Court of Sciences Student Center

A good place to chill in between classes or in between experiments. However, as a human, I require a certain level of cleanliness that this place does not always provide. Please consider that, before you come.
On a side note, there’s lots of food and lots of seats, so you probably can avoid the dirty tables.

This was an ambitious project, and given the challenges of building something in a bureaucracy like UC, I think they pulled it off.
My complaint and the source of my two star rating is the coffee. My experience lines up with all the other coffee reviews here: it’s terrible. If there’s low traffic it’s just luke warm, as they don’t bother taking the temperature or keeping it fresh. It’s weak coffee, bought from an industrial supplier. You need to add an espresso shot for it to taste halfway like normal coffee. Again: it’s awful. I’ve worked here for years and for years I’ve suffered through their garbage coffee.
What’s remarkable is that in California, with a student population of tens of thousands, ASUCLA refuses to treat the students as a market and allow even a tiny bit of choice. What’s even more remarkable is that coffee is something that helps us WORK, and, at this place of academic excellence, that work fuel belongs in a dump.

So back in the old days, as in 4 – 5 years ago, we used to have the bombshelter. It had good food, and nice trees and outdoor sitting area.
Now we have the fancy-​shmancy, green, pretty (ish) CSSC that is surrounded by useless yellow and dry native plants that make me feel like I’m in the middle of the Mojave dessert and a bunch of crappy food. They had good intentions that didn’t pay off. Yes, I still go here and I only get Subway, because the other three places are worthless. The student run Bombshelter bistro at least used to have breakfast. The crepes were really good. So they had to get rid of them. No more crepes, no more love from me. They’re slow and the food is meh. No, it’s not horrible, but it’s boring and doesn’t inspire me to wait in line for 20 minutes. Oh, and it’s also expensive. Thank you, but no thank you.

Compared to what this place used to be, this student center is beautiful! And not only is this place easier on the eyes, but it is also super green. The food establishments inside are dedicated to green practices, so you can feel good about yourself while you chow down on your meal. There is a pretty diverse range of food venues to choose from: Subway, Yoshinoya, Fusion (a fusion taco/​burrito place), and Bombshelter Bistro. There is also a student market and a coffee kiosk outside.
There are some issues with this place, though. During lunch hour the place is super packed! Good luck trying to find somewhere to sit. Also, the wait for food takes forever. The bathrooms are large and spacious, but I think there isn’t any cooling system in there because they were always super stuffy and hot.
Overall, this is a decent place to go eat or study if you’re around south campus. But plan accordingly! Because this is also one of the only places to get food around here… so it gets super packed.

Great spot to sit outside or inside for lunch on the UCLA campus. There are tons of chairs outside and plenty of spaces for shade if you don’t want to be on the sun. For the amount of people that sit here, it is surprisingly not very loud. You can grab coffee at southern lights or a lite snack at the snack bar inside. There is Subway, Yoshinoya, Fusion and Bombshell Bistro inside the building to grab some lunch. All offer typical lunch options that can get repetitive, but the atmosphere is nice nonetheless!

Now that the old Bombshelter is gone, I’ll actually wander over to this area for some lunch occasionally. What was once greasy burgers and overpriced sandwiches is now overpriced sandwiches and a few other choices, like the mediocre yoshinoya and subway. The only saving grace IMO is Fusion, where you can actually get something slightly different each day of the week. The seating areas are more open now, just don’t go between noon and 1p or you’ll be SOL for finding a table!

To sum up this renovated student center:
–oOooOoo pretttty!
-…what the forever waiting in confused Yoshinoya/​Subway line…
–Yay horrible coffee
–Yay expensive small plated dishes from Bombshelter Bistro
–Awkward tiny mini student store with 2 cash registers (1 will do…)
–Subway, Y U NO HAVE $ 5 FOOTLONG DEAL? (They’re here now, we can all calm down.)

If you a a student in any of the health sciences at UCLA, this is probably the closest food court to you, and it’s not a bad option to eat at lunch! This place is also commonly known as the Bombshelter
The restaurants they have here include: Yoshinoya, Subway, Bombshelter Bistro, and an Asian fusion restaurant (as well as a convenience-​store and Southern lights coffee right outside)
If you are in the mood to splurge a bit, definitely try out Bombshelter Bistro! I had a shortrib sandwich, and it was simply amazing. the portion was huge, and it was overall very flavorful, but my total bill did come out to be around $ 10…which for a student, that amount can buy you a value pack of ramen and feed you for a week.
CAVEAT: This place is SWARMING with students by noon… if you hate the sun, this is not the place for you since you are guaranteed NOT to find any tables… unless you have some undergrad friends (which I do not)

As a new grad student arriving at UCLA this year, I found it obnoxious that I had to walk all the way over to Ackerman every day for lunch or for a nice place to sit with friends and have a snack. So I was very excited when the new «Bomb Shelter» (as this student center is colloquially referred to) opened. Some restaurants, a small convenience store, a coffee place, and plenty of indoor and outdoor seating.
And while this student center has definitely lived up to its promise of being a great break and lunch time hang out area that is central to the science buildings on South Campus, it’s definitely lacking in terms of the food available. Two of the four restaurants within the center are run by UCLA dining, with predictably recurring and blasé food. The other two restaurants are Subway (meh) and yoshinoya, which I’ve never been to but makes the entire area smell like boiled chicken… gross.
In conclusion, the space is very nice to have, but the food options leave much to be desired.
Oh well, I’ll take it for the time being.

This is for the UCLA operated restaurants (Fusion and the Bistro).
Admittedly the new building is nicer (read: cleaner; for now) than the old Bombshelter.
For vegetarian options, Fusion and the Bistro have a few choices. Fusion has rotating flavors, but always in the same styles: tacos, lettuce cups, burrito/​wrap and sandwich with choice of tofu, chicken or beef. On a given day, the flavors are basically identical, but you choose the form. If you want more than 5 tortilla chips, you should ask. The food tends to be poorly constructed, so get extra napkins.
The Bistro has some tasty vegetarian sides and a really good (albeit greasy) veggie patty melt.
Expect to wait awhile for your food at both Fusion and the Bistro, despite that they both seem over-​staffed. Is it really necessary for there to be one person whose sole purpose is to lay out plates in a line?
Other than that, the layout of the ordering areas is horrible and crowded.
For the volume of food you get, both restaurants are a bit expensive, but it’s nice to have a restaurant in South Campus again.

VERY NICE UPGRADE.
Hooray for having something in south campus after the absence of Bombshelter.
Minus one for the ambiguous lines though. I literally cut a bunch of people because I thought they were waiting to receive their food, but they were really waiting to place their orders in. I just walked up and ordered. Whoops.
Also, I’m really sad that the food trucks are now gone. I looked forward to the Grilled Cheese Truck every single time it came to campus and now no more! To be honest, I preferred the food trucks a lot more. It gave me an opportunity to try all so many different ones and it brought life to Court of Sciences. Now the area is barren, but from afar, it looks more like a college campus.
Not a fan of Subway or Yoshinoya so I’m not overly excited that they’re on campus now. Bombshelter Bistro is pretty solid though I went one day around 6pm and they had ran out of turkey for the day. Fusion looks lackluster, but I’ve yet to try it.
Regardless, SCSC is a nice addition to south campus, but I didn’t miss Bombshelter or this place when the food trucks were around. Just another go-​to place for those in south campus, but let’s be honest, nothing special. It just looks really nice.

People probably don’t really care too much about reviews on places on campus, so I’ll just leave a little tip for the Bombshelter noobs :]
THERE ARE OUTLET PLUGS UNDER THE YELLOW BAR THING AT THE SEATS NEXT TO THE WALL.
If that wasn’t clear enough, you know those seats that are in a row that face the translucent glass walls? There’s a yellow thingie that just goes across the wall. On the under side, there are plugs for every 2 seats.
BAM!
Now you can study all day while eating Subway (but there are no more $ 5 footlongs :[ booooo)

It’s been too long since I first tried the Bombshelter! I am glad it is finally opened again. This place is newly renovated and it’s a go-​to place for students/​faculty that are near the South campus.
They have a coffee place, Yoshinoya, Subway, and 2 other places that sell burritos, sandwiches, soups and salads. There are also vending machines located outdoors if you want some chips, drinks, and coffees. They also have a student store to buy snacks. It gets super crowded and busy especially during the lunch hours.
I only got to try the chicken burrito so far. I thought it was not bad. It’s a smaller version of a Chipotle burrito. It comes with black beans, avocado, red cabbage slaw, and a choice of meat. They also serve Banh mi there too. But they don’t use baguettes; they use those subway breads The prices are very reasonable though. I wanted to get Yoshinoya today but the line was ridiculous.
If you are a student, you won’t get charged for tax. UCLA students, try this place if you haven’t already!

Pros:
— REAL food in Fusion and Bombshelter Bistros that both have rotating menus. (Bistro does, just pay attn).
— REAL plates and cutlery
— Open late (10 pm except for Fusion which closes around 2:30).
— Fusion is generally good but their latest Mediterranean fusion was a bust.
— Bombshelter bistro is generally good but there are a lot of items I don’t like.
— Beautiful (nice design UCLA!)
— Subway
Cons:
— Yoshinoya… ughh whoevery allowed this atrocity on campus should be taken out back. I hate BS Asian food i.e. BS teriyaki + rice… then again the person who allowed Panda on campus should also be taken out back. YIKES.

It’s amazing how this place was transformed from the crappiest place to eat on campus to one of the coolest. Oh wait, it only took them 2 plus years to do it. But now, everyone is bragging about the eco-​friendly LEED certified new food court.
Subway, Yoshinoya, and Bombshelter Bistro are all good for lunch if you can beat the current lunch crowd. But the fusion café with a rotating menu that’s suppose to replace the weekly food trucks? I got to roll my eyes on that one!

Before this new Student Center opened up, there were really only two kinds of foods offered at UCLA: food that was too greasy and fatty (Carl’s jr, Sbarro, Rubios, Panda Express) or food that was too healthy (curbside, greenhouse). This new student center is pretty great because it gives students more options in the middle:
– Yoshinoya
– Subway
– Fusion (another mediocre and overpriced ASUCLA production)
– Bombshelter Bistro (another mediocre and overpriced ASUCLA production)
– Southern Lights Coffee (another mediocre and overpriced ASUCLA production)
– a small student store that sells soda and snacks (another mediocre and overpriced ASUCLA production)
So basically… Yay for Subway and Yoshinoya!!! Now when I want food on campus and I don’t feel like eating greasy fast food that can predispose me to cardiovascular disease, I can head over to the new student center and get some better options.
I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a fan of this place opening up, especially since I had to put up with the construction for years. BOO for budget cuts and increasing student tuition, but YAY using ‘allocated’ funds to reconstruct and build new things [such as 4 new dorms, Pauley Pavilion, Rieber Feast, a UCLA hotel]!

Yay! Another place UCLA has renovated … and another place they renovate the year I’m about to leave. GREAT TIMING, UCLA. :(
Anyway, if you guys never saw the previous structure, it was quite a mess. Originally called the bomb shelter, this place is probably as south campus as you’re gonna get. I didn’t know this was gonna open this year until I heard via mouth that this place has Yoshinoya and Subway. :O REALLY?! ON CAMPUS?!
5 stars for the awesome eateries (4 restaurants: Yoshinoya, Subway, Bistro, and an asian fusion place) and awesome modern décor (it’s new, so everything is clean). It also has a small convenience shop and coffee stand near the entrance/​exit. Now, ackerman won’t be as crowded for the lunch rush.
WARNING: THIS PLACE IS CROWDED — it’s BRAND SPANKIN’ NEW, so don’t expect a short wait. Although I got my Yoshinoya within 20 minutes? Much better than the Subway line –_​_​_​–
Also, a friend told me that the bistro place doesn’t give you a good portion for your money, so just watch out!
P. S. There’s not much seating inside, so you’ll probably have to find another place to it. But who cares. WE HAVE YOSHINOYA AND SUBWAY ON CAMPUS NOW. :)

Oh wow! I thought I’d be the first one to review about this place. Anyway, this used to be called a Bomb shelter, and now it has a much more sophisticated label — Court of Sciences Student Center.
The UCs always say they run out of money and stuffs, but they keep building new places on campus. This student center was expected to be opened in Summer 2012, but it was opened to the public yesterday while they still underwent construction the day before. No more food trucks [tears].
The architecture is very modern. The roof, the wall, the glass divider, the floor, everything create the feeling of coolness while it is burning hot outside.
There are a snack shop, Yoshinoya, Subway, an Asian Fusion pan kitchen, and an upscale American Bistro. I didn’t bring my wallet today so I have to come back soon to try either the Asian or the American bistro ones since I am not a big fan of the other two and I don’t eat junk foods.
4 stars for the facility!

UCLA’s replacement for the bomb shelter has finally opened and looks to be running smooth.
This review will be for the facility itself.
The décor is very modern, with lots of clean, simple lines, and ample use of silver. The lighting and furniture do serve to warm up the place a bit, so it’s not just industrial looking. They are also pushing a Green theme, not color-​wise, but environmentally wise.
There are 4 eateries: Yoshinoya, Subway, Fusion (pan Asian cuisine with a rotating menu), and Bistro («gourmet» New American). Complementing these eateries is a small convenience store, and a tiny coffee shop booth.
Seating was plentiful, with a half inside and half outside configuration.
All in all, a marked improvement facility-​wise from the dilapidated bombshelter, and for that, 4 stars.