Northern Lights Cafe

Please bring back the old type of salmon. They recently used different type of salmon that just to dry and bland; it’s also thinner than the old one. I used to be filled up with their typical 1 main + 2 sides entrée, but with this I am not even half full. I am getting way less for the same price now plus the taste is awful.

Tips from a graduate student’s experiences:
— Frozen yogurt is overpriced but delicious.
— Finding a seat is a daily game of chance.
— Free water station is a great way to rehydrate during your day.
— Good place to study if the constant movement of people is excellent background noise for you (this works for some).

They have a separate area where you can get FROYO with toppings and coffee/​pastries. Prices are pretty standard and there is a main area with pizzas, pastas, cold options, sandwiches.
I’ve had the Italian and veggie Greek. A small sandwich is 3.99 so it’s a pretty good deal. You can also get soups and salads by weight. Lots of outdoor and inside seating and there is a fireplace inside for people who are cold

As a south campus major, I hate to say this, but north campus beat us on this one.
Starting with the food, my favorite place to grab a quick (although sometimes not so quick) lunch is at the pizza place. They make your pizza on the spot! As you can tell, that might take a while if they have a lot of orders, especially during lunch time. However, the price is unbeatable. For around $ 3.50 (I believe it’s 25 cents more if you want their specialty pizza), you can get a decent individual pizza that is generous on the cheese and the toppings. They cut it up into four slices, and it always starts to fill me up by the end of the third slice.
Also you must try The Lighter Side at least once. They promote healthier choices for lunch, I suppose, looking at the name. I got their chicken entrée platter which is only $ 6.50! Fish is one dollar more. The platter comes with your meat and two sides of your choosing. I got the broccoli and sweet potato mash the last time I went. The chicken was phenomenal. For some reason, these UCLA owned places always cook their meat right. The thigh I got was nice and tender and deliciously juicy.
There is also a nice fireplace to eat at. Very popular to eat around during the winter, but usually the seats you avoid during the spring. Don’t try putting your laptop or anything by the fireside though because it will be blazing hot in a few minutes!
Although the walk here from south campus is long, bombshelter really has got nothing on this.

I made a stop at the Northern Lights Café today. I had some vegetarian lasagna and an Ice Blended Mocha drink. The lasagna and mocha drink were okay. I’ve had pizza and made salads here before, which were okay too. I only recommend you make a stop here if you’re in the area (I prefer dining at UCLA’s Ackerman Student Union building for more food variety).
Note: I liked that while I was dining today at Northern Lights, a song by Amy Winehouse, Adele, and Etta James played.

A super cozy and nice place to study in, especially when it’s relatively empty although if you stay too long, you probably will smell like a panini.
I almost always get a Caramel Latte or an Iced Coffee when I’m here, both of which are fairly decent.
However, the excellent customer service is what keeps me coming back. After a long day of classes, I shuffled in to Northern Lights for some coffee to help me get on that study grind. As I walked up to the counter, I was met with the dazzling smile of one of the workers, Monica. The smile alone melted all my stress and pain away AND she made me the best Caramel Latte with two shots of espresso and soy milk of my entire life. I swear, that latte helped me get A’s on all my midterms.
Another favorite barista of mine is Arvin. Arvin always has a charming smile on and is extremely friendly. His coffee skills are also pretty good but Monica makes the best lattes ever.
¹⁰⁄₁₀ would recommend for good coffee, studying, and great customer service.

Northern Lights Café is a godsend from ye heavens above.
It is said in mythological folktale that there was once a UCLA campus without a place to order $ 3.50 personal pizzas, $ 5 pasta, and $ 6.50 chicken meals. That there existed a time where a fireplace seating area did not exist. They were dark, dark times; it’s a wonder anyone survived such an era.
Anyways, I hands-​down come here because of the pizza. It’s one of the best food deals on campus: $ 3.50 for a pizza and $ 3.80 for the special toppings they offer each day. You go up, and sometimes some are made and warm for you, but you can order one fresh, and it only takes about five minutes to come out of the oven. It’s marvelous, and they actually taste fantastic.
I have also ordered a chicken leg with veggies meal here, and it’s pretty good overall. It’s not the most special thing in the universe, but I love to come here after a tough midterm or something and treat myself.
The fireplace they have here is one of the coolest spots at UCLA. On particularly cold days, it is insanely warm next to it. Sometimes it gets way too hot next to the fire, though, so you have to just adjust based on what you like.
I have studied for everything from Japanese Civilization to Computer Science here, and I have eaten more pizzas than probably healthy. In any case, this is a wonderful place, and it’s a shame the cavemen and cavewomen of UCLA once had to go without this sanctuary. I just wish it were open for dinner!

Northern Lights combines below-​average brewed coffee and espresso drinks with lousy reheated paninis, day-​old sushi, and unenthusiastic service. In other words, it’s about what you’d expect from food service at UCLA.
If you just need a quick caffeine pick-​me-​up on north campus, Northern Lights will do, but barely. The food, though, makes McDonald’s look appealing in comparison.
At least there are usually plenty of places to sit and do some work, including a nice fireplace for those chilly mornings.

Come at 11am for lunch anytime later it gets super packed
Its basic food for a college campus. Over priced mediocre salad and things.

But given the limited and poor selection of on-​campus (excluding dining hall) food, this place is pretty good and has more to offer than the typical on-​campus café. The space itself is pretty large and there are lots of tables inside and outside. It’s too bad that they are closed on weekends. There is little reason to come here unless you are a UCLA student, faculty, or staff. There’s a pay-​by-​weight salad bar, pizza counter, sandwich counter, hot foods counter, chili, soup du jour, soda fountain, refrigerated bottled drinks, and off-​the-​shelf grocery snack items. Given the choices, I’m a happy camper.

Worst service ever. Not very friendly, and the place reeks of grease that clings to your clothes. It took me 20 mins just to get my coffee, knowing that other people who ordered after me happened to receive their order before me. And to top it off they gave me the wrong order so i had to wait an additional 10 mins.

Ok. I gave this place another chance because I forgot the latte I made in the morning at home. So instead of passing out during class, I decided it’d be better if I just got something from Northern Lights.
I was wrong.
25 minutes for my nonfat short latte. They asked me 20 minutes into my waiting what I ordered, and the girl who spoke to me looked around for my order in the cups they were brewing. Of course, it wasn’t there, so she then wrote my order on the cup and I got my latte 5 minutes later. At least if you know someone’s been waiting a long time and that you messed up (mind you, probably 15 people got their coffees before me and ten of them ordered after me), you should give them a bigger size to compensate for that. Nope! Wouldn’t expect that from this place. I’m a pretty patient person and I don’t give people trouble. All I want is that they make my order in a timely manner so I can get on with my day.
Also, why is it that they don’t write your names on the cups? Several people were confused when they were calling out the coffee. it’s a huge mess and everyone just waits until the workers come to clarify which orders are for whom.
By the way, my latte wasn’t even hot when I got it. I suspect it’ll stay warm for another 30 minutes before it goes cold.

5 stars for the pizza. It’s honestly the best pizza I’ve had in LA, and I should clarify that I’ve only had pizza at a few places — johhnys new york, ciceros, pizza hut, and I dont remember what else. But it’s also $ 3.50 and its filling (650 calories).
You wouldn’t really come here unless you had a reason to be at UCLA, but if you are during the day, its worth checking out. Their healthy light fare café is also pretty good too (the name escapes me but its right next to the pizza spot in northern lights).

Thank you for being a decent café on campus with a variety of pastry and drink options.
No thank you for the lukewarm drinks, the insanely long lines, wait times, and burnt coffees.
If you’re expecting an amazing coffee hut on campus, you’re absolutely mad.
If you’re expecting an answer to your 8:00a.m./mid-afternoon bouts of desperation, you’re spot on.

The first time I came here for a Vanilla Latte, I was pissed. They gave me a Café Latte instead and I was drinking away in bitterness studying in YRL…
But I forgave them. Because before that cup of caffeine, I was dying. Exhausted. About to collapse. But Northern Lights created something magical that gave me the strength to continue to study, and so has every other latte I’ve gotten here after.
In fact, I am sipping on my $ 3.30 medium Vanilla Latte with Half & Half milk as I write this review after 3 hours of sleep. I have faith that the caffeine is going to kick in any second now and I’ll start pulling Chinese characters out of my … memory in preparation for my final even though I am super tired.
The only place on campus I’ll go to for my caffeine fix. I don’t care if people say all the cafes on campus have same coffee! NORTHERN LIGHTS IS THE ONLY ONE I CAN DEPEND ON! I LOVE YOUUUU, NORTHERN LIGHTS :3.

I like the foods here. The bbq chicken pizza from one of the restaurants is not so bad and could be comparable to CPK.
There are a lot of seatings inside and outsie. People like to eat inside a lot and the whole building feels so stuffy. If you like fresh air during your meals, there are tables outside as well. There are many options to choose from and sometimes it gives me headache not knowing what to order. They have frozen yogurt and a small pastry shop but the prices are unbearably high.
I like to use my bruincard when i eat at ucla restaurants. But do know your balance or else, you look like a fool ordering a bunch of food and having no $ to pay for it.

I mostly go to the café to pick up coffee. The baristas there are usually nice and friendly. One time, my coffee was lukewarm though so I heated it at one of the microwaves on campus. It’s louder at the café section than the student center next to the eatery. The North Campus Student Center itself is a nice place to study. The North Campus Eatery has a soup, salad bar and pizza open when I get there in the evening. Chili was OK, a bit too salty for my taste.

I’ll give you another star today, Northern Lights.
Had Frozen Yogurt at the actual Northern Lights Café today & it was 2 star worthy. Vanilla bean wasn’t that great, it needs a boost of sweetness or something. I added kiwis as a topping & they weren’t even ripe! Hard kiwis on my Frozen Yogurt?! Come on, guys. Why would you even make that an option if the kiwis aren’t even delicious?
Shortly after, I had a real lunch in the North Campus eatery & got a garden burger at the grill. Today they offered sautéed mushrooms & grilled onions as free add-​ons on your burger along with BBQ sauce. Made the garden burger so much better, 4 stars worthy.
Saw they had potato dill soup offered today. Steered clear from that, I’ve learned my lesson.

I went here because you get a coupon for 1 free pizza with your ASUCLA tag when you buy text books. We were there at 1 ish on a Wednesday after noon and they RAN OUT of Pizza! They need to get their act together. Don’t they know UCLA students flock to free food like teenage girls to the Jonas Brothers!
anyway, I went back on Friday and got my free slice. and It was okay. nothing great.

I only came to the North Pole because I had a serious fro-​yo craving and was way too lazy to walk to the village. Don’t do it! The yogurt is incredibly expensive, nothing tastes remotely like the flavor it claims to be, and it has a weird aftertaste. A small cup was $ 2.60, and a stingy amount of one topping was an extra 75 cents. I couldn’t even finish it, and not because of the portion size. The only reason it hasn’t gone out of business like the other 4,000 yogurt shops in Westwood is that it’s on campus for lazy or time-​pressed people like me.
If you skim over this review, just read this: Don’t do it!