Tercero Dining Common

Student dining common on campus. Large selection of food options. Large selection of deserts. By salad bar.

When a college dining hall throws a themed dinner centered around HARRY POTTER, it is most definitely Unilocal-​worthy. Considering the amount of students they serve, I was impressed by the decorations and clever names used for the dishes.
The food was absolutely nothing fancy at all. It had the classic dorm food taste, and I personally like Cuarto and Segundo better than Tercero as far as freshness, variety, and appeal goes. I was saddened that tonight, on a themed dinner night of all nights, the food was actually subpar. It was worse than their usual mediocre fare, which consists of: a grill with burgers and fries, pizza, pasta, salad bar, vegetarian/​vegan options, soups, some type of ethnic food, desserts, cereal, and usually a fusion station (I once had an Asian burrito, just to illustrate the interesting concept).
If you’re not on a meal plan, it costs about $ 12 to have dinner here. There is a discount offered for UC Davis and UCDMC employees though! Also, students can use their swipes to get guests in.
Decorations: You have to enter through Platform 9 ¾, of course (aka the entry doors covered in paper bricks)! I loved how they set up the different food stations to resemble a Quidditch playing field, Honeyduke’s, & Dervish and Banges, to name a few. The ceiling had large white streamers emanating from the center, and they played Harry Potter music. Also, an employee had dressed up like Professor Trelawney! Extra points for her; she deserves a raise!
I had Viktor’s Bratwurst, which was served on a scoop of mashed potatoes. The sausage was greasy and still slightly pink on the inside, but the potatoes had excellent flavor. Nearly Headless Nick’s Deathday Celebration Fish ‘n’ Chips (that’s a mouthful!) came as an overly-​greasy, limp piece of fried fish with a smattering of fries all rolled into a newspaper cone. I loved it for the adorable paper cone alone. I finished the meal with Harry Potter’s Birthday Cake, which was basically a standard, not-​from-​scratch chocolate sheet-​cake slice with a gummy worm on top. Don’t forget the coconut macaroons that masquerade as Mad Eye Moody’s Eyeballs, and Honeyduke’s Licorice Wands, which were black and red licorice sticks dipped in chocolate on the ends. By the way, the Three Broomsticks Butterbeer they offered did not compare in any way whatsoever to the magical concoction you get in the real Harry Potter World in Florida. This was flat root beer that didn’t have a hint of butterscotch at all.
Ok, ok, maybe I had just a little too much fun tapping into my nerdy, Harry Potter-​loving side during this dinner, but seriously, it’s the closest you’ll get to eating in Hogwarts in NorCal! If you really want to experience the best food that Tercero has to offer, I would not recommend coming to this themed dinner!

Meh I mean it’s school food, what do you expect?

There’s so much seating here it’s almost impossible to not find a spot. Due to recent renovation and tercero dorm building construction, more financial investment efforts have been put into the tercero DC. The salad/​soup bar is located towards the left once you walk in, along with the dessert section. There’s usually Mongolian BBQ at the grill, and they’ll usually have pizza towards the left corner. The better items are further into the dining area towards the back, where all the restrooms are. The entire 2^nd floor is dedicated to the cafeteria, so you get a nice view of the new dorm buildings and open grassy field where people tend to play Frisbee. Bike parking is hard to find at times, and you’ll probably have to ride over to tercero dorm entrances to find an open bike rack. The food quality is very solid. Some will prefer segundo chefs over Tercero, but I feel like Segundo chefs season their food a little too aggressively, just personal preference.

Like every freshman, I started out with a meal plan, but I cooked most of my meals in the ittybitty kitchenette provided in the dorms. (My unused meals became Aggie Cash that I used for the next 4 years… haha)
Anyway, I didn’t frequent the dining commons very much, but overall, there was edible food and it was decent American food, don’t count on the ethnic foods, they were utterly horrible lol.
Now, out of Davis and back in reality. I sort of miss Tercero’s all-​you-​can-​gain-​and-​more dining option. :(You had everything from Mongolian grill, to pizza, and burgers, cereal all the time, and made to order breakfast omelets. I personally loved the Mongolian grill, and drenching it in their «teriyaki» sauce and sriracha, it was delicious. I also liked their heavily-​rich mushroom soup and chicken noodle. Gahhh, the memories. Oh, they even started a late-​night dining option which was mostly make your own super greasy mucky burritos and salty-​ass phở. Yup, those were the days…
The staff is a mix of students and people from around town and generally pleasant but sometimes you’ll come across that mean nugget. You’ll also notice that many of them possess no knowledge of food whatsoever, so when a food item has mold, they claimed that’s how it was supposed to be… heh… (A nurse at the health center once told me that some foods have mold and usually it’s safe to eat… let me tell you, it wasn’t some bleu cheese with mold, it was spaghetti noodles with green fuzzy black mold…) UCD always tried to promote and advertise that they have an «executive chef» that makes these recipes and whatnot, but the only time he ever showed up was when the families came to visit twice a year. It was annoying since we all knew he didn’t cook there, and the best food was when it was family day lol. So, besides the lack of food knowledge and cleanliness, I do prefer Tercero’s dining commons.
I’ve been to Segundo and Cuarto, but it’s just not the same, nor is it better. I think, it really depends on who you’re eating with and where you live (I was in Tercero, until they knocked down the concrete buildings), you get used to it, and it becomes home haha.
Tercero Dining Commons, it’s a love/​hate relationship. :)
notes: it used to be $ 8 to eat here if you didn’t have swipes. Oh and I was here when we were locked out of our dorms for 24 hours (free cereal) because a kid decides to blow up a trash can…

This place rocks its my favorite dc to work at!!! Its one of the three dinning commons on campus at UCD. Its a giant food court.
BISTRO: standard american home cooking,
TSG: and all day, (vegan and beef) plus grilled cheese or quesadillas, SAUCY: pasta and omlet station for breakfast
GO LIVE: Sauté all day
desert island, 6drink stations, salad bar, BLUE ONION: picture vegan food from around the, starch bar, Mongolian bbq, cereal bar, coffee/​tea bar. The students get a meal card so they dont have to scrounge for fundage to eat and they are even perosonalized meals for those with good allergies. Just ask! Did someone give you outstanding service? Leave a comment card.

Tercero’s food is just OK. I’d say go to Segundo or Cuarto. I recently ate here after not eating here for about a year. I wasn’t too wowed about the food. It was decent, dont get me wrong. It’ll do you justice if you are starving from a long day at school. But comparing it to the other two dining commons, I’d have to say this one is my least favorite. The quality of food is not as good, and the layout of the place is awkward. Yep, that’s all I have to say pretty much.

Best place to go for college meals! If you are ever at Davis, make your friends waste their meal points on you and enjoy a wonderful selection of food. Great vegan options, great vegetarian options, and most importantly, they cook stuff fresh for you, and in front of you. Lastly, if you are ever there for fried yams, OMG, amazing!!!