Yahentamitsi Dining Hall — Local services in College Park

After a year of eating here, I feel that I can share my experience at the Y and its food:

1. BUSY. This is the busiest dining hall on campus, hands down. During the peak hours, from 12-2 pm and 7:30 -9:00 pm, be prepared to have a hard time finding a seat and just in general maneuvering between people and waiting in line for a tasty dish.

2. GOOD FOOD. The Y, especially compared to the average campus dining hall of an American college, is pretty dang good. There are many times where I would be "wow, this is tasty!". The food here can be rich and fatty, or it could be tangy and fresh, or mild and salty or spicy and comforting. The flavor profile is very diverse.

3. VARIETY. This leads me to my next point. Yes, one can get bored of the food here. I definitely did at many times of the year. The food is typically routine, so one can expect orange chicken to be out once a week whilst other foods are here all the time, such as grilled cheese with tomato soup. However, in terms of what is offered, there are a good amount of options. From southern comfort to hot vegan meals to Joe's grill with burgers and hotdogs to the Wok where one can get stir fry to the Indian section that has different curries on different days. These foods are once again pretty rountine but having this many options alone is still favorable to many other dining halls across the U.S.

4). CONCLUSION. The Y is pretty dang good. It is pretty busy and one can get bored of the food. However, the food does its job in the right ways.

Other extra tips about the Y are that it has a dessert bar with cookies and cakes, an omelette station, a waffle station, a gluten free station, plenty of fountain drink stations, sometimes have some crazy menu item such as carne asada one day and brisket the next, and they have 4 or 5 special days with cool...

I've had lunch and dinner at the Y, as it's called, about four or five times now. Each time, I've been very impressed with the variety available at this dining hall. If you are visiting UMD and have a chance to eat here, I strongly recommend it.

The selection is unbelievable: over 200 different items, or perhaps more, covering every cuisine imaginable. My son has a severe nut allergy, but this place does a great job of labeling gluten-free, nut-free, and other allergy-friendly options clearly.

I've tried their soup, smoothies, and pizzas frequently. The Chinese section offers fried rice and noodles. I've also enjoyed their fries. There's a large section with Southern American food like cornbread, beans, and collards. Their Italian section with pasta and pizzas is impressive too. They even have an authentic Indian section with naan, curries, raita, ghee rice with dal, kheer (rice pudding) and more. The Mexican section lets you make your own tacos or burritos.

This place is very health-conscious. You can have lots of fruits and vegetables if you choose. The only drawback might be that if you're staying in the dorms and eating here every day, the food in each section remains more or less the same, which can get boring.

One way around this could be to mix it up by trying food from different sections each day. Pretend you're dining at a Chinese restaurant one day, an Indian place the next, then Mexican, and Italian after that. But if you keep having your favorite food every day from the same spot, it might get old quickly.

Overall, I feel that UMD students are extremely lucky to have such an impressive dining hall. I strongly...

I love the diner so much. A dining plan is one of the greatest parts of the college experience. It is much better than some other colleges I’ve been to. There is a great selection of food all the time. Fruits, veggies, meats, carbs, all the food groups. The dishes vary day to day but if you go often you will get a sense of what foods they have on rotation. The salad bar is always open, always Mexican and Indian food, some sandwich/hamburger type food, omelettes in the morning, pasta, pizza, Chinese stir fry, bagels, and desserts. Vegan and allergen free foods are also always available. There are more foods on a rotation and specials that you can view on the UMD dining website.

Some say the food is bad. They may be correct when it comes to specific dishes. I assess my plate holistically. The sum of the dishes I can put on my plate(s) is incredible to me because I value being able to have a small portion of many foods. This is my own preference. I am so pleased to be able to take 20 small scoops of different dishes to make one very colorful and mixed plate.

It can be busy at peak hours like 6-8pm on weekdays. This means it can be hard to find a free seat, but most people are friendly and are willing to let you sit next to them if you ask. This can be awkward at booths, but people understand generally.

The staff do not offer service. This is a college diner, and their role is to lightly clean tables if needed. Diners should take a plate and utensils for themselves, collect their food, and put their dishes on the rotating belt and the utensils in the bin below.

I...