University Club

They stepped it up! Now this place is always busy. Good for them. Only healthy option of good healthy food on campus!

Chicken Pene Pasta Today!!! Yummy!

Good food, love their soup! I order it all the time. Pretty filling and one of their cheapest lunch options. But the salmon is on point.
I usually order to-​go because they are usually super busy. If you call in ahead for take til out, even better.

Horrible service, the people working there deliberately don’t make eye contact as to not help you. I was embarrassed because I was at an international conference held here on campus and some of the panelist came in and the staff were just awful. My experience was that I had to ask for my drink half way through lunch because no one ever came by, not even to give me water, and then the waitress was bothered with me instead of apologizing to me. Management must do something about this. Management needs to train it’s people on basic customer service. I’m very put off by all of this.
On a positive note, turkey cobb salad was decent and tropical ice tea ok.

Decided to have a nice lunch with a group of friends and we were all looking forward to it. It took them over an hour and a half to get our food. When it finally came out my soup was cold and the salad that they brought me was not what I ordered. While we waited for our food to arrive we asked several times if we could have some bread and they did not bring it. They were rude and seemed bothered. The place has potential, but they need to improve their costumer service.

Love this place. Their salads are amazing!!! The only downside is that they close way to early. Would love to try other things on their menu.

I went here yesterday for the first time in a long time and I gotta say, I was so impressed!
The service was ON POINT, I was seated quickly, and my waitress was very attentive even with the place being busy.
I have tried the grilled cheese special a couple times (I went again today) and both times it was very good.
Will definitely be back!

While I was taking classes at Cal State LA, I would dine here a few times with a few of my fellow classmates and really enjoyed the food here. Too bad I did not discovery this place until my last school year being at CSULA, but am glad that I did get a chance to dine here.
University Club is located at the student union and the food served is fine dining I would say and is actually quite affordable. This hidden gem is open to students, staff, visitors. Each time I have dined here, the service has been acceptable (not overly attentive, nor under as well).
Every time I dined here, I would always get whatever the special meal of the day was (their daily specials are always posted on a chalkboard) and it was always well received by myself and my friends. Portion size of the featured entrees were also a good amount, I never left hungry.
This place is never busy when we would come (I never dined here alone). We would always come around noon to 1 pm.
The complementary rolls were wonderful by the way.
Also thought I would mention that a club on campus I was apart of have had the University Club cater our event a few times and the food was well liked. I have also been to an event that was help at the University Club for the club I belonged to and the staff were accommodating.
Overall, University Club is a great place to eat if stuck on campus and you did not bother to bring your lunch.

The only reason I’m giving this place 2 stars are:
1) Ridiculously cheap alcoholic drinks ($ 5 for mixed, $ 3 for beer) that will make you wanna turn up before class. (Jk, but seriously, it’s like happy hour at this place from open to close)
2) Their borderline customer service. Sometimes they’re nice and friendly, sometimes they’re «okay» and just want to hand you your food so you can leave.
My favorite here was the pesto penne pasta with grilled chicken. It’s so mouth-​watering delicious that I ate that while the salmonella outbreak was happening. Downside of it is that it costs $ 12 for a medium sized plate so if you’re hungry, this place isn’t the best place to go unless you’re ballin with Benjamins. I’m probably over-​exaggerating but since I’m a college student that pays for important stuff like bills, I can’t afford to eat here everyday.
Another thing that knocks off a couple of stars is their breakfast program. The burritos that they sell are $ 3, cheap and not the best quality but it does the job of not making you pass out of starvation. They sell them with different varieties of meat everyday but the thing is… There’s barely any meat in there. Don’t try selling a steak burrito if it only has one small piece of steak and the rest are eggs. You’re advertising a steak burrito without steak… What is up with that? Do you just like leaving your hungry customers with false hopes? Anyways, besides the drinks, this place could use a touch up and maybe then they’ll get a lot more customers.

Last week I ate here for the pasta, I usually get the penne pasta but this time it was really salty.
The breakfast burritos are pretty good, for the price. But I did ask for a steak burrito and it was just all egg. I’m not sure if they mistaken for the vege burrito or they just put no steak at all.

I was taken here by my office staff for a little goodbye lunch. Service was unbelievably slow. The place was packed and servers seemed to be doing the best they could. Simply not enough staff to handle the volume of customers.
Veggie burger and fries were DELICIOUS! Come here if you have plenty of time to wait.
Food: 4 Stars
Service: 2 Stars
Averages to: 3 Stars

I wanted to like this place because it’s on campus and they sell alcoholic beverages. But what put me off completely was the gentleman who brought out our food and possible the cook. A friend and I noticed that after he gave another customer their food he grabbed his crotch scratching aggressively like if he was having an itch attack on his balls. First off no that’s gross you need to be fired! If you are able to do that in front of a customer with no consequences, it just makes me question what you do in the kitchen. Second dress the part as a cook not in your soccer uniform.
After closing it seems like their trying to rush you out by taking my unfinished plate and beer from our table. And then again the cook scratched his balls in front of all the customers in the dining area. But the worst thing is that this time his hands were actually in his pants. Does he have no shame? This university club needs to look at who they are hiring.
Yeah sure go for the drinks and unwind, but you have been warned about the cook and service.
Pros: cheap drinks on campus.
Cons: gentleman with the itchy balls.

I love coming to this restaurant to have a decent meal apart from all the fast food choices on Cal State LA’s campus. If you are a student here, they offer a 10% discount to you so it is definitely worth checking out this restaurant. They always have great daily specials but in addition, they also have great sandwiches at this place. Soup is also offered here but they only serve tomato basil soup. Don’t get me wrong, it is a great tasting tomato basil soup, but I can only have so much of this soup before I get sick of it.
In addition, they serve alcohol here! If you need to unwind a little bit before or after your classes, they have some good drink specials although I ordered a mixed drink here and was not impressed at all. Not only that, we were overcharged for our drinks considering our drinks were supposedly «specials.» If I had to order a drink next time, I would probably select bottled beer. You really can’t mess up bottled/​canned beer.

I’ve been a student at Cal State for 5 years (yeah yeah, budget cuts yada yada) now and have never tried out the University Club before. My boyfriend came to visit me yesterday on Valentines Day as I was stuck with midterms all day (mean, right!?!) and so I suggested we try out the Club for a quick drink.
It has a nice ambience inside, despite the paper table cloths. Heck, when you’re competing with El Pollo Loco and Sbarros it can’t be that hard right? It was pretty packed because it was Valentines Day but we were given menus and told to sit whereever we wanted.
It’s a nice quiet place, so it’s nice to go to if you want to sit down and eat quietly or catch up on work. There are TVs on the wall, but they are muted to add to your between class «relaxation».
The menu looked nice, and they have weekly lunch specials (11a-​2p I beleive). Prices were not bad at all. A burger meal was around $ 6.50, which is cheaper than Carls Jr. A side of fries was $ 2. Desserts ranged from $ 4-​$ 5. They had chicken and fish. I need to try out their food sometime.
The reason I came was ALCOHOL :)! Drinks were priced fairly; $ 2 for a Domestic bottle (a la Bud. or Bud. Light), Imports (Corona, Heineken, etc.) were $ 4, Wine was $ 4/​glass (no bottles) and mixed drinks (Adiós, Jack Daniels Lemonade, Margarita, etc) were $ 5. 2 Adiós’ cost us $ 10.88 pre-​tip and they were pleasantly strong. An hour or so later in class I was still feeling a very pleasant buzz and realized I needed to sober up quickly for my test.
Service was kind of a miss though. There were 2 – 3 girls working at the hostess stand, and one was a server. She was friendly, and when she realized our order hadn’t been taken she helped us out. She suggested several things off the menu (including the specials), and checked back which I appreciate, however it was clear that she couldn’t manage everyone by themselves. That’s the reason for the low (ish) review right now. I was thinking 2.5 stars, but the strong drink really helped bump them up to a 3. I’ll have to revisit to retest the service and generous pour.

This place was a lifesaver! A welcome break from the overload of books, studying and classes, this place was a quiet therapeutic place to come to for a good meal and relaxation! Plus they serve beer and you get a student discount :) the food is GOOD!
I have to say though that they have too many chipped cups and plates :/

4 years ago I would have easily given this place 5 stars. The crab cakes from here were excellent. The seafood linguini was to die for. Sigh.. . This place has fallen far from its original management. This used to be a sophisticated mid-​day fine dining venue. This just to be a culinary gem in the middle of a mediocre university.
Food ⁰⁄₅ stars
Now, on to the food. My steak was under-​seasoned and overcooked. I had asked for a medium rare steak and I received a well-​done slab. I had cut the steak straight down the middle hoping to find an iota of pink. Much to my dismay, there was none. The steak was supposed to be accompanied with pom frites and roasted vegetables. I received previously frozen fries and chopped steamed veggies.
Service ²⁄₅ stars
the server was nice and polite, but it took me 35 minutes to tell her about my crappy food because she only came by every 35 minutes.
Décor/​ambience ³⁄₅
Why are there 4 flat screen T. V’s in this small restaurant? Can’t I enjoy my food and casual conversation in peace?
On a high note, the entrée was comped and the tomato soup wasn’t half-​bad. Next time, if I’m hungry I think I will go to the food court.

First off, I am heavily biased towards any establishment that serves alcohol and allows me to smoke on a secluded patio on a school campus.
That being said, the hours here are very limited, something like only lunch hours its operational. Rumor has it that they do not let you drink more than 2 beers but I am going to go back next week to put that to the test.
I ordered the special of the day, which was some roast beef, mashed potatoes, and greens on the side. Well what do you know, the food was pretty damn good. Not the best I’ve had, but definitely better than some of the «high class» establishments I’ve walked into on the West Side.
Total came out to around 13.50 for a beer and a full plate of delicious food. Pricey, not really.
The service here kinda made me laugh. Not in a bad way of course, but you could definitely tell that they were almost all new to their jobs. Not that the service was anything short of great, but just something I noticed.
All in

I’ve eaten here a couple times while on campus and everytime it’s been great! I especially love the creamy tomato basil soup. At $ 4 a cup it’s still worth it in my opinion. Really rich and flavorful.
I’ve also gotten their creamy pesto bowtie pasta. Yummy, but they put a little too much sauce. I like a nice balance with cream sauce and pasta.
They have house made gelatos too which are pretty good.
You can call them up if you work on campus and get pick up. They also have daily specials and drink specials too. Come at least once if you’re visiting or attending CSULA. It’s a nice change from the fast food on campus that gets old after your first week of school.

I always forget that this place is here. I don’t know why. I think that I’m used to ‘real’ restaurants on college campuses being reserved for special occasions or banquets, receptions and retirement functions. It just doesn’t occur to me that it’s open daily.
The food is hit-​or-​miss. I’d say ²⁄₃ times, it’s pretty good… ¹⁄₃ times it’s not so great. I’ve had some very dry chicken here more than once… but also some really nice pesto sauce and amazing shrimp, so it’s a toss-​up. The setting is quite nice, again, especially for a university. The service, however, is where they kind of lose it. I’ve gotten very attentive service at banquets and receptions, but it seems that every time I come in for lunch for a no-​special-​occasion meal, the waitresses seem off their game. Have to repeat the order several times, they’re not particularly attentive with refilling bread, providing condiments, or even keeping water in the glasses… and it seems inevitably they’re standing in the corner chatting for most of the time we’re there… we have to flag them down aggressively to break up the conversation to get the check. Only having an hour to eat, I’m usually cutting it close, and 20 minutes of that is getting the check, paying, and getting my card back. They really need to train their students better about the importance of timing.
So… nice setting… good food some days… weak service… for an overall three stars.

«We have a RESTAURANT ON CAMPUS?!»
I was baffled myself when I realized that CSULA has a full fledge, sit down, I-​serve-​you, waiter restaurant with nice water glasses! It felt like some fine-​dine restaurant. but not! Plus they serve beer and wine! It’s a small selection, but you can actually drink on campus without getting in trouble for it. Not that I would do that.
This small restaurant, run by CSULA students is right next to the campus food court, across from the student store. You have the option to sit in doors or outdoors. My classmate, Louisa L., and I opted for indoor and sat down at our table, amongst other diners, whom I think were mostly faculty members. (Well, I think they were.)
We perused our menus and I got the Chef’s Half Sandwich Special ($ 8.95), which included my choice of any sandwich with a a cup or bowl of soup or ½ a salad (mixed greens or caesar). I chose the Smoked turkey (with bacon, avocado, lettuce, tomato and swiss cheese on wheat) and a caesar salad. The portions were rather large and I could barely finish my meal. I must say it was quite delicious and would certainly go back for it.
But I think next time I’d get the Blackened Salmon Salad ($ 11.50). My friend got that and it was mighty delicious (crispy salmon on the outside and moist in the inside. Or perhaps I will try one of their many other entrees like, pizza, burgers, wraps, grilled sirloin steak or penne pasta! Yes I know, I can’t believe this on campus restaurant has SO many options!
And of course we got dessert: Chocolate Ganache Cake with Chocolate Ice cream ($ 4.95). Chocolate goodness! I’m not really a chocolate person, but this was finger-​licking good! I also liked the chocolate shavings on the outside of the cake. It reminded me of the chocolate shavings on Cheesecake Factory’s red velvet cheesecake.
University Club gives you an alternative to the typical fast food you get at the food court of campus, and you can certainly find me here again (during lunch only since it’s open only M-​F 11am-​2pm.) It’s kind of pricey for on campus dining, but I think it’s worth it :)