Southside Dining Hall At GMU

It is such a hit or miss, some days it can be tolerable, and other days it’s just straight up horrible! I’m glad though that they always have a salad bar and a stir fry bar open. Only thing about the stir fry is it takes forever because so many people want it and it takes a while.
They also have a sub station bar that also takes a long time too. Best times to go are around 3 – 5:30. Then 8:30– 10. They start putting things away really early though and that’s really annoying. They close at 10, and they start taking away stuff and putting away food around 9. That’s ridiculous, this is a college cafeteria, there are always going to be hungry college students.
The service here is so spotty too. Some of the workers are so nice! And others are just plain rude. It just depends who you get. I try and avoid them at all cost because I’m just there to eat and do work. I will say, it is a good place to get work done. They play music but I like how they don’t play it so loud. You can still get work done and just do your own thing. I also like the fact that they have options for those who are gluten free or lactose intolerant. They have coconut milk and rice milk so that is nice. They also have sunbutter and soynut better.
Out of all the dining halls at Mason, this one definitely has the most variety and they always have burgers, self serve fries, soft serve ice cream, and pizza.

From one GMU student to others, Southside is generally the most convinently place to eat for most, and compared to Ikes it has overall better food on most days (and there’s always a grilled chicken station which is normally reliable if all else fails). However, if you can, go to the Globe because honestly it has the highest quality food. If you are someone coming to Mason for a few days to be honest the 9 – 11 dollars you spend here could be spent elsewhere on campus for a cheaper, better meal. Let me explain.
First off, let’s talk about the positives. The management staff is the most friendly of staff you will find at any diner all, and if you have any concerns or issues, you just have to flag one of them down and talk to them. ¾ of the staff are also pretty quick with serving food, but it’s the same 4 people that are always extremely slow and just have the look of «I don’t want to be here» (this is much worse at ikes). Most days the food is OK, and there are even some tasty options and a freaking fully stocked dessert bar and smoothie station!
Now the negatives. As mentioned there are a handful of staff that are a little disgrunted, and are extremely slow with serving food. I recall a time where it took 30 minutes one day to restock their grilled chicken and for 20 of those 30 minutes they were just casually talking and shooing off any student that came up to ask for chicken. The next day l, when more competent employees worked the station, it took them 8 minutes to restock by grilling a fresh batch. Another issue with this group of disgrunted group of employees is that they are very careless when serving food. I was at the omlettes bar and one of them was restocking the ingredients you can choose from at the omlettes bar, but what was absolutely disgusting was that she was touching the inside of a trash can as she switched from different ingredients to restock, then used that same hand to refill the ingredients stocks. When I was served the omlettes, I had to throw it away because that is a major health risk! There will also be days, especially in the middle of the semester, where there’s only one manager and thus the overall quality is nothing compared to if the full management team was in the house.
Seriously, as a student, this is your second best option if you have a meal plan. If not, there is always the Globe and many other places on campus to eat. Hope this helps!

Southside is the worst place to eat on campus.
While it appears to have many choices, those choices truly disappointing. Greasy and cheap meat and pizza, accompanied with burnt, lean flavorless burgers never fails to give me and fellow students bowel movements from hell. Other options are the salad bar which has slimy lettuce or rotten romaine on a biweekly basis. The only good thing is the stir fry because it hides the «food» in five different sauces. The sandwich bar had the same problem as all the other food, the ingredients are probably old leftovers from a Sodexo catered hospital.
The smell in Southside is that of grease, sweat, and dirty dishwater. When you sweat the stench crawls from your pores and anyone who had ever been to Southside knows you have just choked down anytime garbage.
Many students are compelled to eat here daily because they have a meal plan, ie many students have only two other options. The meal plan itself is called anytime dining except it no longer runs ²⁴⁄₇. Webster rolls in his grave. This «anytime» dining hall closes at 10pm forcing everyone who lives in the commons to walk a mile for Southside’s slightly less disgusting twin, Ikes.
Hard-​working and loyal students pay too much to be fed slop.

Student here at GMU.
Not worth the money. Costs about $ 22 for two non students to eat here. They serve sandwiches made to order (like subway). They have burgers and fries but the burgers have been known to have metal and bugs found in them. The pasta sauce is extremely watery because you can see them on a regular basis outing boiling water into the sauce to make it last longer when they a re running out. They also have a salad bar which isn’t too bad except you can see bugs flying around and landing on many toppings. Not worth the money

Compared to the single, limited-​hours cafeteria at my tiny liberal arts undergrad school, this place is great. It’s open 24 hours now, it has a dizzying array of options, and the fresh Sodexo food is better than Bön Appetit’s old stuff. Did I mention that the dining prices at my undergrad school are MORE than here?
Really, Southside is not bad. It can always be worse, fellow Patriots. It can always be worse.

It’s gotten better than it used to be.

Solid dining if you are already on campus. But if you are not on the GMU campus already then don’t bother. Between the hassle of paying for parking and walking to the dining hall, the food is not good enough to warrant the trouble.

For meal plan holders, there is no better value on campus — there is always a variety of freshly made food and a rotating menu. Holidays will see special menus featuring relevant food. The staff is friendly and the management truly cares about your experience — so if you have any feedback or would like to see something on the menu just ask!

This is definitely the best option for food on the GMU campus. I’ve been many times and am always able to find plenty to eat. For those unfamiliar with the set-​up, Southside is a buffet style eatery. There are six stations within the restaurant: 1) Without Boundaries — features rotating entrée items, 2) Changing Colors — (this one’s my favorite) has an extensive salad bar, a small fruit bar, and a stir-​fry option at the edge of the station, 3) 4400 Grill — has grilled items like hamburgers, chicken sandwiches, veggie burgers, and grilled cheese; it also has sides like fries and nachos, 4) PastAmore — has pastas, calzones, and pizzas, 5) Wrapped Up — you can get a customized sandwich (think Subway) here as well as soups and PB&J sandwiches, 6) After All — this is the dessert bar and features soft serve ice cream, hand dipped ice cream, cakes, pastries, and waffles (the waffle maker is a huge draw for college students for some reason and is always there).
Most of the stations are closed for breakfast. It’s essentially Without Boundaries (with scrambled eggs, bacon, pancakes, and omelets) and After All (with breakfast pastries). For this reason I say it’s just best to avoid Southside for breakfast as it’s a grease and sugar-​fest.
Pros:
Generally a very friendly staff.
Usually under $ 8 for breakfast and lunch and under $ 10 for dinner.
The chefs are friendly and even email accessible if there are any questions or concerns.
The week’s menu is posted online (though it’s never 100% accurate)
Vegetarian/​vegan friendly with soy milk options, soy ice cream, and tofu «meats» for sandwiches.
Gluten-​intolerant friendly with a seperate area by the stir fry with gluten free cookies, breads, muffins, etc. Also, the pizzas can be made with gluten free dough if you ask.
If there’s a food item you want from the grill that isn’t there, just ask and the employees are usually able to make it for you.
Cons:
It’s not self serve. At most of the stations you ask an employee for a certain food and they control how much you get. They’re pretty strict with the portion control. I know that it’s an attempt to prevent waste, but I find it a little ridiculous that one can freely take as many cookies and desserts as they want but the entrees like steamed broccoli are rationed.
The fruit selection is nearly always a choice between cantaloupe, honey dew melon, apple sauce, or jello. I’m still not sure why the jello is on the fruit bar instead of the dessert bar. Every once and a while they’ll had another fruit, but it’s infrequent.
Overall, this is somewhere I’d go back to again and again because I feel that the chefs actually take pride in the food they’re preparing. One can easily eat healthily here, which says a lot for a buffet-​style eatery. And the price really isn’t that bad when you compare it with other places you’d go out to eat.

This place sucks. Go blow $ 8 bucks on nasty food elsewhere. GMU’s food sucks all around.

It’s hard thinking of Southside as a standalone restaurant, so I’m going to review it in relation to other college dining halls I’ve been in. It’s a very solid cafeteria, here, perhaps even worthy of 3.5 or 4 stars — it’s cozy and well-​lit, there’s a variety of comfortable seating options to choose from, and the space affords great views of the Mason campus below. All in all, the place definitely gets high marks for atmosphere.
When it comes to the food, though, my review is a little more mixed. Southside is «all you care to eat,» which means that you pay a flat price (generally pretty steep) to get in, and can stay and eat for as long and as much as you like. There are several different stations you can choose from, including:
— burgers and other grilled and fried foods
— made-​to-​order pasta bar (probably my favorite)
— salad bar
— ‘homestyle’-type foods
— deli
— desserts
Despite the appearance of options, though, every time I drop by here, I’m faced with the same old decision I’ve made at countless dining hall visits: burger or pasta? Burger or pasta?
So I don’t know. If you’re on some sort of meal plan and there’s no guilt about the high price for the mediocre food, go for it. Or maybe if you’re with a huge group, this is your choice. Otherwise, though, look somewhere else.

It’s either hit or miss with Southside.
Don’t go on weekends because since the campus is pretty much empty, the food isn’t great.
Food seems to be the best at the end of the year and beginning of the year.
I’d only eat here if you’re looking for a buffet and you’re on campus at Mason.

The food gets way worse after the first couple weeks at school. They’ve put up signs everywhere bitching about how people don’t eat all their food (maybe it’s because it sucks ass)…
I had a salmon cake today that I’m pretty sure was canned tuna with bones in it.
Salad bar is still solid though.