John P. McGovern TMC Commons

The BBQ place is still the best for what it is. There are no words to describe my sorrow after the Thai place got rid of the soups. It was one of my most favorite things in the entire area! Their food is still good but now the portions are a little smaller and the containers are now cheap styrofoam. There’s Chick Fil-​A which results in an automatic deduction. Now they have a TCBY machine for your fro-​yo cravings. To date I have not tried the Subway there because first Jared and then the rat. Probably will have to re-​review it once I have tried Trevisio.

Starbucks boycott
Today I quit buying coffee at Starbucks or anything for that matter because they wanted to charge 54 cents for tap water shame on them

I think the TMC website quotes that there are ~160,000 employees, students, patients, etc in the TMC at any given point in time. Unfortunately for such a densely populated area, the food options in this part of Houston are horrendous!
The TMC commons is a slight improvement over the food choices in the TMC area. There’s a Burger place (waterside/​waterstreet?), Chick Fil A, Starbucks, Kim Son, and Subway. They taste just like any other franchise for these restaurants would. Seating can get kind of tough inside of the building during lunch time and eating outside will probably mean water from the waterfall will get blown into your food/​face not to mention the humidity in Houston.
It’s a decently close if you’re at Methodist, BCM, or UT Houston. Any other hospital and you might be in for a long walk.

On weekdays, it is open only for lunch, except for Starbucks, which is open from morning to about 5pm. On weekends, it is closed altogether. It got worse with the refurbishment as several eateries closed. There are now only five eateries in the same food court:
Waterside Café: Salads made-​to-​order are great, I get one almost everyday for lunch. They have paper forms with checkboxes to choose ingredients: greens, meat, vegetables, dressing. Chicken parmesan panini is delicious too. This is the only place worth eating at in JPC commons.
Kim Son: Chinese food. Lot of rice and some oily main dishes. Pricey, given the super low quality. They do not use «fresh» chicken in their main courses and it tastes really bad. If they used fresh chicken, it would be OK.
Starbucks: The employees are very lazy, slow, mistake orders, fight and bicker with one another in front of customers. Coffee is bad and cashiers are unfriendly. In general, I love Starbucks, yet this particular one in JPC commons is the worst ever.
Subway: I have not tried it yet, opened in May 2013.
Chick-​fil-​A: Franchise of a rabidly anti-​gay company, good fit for Texas and TMC. As someone who cares about equality, non-​discrimination and LGBT rights, I will never ever patronize rabidly anti-​gay Chik-​fil-​A.
However, presence of Chick-​fil-​A sends a very intolerant message to employees, patients and visitors alike at MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Starbucks is the only thing open here when I come by each day at 7:30am, so don’t count on much variety if you are looking for breakfast. However, Starbucks doesn’t have much of a line at that hour and they always fix my iced mocha quickly!

With the Spring 2013 revamp of The Commons, they have improved their rating drastically and have become relevant again in the medical center.
The food offerings now include Starbucks (still always busy), Chick-​Fil-​A (I guess someone read my previous review), Subway (YAY!), Kim Son and Waterside Café.
Since opening, the line at Subway has been super long and I’ve yet to try it, but I’d guess it’s your average Subway. I am eager to see if they’ll accept Subway coupons and participate in Subway promotions.
The Chick-​Fil-​A has 5 ordering stations, and the lines move quick. The cashiers are friendly and give you plenty of sauces on request! They’ve got the lemonade and tea, but no ice cream machine for shakes — darn!
In addition to the new dining options, the lounge areas have been improved and the WiFi even seems to be faster. There are now a few big TVs playing sports or news, and there are multitudes of outlets for your charging needs.

This place has a good mix of cuisines and styles of food. There’s nothing spectacular, but it is a nice change when you get tired of hospital cafeteria food. The majority of patrons are medical students, healthcare workers, or hospital support staff, and weekdays from 12 – 1 are always the busiest time (and the best time for people watching).
Lunch options: Sushi, soups, salads, BBQ and Mexican food + Starbucks. Most meals will run you around 6 – 10 bucks plus the cost of a drink, chips, cookie, and/​or other accoutrement. Both indoor and outdoor seating is available.
Personal highlights: the Mexican line is delish. Love their taco salad, and they have multiple veg options with yummy things like spinach, mushrooms, and obvi lots of cheese.
Parking is wherever you can find it in the TMC, generally the garage for MDACC or TIRR.

I realize this is the only starbucks near MD Anderson hospital, but the baristas’ got to have their act together.
Laughing and joking with each other while spraying their spit on my latte while making it.
Poor customer service. Starbucks should shut this one down.

The only food place I like in here is waterside café, the rest of the little food stalls aren’t that great and are pretty expensive!
I usually get the turkey burger with fries at waterside café, you can never go wrong with that.

So this time I made it in time for stuff being open. I tried the kim son that they had inside. I got pepper steak and general tso’s chicken. with fried rice. It came out to be close to 10 bucks. I had like 3 pieces of steak and 4 pieces of bad chicken. the rice was ok but nothing spectacular. it went up from 1 star because i actually got food this time instead of only having starbucks. im staying away from here. this place makes me so angry im refusing to use the shift key.

The Common’s USED to have the best food in the TMC. The restaurants inside (mexican, mediterranean, chinese) were run by the Hugo’s group, except sometime over the summer of 2008 they lost their lease, or got bought out or something. Previously, they had the best mexican food– fresh corn tortillas, amazing roasted chicken, delish lime dressing for salads. It was like Hugo’s food, except for less than $ 10. Now the mexican food inside Commons is little better than Taco Bell, and the salad bar is a joke. I’d rather go to Souper Salads! Actually, I’d just avoid both of them.
So, now the options inside are: Mexican, pasta bar, salad bar, Chinese food, sushi, pizza, Starbucks, and Waterside. They also have some ‘to-​go’ options which are just the salads from the salad bar pre-​made. The bakery is gone now, so the only worthwhile places are Waterside (sandwiches, soups, salads) and Starbucks (which doesn’t accept Starbucks gift cards). Waterside has a mean portabello sandwich, and amazing string fries. Everything else– the sushi and pizza, suck big time. Just avoid them all and go to Luby’s in BCM!

The commons is not what it used to be since it’s management switched to a cafeteria company in the summer of 2008. Now it’s cafeteria food at gourmet prices. They have nice signs with pretty pictures, but this isn’t what you are going to get to eat.

I’d put the Commons in the top 3 places to eat in the Medical Center (the other two being Methodist’s cafeteria and Ben Taub’s McDonalds). There’s awesome selection and reasonable prices. For instance, there’s a Mediterranean food place where you can get hummus, tabouleh, falafel, and a Greek salad for ~$ 7. The pizza’s awesome… I got a small roasted garlic and spinach pizza that was the *perfect* amount of food and rather delicious. They also have sushi, a bakery (with delicious carrot cake), Chinese, a grill type place, and a Starbucks. If you’re in the Medical Center and need some food, check it out.

In the Texas Medical Center to visit a sick friend or relative? Getting close to lunch and no one can agree on what to eat? Stop by the food court on the first floor of the McGovern Parking garage, located between St. Luke’s and Methodist hospitals.
There are several different fast food stops so that everyone in your group is happy. Choices include a burger joint, Mediterranean, Chinese, Vietnamese, Mexican, pizza, and a bakery. The drink prices are high as they are controlled by the TMC ($ 1.79 for a 20oz diet coke), but the food is reasonable and the convenience is worth it. Outside is a gorgeous water wall/​fountain and mammoth seating for great people watching. There is even a florist, so you can pick up a flower arrangement for Aunt Millie’s hospital room on the way out!