Crossroads

As far as dining halls go, Crossroads is actually one of the better ones. This week we had $ 5 lunch for staff appreciation week. I went with my colleagues and we had the tilapia, gumbo, hot dogs, spicy waffle fries, and Neapolitan cake with a rolled wafer.
The food was good with the spicy waffle fries being the highlight at our table. If you want a variety of food, coming to the dining halls is a good choice. My colleagues and I ate at least two plates of food.

Being one of the dining commons at Cal means constant bashing at the quality of food but always a stream of customers regardless of what they’re serving that day. There is always plenty of seating so if you want to bring a group of 20, go for it as long as the freshmen have enough points they want to get rid of. I’m always a fan of their salad bar and I’m liking that they have infused water now. My favorite time to go eat here is brunch because of their made to order omelettes.

This food is shit, but it Phils you up. I think it’s pretty mediocre.
We tend to eat bad food and make bad decisions in our lives, but no matter what it seems like crossroads is there to remind us of our own failures.

Great salad bar, meaty/​fried dishes are good, but needs to work on more variety of cooked veggies. I became very tired of having zucchinis every single day.

The only time I enjoy going to Crossroads is for breakfast and even then, I only go for the Cal waffle maker and the occasional fruit. The vibe here is pretty cold and stale, due to the architecture, but if you go with friends, it can be a good time.

The food is either really bland, takes 30 minutes to get, or is out of stock. Also the online menu frequently does not match what they have, as you will figure out after paying around $ 9. Additionally, after paying for the buffet individually or paying for a meal plan, and after waiting in line for the food, you will be told that you can only have one slice or one piece of whatever they are serving. Sometimes, including as soon as they have opened, I have waited in line for 15 minutes for some chicken just to be told I have to wait in line again to get a second piece.
The workers also frequently have terrible attitudes. Some workers are extremely friendly and just by treating you like a fellow human being can make your experience there 10x better. However, a large portion of the employees at crossroads, mainly the non-​student workers, treat you so rudely. I understand their attitude though, many students who eat here are just as, if not more, rude to the employees. The result is a cycle of terrible behavior on both ends of the food station.
Overall, this place is aware of its flaws and does nothing to improve it because they know that students will always come to eat here because of the proximity to the dorms and campus or because of their meal plan. As a result, this play highlights how little active care is given to students once the students have already handed the school a check.

Like the sizzler but much, much shittier. All you can eat decent range of food. Pepper the hell out of the veggies and the fish is sketchy af. Chicken strip day is easily the best because it’s pretty hard to mess up chicken strips.

The Stages You Experience:
Week 1 — Oh my! The food here is pretty good. Glad I got a meal plan.
Week 3 — This still tastes okay.
Week 5 — Meh
Week 8 — OMG I am never eating this stuff again.
Week 10 — Did you know that Crossroads serves prison grade meat?
Week 17 — Why did I buy a meal plan? I have way too many points. Guess I’ll head over to Bear Market and buy random, overpriced snacks.

We came here during Family Weekend and I was surprised by how good the food was! It’s the biggest dining hall on campus so they’re frequently hosting events here. You have to have a meal plan or register with the event so you have access to the food.
The staff was super friendly!
There’s a Peet’s Coffee next door too :)

Only eat here if you have a meal plan and have to. Otherwise your wasting your money. Salmon is decent, and steak is decent sometimes. Otherwise not good at all.

My baby bros took me and Stephanie S. to Crossroads the last time we visited them in Berkeley, and I remembered why I’m glad I’m an adult now aka I can pay for good food. Poor (literally and figuratively) college students…
I actually remember dining at Crossroads when I was in college and thought it was just whatever. This time was no different. The slices of salmon and pork were very bland. Quesadillas looked flat and sad. The saving grace was the salad. (And when salad is the best part of your meal, you know something is off!) The line for the Mongolian noodles, which actually looked decent, was longer than the Great Wall of China so I didn’t even attempt it.
I do think it’s cool that you can check out what they’re serving for breakfast/​lunch/​dinner on their app though!

This place has a lot of variety but their food is just quantity over quality. I would prefer eating at another place if you could for its price. The «ramen» I got was just cold hard noodles mixed in with a soggy chicken with lukewarm miso soup. The miso soup was also overbearing with too much powder. I wouldn’t come here again.

Despite cafeteria food having a reputation for being unpalatable, Crossroads is pretty good. There’s quite a lot of variety, and I’m fond of the omelette and egg bar that they have for breakfast.
However, my biggest complaint is that they should, stop advertising items on the online menu that don’t happen to be in the dining hall that day. One morning, I went for the sausage links, only to be told there were no sausage links, only sausage patties. One afternoon, I went for blueberry pie, only to see that the only pies available were apple pies. I even asked the lady cutting pie if there was blueberry, because that was what the online menu listed, and she said there was no blueberry pie. That upset me, especially since I had been looking forward to it for lunch.
They have also increased their prices by $ 0.50 per meal. It was $ 9.00 for breakfast last year, $ 9.50 for breakfast now. $ 10.00 for lunch last year, $ 10.50 now. I know that sounds like a small increase, but for a college student, it adds up.
Also, over the summer, the selections are pretty much non-​existent, but the prices had increased. Lame.

Food isn’t really all that terrible. Berkeley students complain a lot but this dining hall is better than the one at Unit 3. Clark Kerr dining hall might serve slightly better food but the walk up there is not worth it, neither is the one at Foothill. Honestly, Crossroads offers a huge variety of food.
The salad bar is located on the first level, near the cereal station. Crossroads usually has two choices for the soup. Most of the time it will be black bean soup, chicken tortilla. Sometimes they might offer clam chowder but very rarely. The salad bar is comprehensive: lettuce, spinach, and mixed greens. Additions include: corn, cherry tomatoes, broccoli, peas, sunflower seeds, quinoa, tofu, cheese, edamame, etc. Pre-​mixed Greek salad with baby tomatoes, feta cheese, and balsamic vinaigrette dressing is offered occasionally.
The half-​level up contains all of the main courses. There is a section for hamburger/​hot dog and French fries (cuts varied almost every day), random section, vegetarian section, pasta bar, and sandwich bar.
During the regular academic year, the Asian station at the lower level to the right of the dining hall is open. In the summers, it is closed.
Finally, next to the cashier is a pizza bar. The pizzas are actually quite good and can be addicting. Flavors are rotate 4 at a time between pepperoni, cheese, sausage, combination, Hawaiian, and BBQ chicken.
Because this is Berkeley, know that all of their dining halls are moving towards zero-​waste! Only get what you know you can eat. If it’s not sufficient, you can always come back for more.
Best times to go: brunches are the best but lunches can be good, too.

Pizza is amazing. It’s freshly out of oven, and the melting cheese on top of each slice is amazing. The menu changes every single day, but you will quite catch lots of repetitions in their menus from day to day. I’ve often noticed that spaghetti noodles are too overcooked and flavorless.
The best day to check out this place is during brunch on weekend, because I think the food quality is slightly better in those days.

I feel kind of bad giving Crossroads 1 star, but in the end it sort of deserves it. If it weren’t for meal points, no one would ever step foot in this place, which says a lot.
I’ll just cover some highlights:
Pizza: The pizza is terrible. Honestly some of the worst I’ve ever had. It tastes like cardboard. Little Cesar’s is distinguishably better.
Main dishes: Most of the time the main meat dishes are uninspired and bland. Usually they aren’t inedible, just unenjoyable.
Themed nights/​dishes: These can seriously be the worst. They are really bad with ethnic food. Lowlights include gumbo that actually made me want to throw up, chow mien drowned in soy sauce, and curry pizza.
Brunch: They have an omelet bar, which is nice. Problem is it can often take 30+ minutes to get an omelet, which is ridiculous. That, and it can be really disappointing when the omelet chef is bad that day and totally screws up your omelet (happens enough to make it really annoying).
Late night: Late night is cool, I guess. The food’s okay for the most part. Nothing better than GBC. Late night as a separate entity gets ³⁄₅ for me.

The fine establishment we call Crossroads dot dot dot.
Been eating here for the past four year, entering my fifth soon. Let’s get it straight, Xroads is convenient for busy folks. The options do become repetitive once you’re here for quite awhile. They do try spicing up the menu every now and then (Fall 2014 was their worst menu cycling out of my years here).
A huge xroads snob since I have a free meal plan and force myself to eat here as often to save money. People do complain too much about it. It’s a DC after all. Based on convenient and taste, it’s not that bad. Have to assume take out from Asian Ghetto is probably either as or even more unhealthy than xroads.
Nothing to rave about, but for the prime location next to Unit 1, xroads delivers.

Out of all of the campus dining services this is the worst.

Ah, the infamous Crossroads… This place definitely places quantity over quality.
The main meal stations are a hit or miss (usually a miss for me). The food is not too well-​flavored, and more often than not, tastes just like generic cafeteria food. During peak hours, the lines get incredibly long for these stations, too. Fortunately, the menu goes online at the beginning of each day (at midnight) for what they will be serving for breakfast, lunch, and dinner — so you can review what they’re serving before you go!
When I’m uninterested in any of the food in the main stations, I usually turn to the pizza (about the same quality of Little Caesar’s) or the burger station to satisfy my cravings for savory foods.
The salad and fruit bars are by far the best sections here. The salad bar has everything you’d want, from baby tomatoes to celery sticks to tofu to couscous — and the ingredients are fresh! The fruit bar contains all kinds of fruit (oranges, grapefruits, apples, strawberries, cantaloupe, honeydew, plums, etc.) and they’re almost always fresh and juicy. In fact, the main reason I come here is for the nutritional value of the salad and fruit… As a college student, you don’t usually get the chance to eat these every day.
Since campus dining is very vegetarian and vegan friendly, Crossroads loves serving vegan desserts — but I can definitely tell the difference in the quality of taste. All the other desserts typically taste pretty average, similar to Safeway baked goods. The frozen yogurt dispenser isn’t too bad, though, and they have a few atypical flavors that are sometimes fun to try.
The atmosphere is nice and spacious, with high ceilings and huge windows (lots of light!). The workers themselves do their job well, but their attitudes are often curt and not too friendly.
**FOR LATE NIGHT A LA CARTE**: If this place served only late-​night, I would give them an extra star. It’s open 10pm-​2am Wednesday-​Sunday. If you brave the drunk post-​party line at 1am on Friday and Saturday nights, Crossroads offers many fried foods that are great for the late-​night munchies. The pricing isn’t great, but you won’t find many places that serve such a great variety of food until 2am.
Crossroads is a great eatery for groups of students (namely freshmen) with mealpoints. When you use cash ($ 2 more expensive), it’s not quite as worthwhile. If you eat a LOT and really enjoy salad/​fruit, you might look into trying this place out. For anyone else, I’d recommend going elsewhere.

I came to Crossroads a while back for my community college’s ’”Cal Shadow Day” quite some time ago on a Saturday afternoon. Shadow Day was the opportunity for prospective students in shadowing Cal students in the day of the life at UC Berkeley and being informed about its aspects and services offered to students. We were treated to a late-​afternoon lunch at Crossroads, one of the dining commons (DC) off the campus.
It was the transition time between lunch and dinner, so there were a few limited options and many of the stations were closed, like the Blue Plate station.
I sampled the pasta, pizza, and some of the Asian dishes. It was pretty bland, lacked flavor – to me, no flavor. Lacked love and spices, okay this is not one’s home kitchen. No flavor, kind of, sort of reminded me of bland hospital food. Is this what food in the dorms and the dining commons are supposed to taste like?
Salad bar is all right. Just know what you like and work with the offerings. Just my opinion, this is where they do redeem themselves.
I did get to sample the chocolate dipped strawberries and frozen yogurt. A-​OK there. Chocolate dipped strawberries were comparable to Godiva. The fro-​yo was just as good, though I will go for Yogurt Park or Yogurtland, which are located nearby.
I will say I am impressed with the interiors of Crossroads. Large, open, airy spaces. Great place for students to meet, mingle, and have study groups – definitely a communal and a community type of space. And a great place to give prospective students on groups a sample of what a Cal dining common is like.
Though I do not really see myself here during my time at Cal unless I am invited and somebody else picks up the tab or we use their meal points. All ‘n all, A-​OK. If anything, one’s parental unit need not worry about their college-​aged son and/​or daughter getting access to food to eat and meet people to socialize with at Cal.
Fresh Unilocal!Review #73 for 2013