MIT Dining Halls by Aiden H. '28

One of my biggest plights with MIT is how, since they kinda know that people will always want to apply/commit, there isn’t as much of a need to wow students as there is with a state school or a small liberal arts college, per se. We don’t need to spend the money on a huge, beautiful quad, seasonal flowers, pretty architecture, AC in dorms, or just generally any good sense of spatial planning.⁠01 I'm also aware that administration is actively trying to better campus and it's not without notice, and also a lot of the issues with our architecture and planning are because of MIT moving in the early 1900s and overall Cambridge-history that MIT can't control. As much as I don’t want to admit it, I do want these “superficial” things for comfort and vibe.

Accordingly, MIT lies in this awkward liminal space between having some of the nicest amenities and facilities, and some pretty awful ones. Arguably, the most talked about is campus dining/food. MIT has historically been a food desert, Cambridge/Boston isn’t necessarily a “campus town”, so surrounding restaurants are adult-expensive and not college-kid-expensive, and the Stud’s years of renovations have taken and replaced a bunch of campus restaurant and grocery staples. This leaves a lot of the undergrad populations to eat at the (in)famous dining halls.

I find it fairly obvious which dining halls are better than others, but the overall inconsistency of dining leaves me and my roommates arguing about where we should eat to have the highest probability of having something we could actually enjoy instead of just tolerate. Therefore, I find it appropriate to provide my official ranking so as to close any debate around the subject.

I will be using the following criteria:

• Quality – This is most important. How is the food? Have I heard of anyone getting food poisoning here?
• Quantity – How many options are there? How accessible are dining options to different diets?
• Distance (vaguely) – From what I’m deeming an arbitrary “middle of campus” where the most undergraduates would be at any time. Pretty much, how far from the Stud/Kresge/Z area?
• Staff – Are the staff nice? Do they look miserable?
• Vibes/ambiance – Can I eat here without feeling sad? Was there any effort in the decor/design?

With that, I present my ranking:

AAAA! AAAA! Don’t make me eat here, it makes me sad.

Quality: ⭐⭐ – Everything I’ve ever had here was really dry. Nothing was inedible or super disgusting, and it might have just been a menu thing, but I’ve never like anything here.

Quantity: ⭐ – This is the reason McCormick is so low for me. Even though other dining halls have comparable quality, McCormick is wayyyy too small. There’s pretty much only ever two options for a meal and then the salad bar (which isn’t nearly as decked out as other dining halls). Committing to McCormick is committing to one meal.

Distance: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – McCormick is generally close enough to most of campus that it’s accessible to pretty much everyone without complaint, except maybe Simmons/Next, but these have their own dining halls so I can’t imagine anyone walking specifically for McCormick dining.

Staff: N/A – Didn’t have any interaction with any staff.

Vibes: ⭐ – The dining area is way too cramped for seating and the kitchen can only really fit people in a single-file line. Very elementary-school cafeteria vibe. I don’t get claustrophobic in an anxiety way, but I do get claustrophobic in an I’m-hot-asf-and-need-you-to-shut-up-so-we-can-get-out-of-here passive- aggressive way. McCormick does not trigger a good side of me.

Maseeh (C)

Previous Next

Quality: ⭐⭐ – Maseeh is notorious for having the most questionable quality. Although I would argue that Masseh has been marginally better for lunch this semester than last, it is pretty undeniable. Because Maseeh is closest to class buildings, it’s a much more popular option for lunch than for dinner. This shows in the quality. Dinner is back-and-forth between pretty good and bowl-of-green-sludge. Maseeh has no “middle”–it’s either good or bad, and statistically it feels a little to that lower side.

Quantity: ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5 – Maseeh is one of the biggest, if not the biggest dining hall on campus. It also has the largest dedicated kosher station and a guaranteed “Indian” food section that has to have a vegetarian and/or vegan option. Basically, Maseeh always has the following options:

• Grill (not live grill, which we’ll see in other dining halls, but still burgers and the like)
• Comfort (generally Indian food or some mix of veggies/potatoes/meat)
• Oasis (a bowl station where they serve you in a mini-Chipotle way)
• Global (another bowl station, just with something else)
• Pizza
• Southwestern/Pasta (this is only pasta, no one knows what Southwestern means. Southwest of what?)
• Salad Bar
• Omelet Station (breakfast/brunch only)

Distance: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ – As aforementioned, Maseeh is on Mass Ave. right next to the Stud and the class buildings, so it is pretty accessible, which makes it the main draw for people who don’t live in Maseeh to eat here.

Staff: ⭐⭐ – Half of the staff are some of the nicest people I’ve ever met. The other half like to actively insult the other chef’s food in some sort of weird pissing contest, which just leaves students standing there as they talk about how the food we’re eating sometimes looks like sewage.

Vibes: ⭐⭐⭐ – Maseeh has some of the most seating and some bay windows, which doesn’t make it completely ugly. Still, it’s not the cleanest as a building and I’ve only ever seen mice while eating in Maseeh.

tl;dr you’ll probably eat here for lunch, check the dining website menu before considering dinner

Baker (C)

Previous Next

Quality: ⭐⭐⭐ – Baker might not have better meals necessarily, but it is much more consistent than a dining hall like Masseh. I’ve never seen anything sludge-like.

Quantity: ⭐⭐ – Similar to McCormick, Baker only ever has two options, and a lot of the time they’re the same thing. However, Baker does have the grill and stir-fry stations, where you can get food made-to-order (burgers, quesadillas, stir-fry). The grill helps Baker a lot, but it can get pretty repetitive and not healthy.

Distance: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ – Baker is kind of the exact middle dorm on the south/river side. No one has ever complained about walking to Baker.

Staff: ⭐⭐.5 – Not a lot of notable staff interactions, but sometimes the grill and stir-fry workers can take a really long time to make orders and then end up messing them up. This is fair because they’re definitely overworked and underpaid, but it also does mean that I’ve waited 30 minutes for a quesadilla that they ended up putting chicken in (I’m a vegetarian).

Vibes: ⭐⭐ – Baker has two floors of eating which is pretty cute. The tables and chairs are unnecessarily uncomfortable though, all being this rounded, shiny plastic wood. The lighting is also a little off and ventilation is low, so it’s a pretty humid experience.

Simmons (B) 

Previous Next

Quality: ⭐⭐⭐.5 – I don’t eat at Simmons that often, but I’ve never had anything bad. They also have jalapeño poppers that I devour.

Quantity: ⭐⭐⭐ – Simmons does have a smaller-sized dining hall, which is weird considering its size. There are typical 2 meal options, but then still a full salad bar, grill, and stir-fry, so it’s not as deprived as something like McCormick.

Distance: ⭐ – Simmons is at the far end of west campus on the north side. If you don’t live at Simmons, you’re not going to walk past every other dining hall option for something that isn’t that notable.

Staff: ⭐⭐⭐ – Nothing of note. There is an issue with getting a dishwasher, though, so I think it’s been only paper plates and utensils for a while?

Vibes: ⭐⭐ – The dining area is extremely tight and crowded, and, in typical Simmons fashion, the lighting is so awful you can’t see anything. Oh, and it’s that weird concrete again, because duh.⁠03 Can you tell I don't like whoever designed and decorated Simmons.

Next (A) 

Previous Next

Quality: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ – It’s rare that something here is actually disgusting (minus that one time it was apple cider tofu). More consistent than other dining halls, but there is a lot of repetition, notably with the vegetarian options (tofu and rice, basically).

Quantity: ⭐⭐⭐ – I would say Next and Simmons have the same amount of food options. Two meals, a grill, stir-fry, salad bar, and then the typical breads/toaster/soup/cereal combo that everything has.

Distance: ⭐ – Same as Simmons, it’s on the far end, just on the south/river side. Nevertheless, it’s not that bad of a walk, and I eat dinner at Next more often than anywhere else. In the harsh winds of IAP, skipping Next is understandable. When it’s nice out? I think some (most) MIT students just hate walking and need to figure that out lol

Staff: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ – The Next House dining staff are maybe the most famously nice? There are two guys specifically, one on grill and one on stir-fry, who go out of their way to make conversation and are just generally nice/approachable instead of offering a blunt “What do you want” (or the even more common dining hall worker stare, in which they don’t address you at all and just expect you to start talking).

Vibes: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ – BOOTHS! Next dining has booths that overlook the river, making it by far the most comfortable dining hall. One star off for the bad lighting and overall Next House vibes though.

Next will always be a solid choice, and if I was making someone non-MIT try a dining hall, it would definitely be Next.

New Vassar (A)

Quality: ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5 – A similar argument to others, but Vassar is just more consistent and you know what you’re going to get going in. Vassar has a more American-leaning focus than some other dining halls like Maseeh, which try to have more global foods. For dinner, Vassar always has a grill section with a bunch of premade burgers, chicken, onion rings, fries, etc. that are better than other grill sections. For breakfast, Vassar also has the best omelet station because they let students cook their own omelets, and they have actual whole eggs (so that you could do fried/scrambled eggs as an alternative, which is not available at other dining halls because they use the liquid eggs only), and sometimes do a special waffle bar with various fruity and sweet toppings. .5 off though, because in my heart I cannot say it is restaurant quality, and I’m never foaming at the mouth to eat here.

Quantity: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – There is a dedicated vegan section on top of the regular 2-3 hot meals prepared, along with the grill, stir-fry, and impressive salad bar (see: Salad Bar rank below). Vassar also has some unique foods that other dining halls don’t always have (sunflower butter, more types of jam/jelly, more types of pastries available every day instead of sporadically).

Distance: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ – Vassar is right behind the Z, making it not far from anything, but only really “close” to Simmons.

Staff: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – I don’t know what they’re giving these people but sometimes they can be too nice. I’ve had people at the vegan station practically bless me and my family when I ask for food.

Vibes: ⭐⭐⭐ – I heard New Vassar used to be a parking garage, and I can’t unsee it. The vibe of the whole building, inlacing the dining hall, is very sterile. The chairs and tables are also mildly uncomfortable, but not unbearable. Being a bigger dorm though, there is ample space and seating.

*SPECIAL* Salad Bar: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – Vassar wins on the salad bar. It has the largest salad bar, the most dressing options, and the most interesting options. The salad bars in other dining halls are mostly just random cut-up vegetables, which means your only option is some type of lettuce, bell peppers, shredded carrots, and cucumber. Vassar has all this, but then actually puts out interesting stuff (a premade salsa, seasoned tofu, feta or blue cheese, a Japanese cucumber salad instead of cucumbers, etc.).

That’s the end of my ranking. I’ve had a fair share of struggles with adjusting to the dining hall food, so I definitely recommend trying a lot of options if you get a chance.

(Still not as bad as Harvard though.)