Barrett

Best food on campus

If you have to choose an ASU dining hall, Barrett would be your best option. But I’d rather do fast-​food every day than have to eat there.
The food is average or even below-​average quality. While it looks like there are a lot of options, the dining hall essentially provides pizza, soup, and a few different pasta meals each night. The stir-​fry is always very popular at the beginning of the year, as it looks exciting and offers a customizable Asian lunch. But the sauces are all varying shades of watery soy sauce, and the lines quickly die down.
The kitchen workers seem to be untrained in how to cook (or, should I say, reheat) most of the food; several friends and I have gotten sick from undercooked hamburger or chicken.
As for food allergies: I have Celiac Disease and can’t eat gluten, and have found the dining hall to be horrible at managing that restriction. The food is all cooked in the same pan, so even if you ask for chicken without a bun or for the gluten-​free pizza crust, your food will be contaminated by allergens all the same. Coupled with the fact that the workers don’t switch gloves when handling special food, there’s basically no way to eat uncontaminated food in the Barrett dining hall unless you survive on a strict diet of fruit and Trix cereal.
But, I have to say that there are times when the food is genuinely good. Their chicken breast is great, and the fruit is always freshly-​cut. The salad bar has good options for toppings and sauces, and the ice cream bar cycles the available flavors.
And finally, my 2^nd star goes out to Mama Vicke, who does the card-​swiping. She (and the other ladies at the front) make visits to the dining hall so enjoyable. She’s always happy and laughing, and engages in conversation with the students while they wait. She remembers little details about all of our lives, like asking me how my boyfriend is or asking my friend how his company is going. She’s truly an angel sent down to make the ASU dining experience more livable. Barrett gets 2 stars for the smart decision to hire Mama Vicke.

The Barrett dining hall is definitely the best of the ASU dining halls. The most surefire meal is from the stir-​fry station, where you can pick your own vegetables, noodles, and sauces (extra sriracha, please!). My second choice is always the home-​cooked meal station, where they have 2 options for lunch and dinner (I love the chicken tikka masala and breaded chicken with pasta). Aside from this, they are almost always serving salads, soups, pizza, burgers, and sandwiches. Of course the dining hall cannot compete with some local restaurants, but is great as far as university dining goes.