A Comprehensive Review of Dining Commons

We're halfway through the semester and I have finally had the chance to eat in every dining hall on campus! I'm trying my best to sound excited about this but at this point all I really want is a home-cooked meal! We'll make the best of this never-ending cafeteria style food, and by the end of this post, you'll know where the best dining cookies on campus can be found (spoiler alert: it's West).

Let's start with the dining hall of yours truly, Findlay Commons in East.

Findlay has recently been renovated and they went with the pleasing color scheme of puke green and purple! I have to tell you, I pass through this building every morning on my way to class and it never gets any easier on the eyes.

Aesthetics aside, Findlay has a pretty good selection of food including a deli, salad, pasta, and pizza bar upstairs, a little faux-Starbucks coffee bar downstairs called Edge, and my lord and savior, the Flipps MTO kiosk.

Flipps has two settings, breakfast and not-breakfast. The not-breakfast includes a wide selection of burgers that are pretty good, along with fries and chicken strips. But what I'm concerned with is the breakfast menu. You can get breakfast sandwiches with a combination of eggs, bacon, or sausage on a croissant or English muffin, French toast sticks, so many different omelets, and, most importantly, A TRAY OF TATER TOTS. Freshman fifteen, here I come.

Moving on, I have a lot to say about Pollock Commons.

First of all, don't let this picture fool you, Pollock is busier than Times Square on New Year's Eve during lunch hour. Unless you're willing to sit with a total stranger, good luck finding a seat.

Because of that, the food that everybody wants, aka cookies, pizza, and French fries, is always being restocked, so if you're in a rush, maybe skip over going to Pollock.

That being said, I do like eating there. Although the food is repetitive, it is usually well made and there are lots of options. Also, there is a superhero room that is literally covered wall to wall with superhero paraphernalia that I love to eat in. If you're ever at Pollock at 6:30 or so on a Monday, you will probably find me there.

Next up is Warnock Commons in North.

This is by far the smallest the smallest dining commons. In the three times that I've eaten there, I've only seen two line options and a small salad/fruit bar. What Warnock does have going for it though, (besides being one letter away from being a Warlock) is that food is generally healthier than the burgers and fries served at Pollock every day, and that the cookies are held underneath a heat lamp, therefore making it better than Pollock. There's also never been a wait every time I've been there.

Let's move on to South. I actually wasn't sure what the name of their dining commons was, but after a quick Google search I can report that it is indeed Redifer Commons.

It's never very busy, presumably because South is near College Ave, and given the option who wouldn't choose to eat off campus? I also have not eaten here very often because it's a bit of a hike coming from East, but in the few times I've been, there has always been some type of Mexican style food like fajitas or beans and rice which I appreciate. Like North, their cookies are also held underneath a heat lamp which I doubly appreciate. All in all, South has a solid dining commons, and I would say for my taste, it has the best food only because I love me some spicy dishes. But, we do have one more dining hall to review...

Finally, if you've stuck with me for this long, we have West food district.

The most important thing you need to know is that WEST KEEPS THEIR COOKIES IN A COOKIE INCUBATOR. This ensures maximum freshness, an out of the oven taste, and makes West the best commons on campus.

As for their other food, it is also phenomenal, and if it weren't for my infatuation with spicy food, I would say West has the best selection on campus and the best food to boot.

In the end, on campus dining is pretty great if your only option for food is on campus. And remember, West is Best.

Lumping all of our dining commons together into one big superscore, I'd give the general quality of food 7 incubated cookies out of 10.

Pictures courtesy of

Penn State Flickr

Penn State Food Services