The Rotunda

Sufficient place to grab lunch — I usually go for the salad bar — at a reasonable price point. They have rotating specials for breakfast and lunch.

I think I might have been a bit too harsh on my previous review for the Rotunda. It’s true that it’s kind of dated compared to some of the newer eateries on campus like the Vista Café over in Genome Sciences, but it’s still perfectly serviceable. It also helps that they (along with the rest of HFS) switched to Starbucks coffee rather than the Tully’s brew they used to use, which often tasted stale or burnt to me. Right now the Vista is hard to access due to the gigantic construction pit, so I’ve been mostly going to the Rotunda when I need to grab a snack or lunch.
Basically, the Rotunda is the main cafeteria for the Health Sciences building on south campus. The cafeteria area has a salad bar that’s actually pretty good, soup, pasta, and a daily entrée that changes based on the day of the week (the weekly menu is usually the same, though). They also have pastries and some prepackaged sandwiches, yogurt, etc. Outside the main cafeteria area is a side area with an espresso bar, pastry case, and more packaged items. The main cafeteria closes at 3, but the side area is open until 5, so you can still get a late-​afternoon snack here. There are also several vending machines available.
I usually get the salad bar. They have a pretty good array of veggies to choose from, and they’ve always seemed pretty fresh. They also have some options like pasta salad, miso tofu, tabbouleh, and lentil salad (these also rotate, with usually 2 – 3 options each day). Since the salad bar charges by weight, I would recommend staying away from the heavier options like the cherry tomatoes and melon pieces. These can easily add $ 3 – 4 to your salad!
I also like the scone/​biscuit things they make here. The flavors for these also seem to rotate. They can have fruit pieces in them, or cinnamon. I don’t really eat these anymore since I’ve been on a diet but they go nicely with coffee.
Overall, the Rotunda is a bit on the pricey side for what you get, but it’s perfectly adequate for what it is.

The rotunda is one of those «lack of options» sort of places. The food is okay and honestly a bit overpriced in terms of what you get. But when there aren’t many other options in the vicinity and the service is quick, it remains attractive to students and employees on south campus.

All I have to say is: Salad bar.
I think this the Rotunda’s best asset. The soup is suuupper salty, usually their dishes are pretty bland and their premade salads are always overdressed. Pasta is pretty decent, but lets just save ourselves some time and go for the salad bar. They have arugula! :D

The Rotunda…
Where everybody knows your name and they’re always glad that you came. You wanna be where you can see, our troubles are all the same. You wanna be where everybody knows your name.
Haha jk Lets be honest: P people probably wont know your name here but they’re relatively friendly :)
I’m a med student at the UW and I eat at the Rotunda often. The rotunda is alright. I mean we can’t expect awesome food in what is basically the food court at a big university haha but its not all that bad! :)
Overview:
The rotunda is a small cafeteria type place where you can choose between the daily pasta and the meal of the day. There is also a salad bar and a large refrigerator with some drinks as well as a soup bar.
Pasta:
The pasta is actually pretty good! I like it and one of the few things that I enjoy eating. There are several base sauces that you can choose from and unbeknownst to many you can mix and match the sauces to make new sauces of your liking! wow! haha :) and honestly I’ve come across some pretty delicious mixes. Order a meatball too. Treat yo self!
Salad Bar:
Pretty run of the mill, not too bad, not too good, not too expensive. Meh
Soup:
The soup is pretty salty… Sometimes its not bad! but most of the time its not all that great either =/​
Other food;
I’m… not a big fan of the other items, BUT I’d say that the taco salad is pretty good and I enjoy it: P
Happy eats! Stay FUNgry my friends. :) haha. lol

I give it a ³⁄₅ based on what else is nearby. It is better than the Plaza cafeteria but not as good as Aqua Verde or the café in the genome sciences building. The specials are usually pretty good. The salad bar is fresh and worth it. The soups are high in sodium, but that is typical for cafeteria soup. Usually a line from 12 — 1.
The coffee stand is a bit of a disappointment, but what can you expect from students pressing a button on an automatic system.

Located in the health sciences building, the Rotunda is a solid choice for lunch when you don’t have time to head up to the Ave. I have visited the salad bar a few times, always fresh tasting & they have vinegar & oil (instead of just dressing).
Decent selection of baked goods, lots of premade sandwiches & such. Burrito Thursday is very popular!
Everything is compostable!

This is a non-​profit cafeteria owned by the UW. But the prices make me suspect there is some profit being made…
The cashiers are always surly and they serve Peet’s Coffee which is dishwater on a good day.
The only good thing here is the salad bar. Again overpriced, but good quality ingredients and always fresh.

If you work here and just need a place to grab food, try it out. It’s not for everyone. This is a place you go to just to grab a bite to eat. It’s better than the Hospital cafeteria, and… well… that’s it. If you really dont have time to go anywhere else, just come here.
The pasta isn’t that bad, it’s just simple. Over priced, but again, where else you going to go? Salad bar is better than getting the pre-​packed salads you can find in other little gift shops in the Health sciences building.
Final thoughts, go there is you have to. Dont go if you have the option of leaving the building for sustinance. The very least run across the street to Aqua Verde.

It’s a university café. The food is overpriced. The hours stink. The selection is strange. The service is okay but cafeteria style. If you need a nearby lunch the pasta is decent.

Pick one or more: burned coffee, long lines, credit card machine down, coughing/​sneezing staff, incorrect drink prepared, snarky staff, staffer’s first day.
Just a typical experience for a customee at the Rotunda Coffee Stand.

Being a bio major I’m always at hitchcock… and when I discovered the rotunda café halfway through the first quarter of going into my major I was so happy! No more having to walk up to by george or up the ave to get foood haha… really like the sitting area plenty of places to sit and study. The cafeteria food is pretty good… ridiculous prices which is expected for school cafes but still pretty decent food. pasta is good… burgers are good… lots of snacks!

For a cafeteria at a university, it’s actually pretty good. I used to work in Health Sciences for 4 years and ate here at least once a week.
The pasta bar and the salad bar at lunch are the best. The soup’s the cheapest ;)

Glehhhhhh, the Rotunda. I work at Magnuson and frequently don’t bring my own lunch so in the interests of time management I have to default to Plaza (the hospital cafeteria) or the Rotunda. I think I have tried every single thing they’ve ever sold and none of it is great, or even good. It’s simply food. Lowercase f food. Food in the sense that it ostensibly has nutrients and can be ingested.
Do not even try to show up for anything after 2 pm, as they invariably have run out or stopped serving despite purportedly being open till 3:30. They actually tend to shut the doors around 3 and then you’re pretty much screwed unless you go to the Tully’s bar and get something packaged. Fuck yeah, Rotunda — championing mediocrity since 19blahblah.

Meh. If you go to class or work in the general vicinity of Health Sciences, it’s not so bad. Especially considering it’s cafeteria food pretending not to be cafeteria food.
If you want to just grab something quickly, getting an overpriced sandwich from the stand in the corner of the room is a good bet. Be forewarned– the wrapping is compostable material that is freakishly loud to unwrap, which is more than a little bit awkward if you want to eat it in class. If you want hot food, I would skip the entrée of the day and just go with the pasta. The sauces are okay, but the tomato cream one is the best, which is why it’s all anyone ever seems to order. They do have whole wheat pasta, but they will make you feel like you are a major pain if you order it.
Not terrible, especially if you’re in a hurry, but if you have time, walk to the Ave or to Agua Verde.

It’s kinda hard to call the «rotunda» a restaurant like some of the previous reviewers.
I call it a combo place where there is a small shoppette, a round sitting area where the students and scientist of the UW bio sciences department come and eat lunch. Period!!! No entertainment… just a place to sit where on one side you can see the glimps of Lake Washington and on the other end. well a street. I like this place b/​c it has a special place in my heart. B/​c I reminds me of the years of college I was here eating, lunch, dinner, and studying. I got the pleasure of coming back here a week ago and… IT“S THE SAME!!! ha ha I love that about places!!! It hasn’t changed and the same feel.
So yeah if your a weary student or just a researcher… come sit and read a daily and forget about the worries of the day. :)

I work just around the corner from the Rotunda, so it’s my default lunch place whenever I forget to pack one of my own. The food here is better than many other cafeterias, but isn’t anything to write home about. The vegetables are often limp, the meat often dry, and the pasta often not very flavorful. Add to that the fact that it’s usually packed whenever UW is in session, and walking up to the Ave starts to look like a pretty good idea.
In their defense though, they do try to keep things interesting by changing up the lunch specials daily. The soup/​chili selection is also decent, although again it’s not quite as good as you could find elsewhere. Overall stopping by the Rotunda for lunch seems to depends on whether its convenient location outweighs the better food elsewhere.

The Rotunda is super convenient for me because I basically LIVE at Hitchcock and the Health Sciences building. By far my favourite food item is the self-​serve/​make-​your-​own waffles. Sure it’s almost $ 4 for one waffle, but it’s fresh and it smells (and tastes) delicious and you get to feel a little proud of yourself for making it on your own. Their soup selection is usually pretty good and they have a wide variety of pastries and cookies and some pretty decent pasta dishes for lunch. It’s not amazing food, but it’s super convenient and way better than vending machine garbage. What can you expect on a college campus?

The Rotunda is the restaurant for the Health Sciences Building. They recently started to accept Visa and MC in addition to the Husky Card so this is a great, great, great thing that I’m sure everyone is pleased about — especially visiting scholars, docs and HSB workers. Like most restaurants within the UW, lunch starts at 10:30 am.
There is a standard sub-​par pasta line (white, red, rosa, sun dried tomato, pesto, etc.) they serve with pre-​boiled noodles and another line for the lunch special for the day (they seem to have fish 2x a week!).
In addition to a basic salad bar, soup bar and an O.K. selection of drinks (soda, soy milk, juice) the food is… alright.
You can have a pretty decent dairy-​free/​vegan meal here (pasta, salad, 1 soup, bread, fruits). But be forewarned, the people who make your food will make it seem that they’re going through A LOT of trouble if you ask for no cheese or inquire about the ingredients — I had one chef slam stuff around once when I asked about this stuff.