall also has a unique Sunday Brunch tradition! Every Sunday at Palladium, they have an all-you-care-to-eat brunch, featuring their iconic chocolate fondue fountain, buffets of fresh fruit, pastries, bagels, and homemade desserts and pies.
• Weinstein Hall has three dining spots: Upstein, Downstein, and Sidestein (original, I know). NYU students rave the most about Cluckstein, a specialized stand in Upstein. Cluckstein serves chicken tenders, nuggets, sandwiches, and dusted waffle fries.

Now, after reading all this information about our dining services, you may be wondering what I consider my favorite dining hall. I can’t choose just one! So I’ve narrowed it down to my top three.

1. Kimmel Marketplace: I love the Kimmel Marketplace for various reasons. For starters, it was the most convenient dining hall for me during class time. They have a variety of healthy and yummy foods that I feel like I could never get tired of. For example, Pom & Honey’s salmon bowls and cheeseburgers are my go-tos. On the days I mix it up, I love getting masala mac and cheese with samosas, sushi, or even a whole pie of pizza for the cost of one meal swipe!
2. Palladium Hall: Palladium holds a special place in my heart since it was the closest dining hall to my first-year residence hall (University Hall). I can confidently say that my dinner every other night was sushi! Their California rolls, salmon rolls, special rolls, and poke bowls were my favorites. Sometimes, my roommates and I bought four to six boxes in one trip. We’d take them back to our room to save for later. (Crazy? Yes.)
3. Crave NYU: When I discovered Crave, my life changed. My favorites from this Paulson Center location are the BBQ pork bánh mì and the create-your-own pasta bowl option. For example, I like to order tortellini with vodka sauce pasta. Last year, I often had classes and choir rehearsals in Paulson. I enjoyed eating a good savory meal before getting to work.

AJ Sita (she/her) is a rising sophom*ore at the Tisch School of the Arts for Film & Television, pursuing a minor in Business Entertainment Media & Technology (BEMT) & Producing. She is originally from Seattle, Washington but is now based in New Jersey & New York. On campus, she is an NYU Undergraduate Admissions Ambassador, the 2024-2025 Publicity Officer for the Tisch Undergraduate Student Council (TUSC), and is apart of the NYU Steinhardt World Voices Collective Treble Choir. When AJ isn’t creating a film or giving a tour, she is forcing her friends to go to Soho with her and spend money on boba, clothes, and hats. You will not find AJ around New York not wearing a hat. It’s kinda her thing.