Foothill

People love to hate on dorm food but foothill is actually not that bad. Decent quality and great value on food (simply because it’s all you can eat and you can keep going back for more) if you’re like me who usually eats one or two larger meals a day
The only complaint I have is that sometimes the lines are quite long especially for made to order items like the Mac and cheese bar or personal omelettes on the weekends

I’m only eating here because I have meal points here. It has a good selection of cereal, salad, pizza, and fruit. However most of the food here is bland and in the end just a cafeteria. However it’s a lot better than most cafeterias so in my mind it’s like an upgraded cafeteria 2.0.

Food isn’t that bad at this dining place, and I enjoyed stopping here time to time during my undergraduate. If you can afford to come here during late nights, they have the best steak combo you can experience.
The portions are just about right, and it has a good, comfy atmosphere. It is also at the quiet range among other dining places at UC Berkeley, so it feels more home-​like.

Among Cal Dining’s facilities, very few have developed their processes with the customer experience in mind. With that being said, Foothill Dining Commons is by no means a paragon of good food service, but it serves as a good starting point.
Firstly, there are many entrances into Foothill. You’ll know where to enter if you’ve been there before, but it’s not all that apparent.
The layout is by no means ideal. You swipe in your card, and you can choose to either go straight to the seating facilities or to the right to get food. Little known is the fact that there is another seating facility past the bussing station, both of which for some reason are located before the pay station.
What makes things all the better (or worse?) is that the restrooms are also before the pay station.
Wait, didn’t I say Foothill had a good customer experience?
I never said it was perfect, and in terms of space utilization and transparency, it’s completely terrible. However their shining grace is the fact that I can bus my food without having to separate utensils or toss food into compost. Yes, bussing is not optimal but I understand why it’s somewhat necessary, and it’s great that Foothill makes the process not all that terrible compared to other dining commons.
Plus, their Late Night offerings are bomb.
TIP: Late Night has different hours from Crossroads!

Tiny portions, unhealthy food, sticky tables, and complacent management. You might even get sick after eating here. According to an email from the campus health inspector Patrick Kaulback following a food poisoning incident, «…there was some concern about holding temperatures at the salad bar.»

I usually don’t write reviews for dining commons, because come on, they’re just for quick, express food. However, this place is probably the best experience for dining food. Foothill offers a homely, cabin style atmosphere. I feel like the cooks put more effort than the other dining commons, especially more than crossroads, sheesh. There are separate rooms too for more comfort. I would go here even if I didn’t have points

People love to hate on college dining hall food. Me, I don’t think it’s that bad. I ate at Foothill a lot last year and it was decent. Since they serve different things all the time, a critique of specific foods doesn’t make much sense, so here’s a collection of tips:
— The menu is online at Cal Dining, so you can see what’s being served before you get there.
— Sundays are Sundae Sundays. If it’s not Sunday, you can still get frozen yogurt from the sometimes-​working yogurt machine.
— The plates are really small, but it’s a buffet so just go through a few times.
— Don’t go at peak hours unless you like standing in long lines. Example: getting there at 6:10 — bad. Getting there at 6:50 — the lines will be super short.
— Monitor your meal point usage so you don’t end up with too much or too little by the end of the semester.

Currently drafting this review from my newly designated death chamber inside my unit 2 dorm. I barely made it to the bowl before my ass bursted with the flaming hot rage and madness that was created inside that god forsaken place. Terribly overcooked chicken, dried out pizza, and vegan cutlets that tasted like hockey pucks just made what was supposed to be a night of studying into a night of agony and suffering! Don’t eat at this pathetic excuse for a buffet dining hall. Save yourself the 8 points and get your cereal and salads from crossroads. May the Berkeley chefs have mercy on you all!

As a student living on the Northside of campus, there are only so many options to choose from when hunger strikes. My first option is to hit up the dining hall due to its overall convenience. Foothill’s dining hall is reputed to be the «best» dining hall of all the Berkeley dining halls
The dining area is fairly large, so finding a seat even in the busiest of hours won’t be a problem. The layout makes it pretty easy to talk to people while eating, making for a pretty warm and friendly atmosphere.
Other Unilocalers mentioned that the dining hall has a cabin-​like feel; I concur. High ceilings and a mostly wooden interior definitely give off a lodge/​cabin vibe, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Makes it feel a little dated, especially when one eats at a place like Crossroads, but definitely not a negative factor. In the back section of the dining area, there is a group of couches in which one could kick back while eating dinner, adding to the lodge feel.
The food itself… not much to say. I give approval to the ingredients which go into the food; most of them are noted as organic, and there are vegan/​veggie options as well. I mean, offering those options should be expected, but offering a menu that’s centered around organic ingredients is a plus. The menu offers a pretty good variety of different kinds of food (anything from Mexican to Thai to Korean to good ol’ American), and the food is generally nutritious and filling. The fruit bar, salad bar, and pizza corner are consistent; the salad components and fruit are fresh and varied, and keeping that consistent is a thumbs up. My main complaint regarding Foothill concerns the fruit section: for some reason, Foothill serves bananas which are cut in thirds, making it impossible to take one back to your room and save it for later. In my opinion, a bit of a cheapskate move in order to make the bananas last not that long.
The breakfast, however, is probably the best aspect of Foothill (maybe in a tie with the late night). Foothill serves a full breakfast, and even has waffle makers. The waffles are very decent, as are most of the other breakfast items. On weekends, Foothill serves omelets and crepes, which are a welcome addition to any breakfast menu.
The late night for Foothill (Sundays-​Thursdays, 9 pm — 1 am) is pretty good as well, but it is overpriced. The menu is extensive (they even serve steaks), and a lot of the food (some deep-​fried exceptions) is made to order. Most of the food is not very healthy, but enough to satisfy late-​night cravings. I’ve only experienced late night once, but I came away with a positive experience.
There is one event during the year in which Foothill fancies up the menu and the dining area: Winterfest. People get all excited, and it’s easy to see why. Offering dungeness crab and shrimp cocktails, the atmosphere instantly changes to a (somewhat pseudo-​) classy atmosphere. Some people dress up to the nines, but it’s definitely not necessary. Most of the food during Winterfest is not significantly better than its regular food, but it definitely mixes things up.
Overall, Would I go out of my way to eat here? Not really. But when you’re a college student, this is a convenient location for Foothill/​Stern/​Bowles residents that offers decent food and a pretty good atmosphere conducive to making new friends.

Compared to Crossroads or Clark Kerr I’d say Foothill is the best dining hall. However, that’s not saying much. I lived in Stern all of last year so I had no choice but to eat at Foothill, however, I got sick of the food after the first week or so. Their menu usually has a pattern to it (during my year, Mondays were always rotisserie chicken, Tuesdays fish tacos… etc). My favorite items were their gumbo, fish tacos, chicken nuggets, grilled cheese… etc. As you can tell from my list the foods aren’t exactly low in calories. That was my biggest issue with DC food. The only healthy item you could get was really salad from their salad bar, but a girl can only eat so much salad… Their brunch is delicious though, especially if you eat a lot in the mornings and like hearty American breakfast items like pancakes and eggs and sausages. I strongly recommend checking out their menu beforehand and unless you have meal points it’s not really worth it.

Of all the dining halls, Foothill wins by a landslide. Winterfest is awesome here and late night is the best here also! All the other dining commons fall very short from this. It’s also got a lot of comfortable seating, like sofas!
But the food is still dining common food… so.meh.

I mean, this is a dorm after all!
I got the grilled cheese plus a breakfast burrito. The grilled cheese was amazing. I highly recommend it. The burrito was EH.

free food lol

Perfect spot for a first date.

Worst dining hall in Berkeley, the one I visited the least as an undergrad… man do the engineers and scientists get fucked or what? Seems like the food here is usally pretty bad. However, they do make a mean fried chicken and mashed potatoes, no denying that.

It was bad when it was all you can eat and it probably is still bad now too, but I wouldn’t know because why would I go back.

Taste: 2
Value: 1
Service: 3
I lived in Bowles three years ago, and I was forced to eat here many times. Let it suffice to say that the Foothill DC is the worst DC ever. I distinctly remember coming by for dinner one night and not being able to eat anything that they had. It was that disgusting.
The only thing I enjoyed were the omelettes on the weekends (though there were huge lines) and the late night, with chicken strips and unlimited guacamole.

Currently sitting in the FH dining room. It’s definitely a different atmosphere compared to Café 3 and Crossroads. It has a woodsy cabin feel mainly because of the wood columns and high ceilings and minimal noise. It’s not buffet style but a la carte, so plan on spending more money if you’re a heavy eater. On average, I pay $ 12-​$ 15 for a full dinner. I love the rice bowls here. They’re just as good as Ramona’s if not better (it’s the sauce). Tonight’s feature is the tofu & zucchini over rice! It’s delicious. I miss the orange chicken, I haven’t seen it since the first time I came here last semester.
The burritos are pretty big for around $ 4. The super burrito with choice of meat, guacamole, sour cream, and all that good stuff is $ 6.50. There’s cereal for cereal-​lovers, granola, cakes, frozen yogurt, and ICEE. There’s also a rotating menu of daily dry offerings for lunch and dinner. The junk food staples are also here. Salad for the conscious people. Dim sum is a hit or miss: sometimes hot and fresh, sometimes warm and crusty.
Cub Market is adjacent to the food «court» and if you think the Odwalla selection is lacking in the cereal corner, go to Cub Market to find more selection and anything else you want to splurge on for your fabulous meal.

BLECCHHHH. freshman negative 15 if you eat here.
the only thing i enjoyed was the late night pizza and buffalo wings. other than that … everything sucked. probably not because of the food but how it is presented and the outdated… everything… i mean i didn’t mind how the eating area looked like a lodge, i actually thought that was cool. but the area where you got your food just looks like a high school cafeteria from the 80s. seriously disliked eating here as there was a lot less variety. i was amazed at crossroads (‘super dc’ for the older people) and all of it’s variety and more than one type of food. i guess i’m still bitter about bad first year dorm food. that’s how important it is.

Compared to Crossroads, Café 3, and Clark Kerr, Foothill is a hit or miss. It’s salad bar is the same as the other DC’s (dining commons), but offers less variety than Crossroads. The food ranges from bland to decent, the food variety is less understandably because it is smaller, but the staff is super friendly and more approachable than other DC’s.
What is good though is that there is a self-​service deli bar for sandwiches so you can have as much meat, stack dat cheese, and add whatever toppings to you delight. This may seem an inconvenience to some people because its self-​serve, but it also gives you the freedom to make whatever ballin’ sandwich you want!
Foothill, along with it’s DC, is reminiscent of a log cabin, thus the interior of the eating area has a high ceiling and lots of wooden beams. It gives the illusion of a cozy cabin. The layout makes it a little less line-​friendly, and it gets cramped around 7 o’clock for dinner.
I can vouch for Foothill’s late night though. It’s pretty good since there’s usually no line and everything is made on the spot. While it has the same menu as Crossroad’s late night (plus quesadillas!), in my opinion it also tastes better because they don’t have to deal with a mad rush of people and cook the food right.