Diana! is red!

Barnard Dining can seem confusing to newcomers but we promise it’s not that hard. Social Media Editor Youngweon Lee, a CC student™, mastered the ways of Barnard Dining to share with you. The information in this post is probably about 85% reliable. 

If you are tired of the Ferris-John Jay-JJ’s trifecta, go ahead and try a Barnard dining hall. You have two options: Diana and Hewitt.

Diana’s location is self-explanatory; it’s in the Diana center, on the second floor. You walk in through the Barnard gates on 117th and take a right towards the construction hole. You walk all the way past the construction hole to the red building. That’s Diana. The doors are really heavy so just be careful. You walk up the big stairs on your left immediately after you enter, and Diana Cafe will be right there. You can’t miss it.

Diana is open for lunch and dinner every day except Saturday. It’s unclear when lunch ends (2 pm?) but dinner starts around 5 or 5:30 pm and ends at 8 pm. Then, Diana late-night runs from around 9 pm to 11:45 pm.

During lunch, Diana doesn’t take meal swipes and you have to pay with either real money or dining dollars, but you can use your swipes (yes, even Columbia swipes!) at dinner. One swipe gets you an entree, two sides, and a fountain drink. The famous Diana white pizza is only available for lunch, however, and the smoothie station is a wrap station.

Things that count as an entree are two pieces of pizza, any burger or sandwich, a large soup, a large salad, and a smoothie. Diana used to have thin-crust pizza boxes for dinner, but now they just have large pies that you take two pieces from, which is a shame. I think the burgers are pretty good, personally. I like the bread better than JJ’s. If there are no burgers or chicken sandwiches ready, you can order one and just wait a few minutes. They do have vegan burger options as well.

Things that count as a side are fries, a small soup, a small salad, and a bag of chips from the shelf that’s closest to the burger station. The fries taste exactly like McDonald fries (which, in my book, is a good thing). I find that the salad bar is more diverse than the ones at Columbia dining. I especially like that they have palm hearts sometimes. There are a lot fewer options at late-night, though, so keep that in mind.

Moving onto Hewitt, this one can be a little hard to find. It’s in the basement of Barnard Hall, which is the big building immediately in front of you when you enter the Barnard gates. You walk down the stairs to your left once you’re inside, and wander around a bit until you see it. You can just swipe in like you would at Columbia.

I’ve only been to Hewitt breakfast, so I don’t know what lunch and dinner are like. At breakfast, they have your usual eggs and breakfast meats station, bread/pastries, yogurt/canned fruits, and a grill where they make you avocado toast. Because the avocado toast station is a grill, the bread is nicely toasted and they give you a fried egg on it, but you usually have to be prepared to wait a long time.

The scrambled eggs are more consistently cooked throughout than Ferris/John Jay scrambled eggs. I find that the scrambled eggs at Columbia dining halls are somehow really dry and really watery simultaneously, but the Hewitt eggs are better cooked and fluffier. The pastries are also really good and I highly recommend them. I had an amazing banana muffin that everyone should try before they graduate.

Hewitt also has a kosher food station, which I believe is the only full kosher food station on campus (both Columbia and Barnard). I’ve heard that if you look obviously non-Jewish and you try to eat from there, you will get “slapped.”

All that being said, Hewitt has a B health rating, so keep that in mind.

Diana via Bwog Archives