The Pavilion

Stephanie Orosco

Burgers were great. Wasn't too delighted with the setup of Condiments and fixings. So confusing! Line setup was also confusing as most of the lines were running together so you didn't know what line you were in for which food item you wanted. 🤷‍♀️ Hope it's not like thst during school.

Mauricio Alvarez Leon

This food is pretty good in my honest opinion. It may not pass on looks but I've yet to experience a bad taste from the Pav. Could be that I'm not a picky eater? Lines can be long but what do you expect it's the only place to feed UC students on campus right now.

Anupam Mishra

Good food but expensive. They don't have a lot of vegetarian options. The beyond burger is really amazing. Some of their pizza is good too. If you want to play it safe, take something from salad bar, it's always very good.

It's clean. It's air-conditioned. Cool view of the lake, at the cost of the sun sometimes burning your eyes off. A great place to hang out and eat with your friends, if you have any. The food isn't 5-star restaurant food, for obvious reasons, but contrary to most people's baseless opinions, it's edible and not "covered in mold and bug droppings." Out of all the times I've eaten here, I've only failed to finish a meal once. The salad bar is always stocked, and I don't ever see the soup being missing as people say. You can also have as much food as you want in one entry, so if 1 plate doesn't fill you, maybe 3 will. It's a lot better food than I can ever make at home, and rarely tastes bad--or maybe I'm just less of a picky eater than 80% of the student population, apparently. It's a cafeteria that's supposed to feed hundreds every single day, not a personalized restaurant catering to every need. The staff are also mostly students just like everyone else, not professional Michelin-star chefs. Lower your expectations.

Samuel Nguyen (Lesamuen)

It's clean. It's air-conditioned. Cool view of the lake, at the cost of the sun sometimes burning your eyes off. A great place to hang out and eat with your friends, if you have any. The food isn't 5-star restaurant food, for obvious reasons, but contrary to most people's baseless opinions, it's edible and not "covered in mold and bug droppings." Out of all the times I've eaten here, I've only failed to finish a meal once. The salad bar is always stocked, and I don't ever see the soup being missing as people say. You can also have as much food as you want in one entry, so if 1 plate doesn't fill you, maybe 3 will. It's a lot better food than I can ever make at home, and rarely tastes bad--or maybe I'm just less of a picky eater than 80% of the student population, apparently. It's a cafeteria that's supposed to feed hundreds every single day, not a personalized restaurant catering to every need. The staff are also mostly students just like everyone else, not professional Michelin-star chefs. Lower your expectations.

The food here isn’t all that bad. Sure there are days when the food isn’t good but there’s also day when the food is good. They also have different varieties of food, from Thai Curry, Burgers, Tacos, and more. Not to mention, a pastry section where you can get cakes, cookies, pies, and other types of pastries.

Alex Martinez

The food here isn’t all that bad. Sure there are days when the food isn’t good but there’s also day when the food is good. They also have different varieties of food, from Thai Curry, Burgers, Tacos, and more. Not to mention, a pastry section where you can get cakes, cookies, pies, and other types of pastries.

The food has been decent overall, not being moldy or being to the point of getting food poisoning which I have heard. However, the food is still not great— plenty of times either it doesn’t have flavor or they used another type of meat that I cannot tell. As well the after effects on your stomach, as soon I was done eating at the Pavilion, my stomach would rumble and tumble— which then makes you to the bathroom feeling like if you have diarrhea. You do not get the pleasure of the quality of the food (mainly because it’s low), nor the sensation that your full, which is sad in both ways. As well many times when trying to serve cheese, lettuce, or other kinds of additives, I would see a couple of flies snooping around those additives. Which is.. very unhygienic, moreover I am generous of giving this place 3 starts, mainly cuz of the desert section. But if you want to come and eat here, make sure you bring something that will get you constipated, because this place will do the opposite.

Juan Ramirez

The food has been decent overall, not being moldy or being to the point of getting food poisoning which I have heard. However, the food is still not great— plenty of times either it doesn’t have flavor or they used another type of meat that I cannot tell. As well the after effects on your stomach, as soon I was done eating at the Pavilion, my stomach would rumble and tumble— which then makes you to the bathroom feeling like if you have diarrhea. You do not get the pleasure of the quality of the food (mainly because it’s low), nor the sensation that your full, which is sad in both ways. As well many times when trying to serve cheese, lettuce, or other kinds of additives, I would see a couple of flies snooping around those additives. Which is.. very unhygienic, moreover I am generous of giving this place 3 starts, mainly cuz of the desert section. But if you want to come and eat here, make sure you bring something that will get you constipated, because this place will do the opposite.

Giving two stars is generous. 5 percent of the time, the food can be decent. More often than not, the food is subpar. It’s barely a step up from my high school lunch. The food as expected is less than decent but that’s not why I give it two stars. THE ICE MACHINE NEVER WORKS.

I'm not a picky eater, but the food here is pretty bad. The quality and variety of food from the old dining center in the Yablokoff-Wallace building was much better than this. If you're just visiting the campus and don't need to worry about maxing out a meal plan, I recommend eating from the YW DC or a food truck instead.

Sid “4fingerdrummer” Nanjangud

Giving two stars is generous. 5 percent of the time, the food can be decent. More often than not, the food is subpar. It’s barely a step up from my high school lunch. The food as expected is less than decent but that’s not why I give it two stars. THE ICE MACHINE NEVER WORKS.

Jose Ochoa

I have been going to the pavillion 2 times a day for almost a month and I can say unless your vegan the food options are incredibly underwhelming always the same thing everyday fries burgers rice and don't get me started on the pizza. Going here ruined my love for pizza and I don't recommened it breakfast is mediocre with tiny as pancakes hashbrowns powder egg and the same drink juice or soda. This place has made me gain 15 pounds I don't recommened going here unless you vegan because if you are you atleast get access to a buffet of salads and many side its almost like it favor them if your an omnivore your better off going someonewhere else and if your forced to buy a plan get the 11 trust me you saving alot of money in the long run .

E. Darrow

I'm not a picky eater, but the food here is pretty bad. The quality and variety of food from the old dining center in the Yablokoff-Wallace building was much better than this. If you're just visiting the campus and don't need to worry about maxing out a meal plan, I recommend eating from the YW DC or a food truck instead.

Speed is extremely slow, food is extremely bad. If you want to know how bad it is, please go to IG @ucmercedpavilionfoodreview

Kevin Hu

Speed is extremely slow, food is extremely bad. If you want to know how bad it is, please go to IG @ucmercedpavilionfoodreview

Wayy too overpriced for the same bland food. A pound of cantaloupe sets you back almost 7 dollars, and they purposefully overweigh it by adding a heavier plate. Menus never change for the restraunts, so after a couple weeks of eating chicken tenders and fries every day you might understand why UC students hate the Pavillion. But yeah, let's let the chancellor walk away with 6 figures. Edit 1- UCM moved from meal plan to meal swipes. I am no longer a regular, as I live off campus now, but have paid the crazy 18$ dinner fee a few times when I was not in the mood to cook or drive somewhere. The food is the same boring stuff, although I have heard that there have been some good items on the menu occasionally. They added curly fries every once in a while, which were very good, for what they were. At the end of the day still not worth it at all to me, but if you have nothing else, it's there. And you can eat as much as you want. Beats the scam that is the Los Reyes food truck.

Spices must be too expensive because they're nowhere to be found in all of the food. Must be charging so much for the food to pay for salt. The only "safe" options for food is a sandwich which has been messed up before. It's a nice new building with plenty of seats but don't let looks deceive you.

Sometimes the soup is cool I guess. But it's rarely there. The food is irrefutably sad ESPECIALLY if you're vegan. It's also (probably) not healthy either but we literally have no other option so we take what we can get :/ Update: hairs, maggots, bugs, and very raw meat have been found in meals. Unacceptable

Food is horrible. Overcooked or undercooked. No Variety of choices for food. And it's the same food over and over again. And then the food can give constipation, diarrhea, indigestion, or food poisoning.

If you like mold and bugs in food you’ll love this place. Enjoy the frozen desserts and sink your teeth into meat that’s is 100% fat and trimmings Want indigestion? Go here!! And if you wanna go broke on the meal plans this is a perfect place for you

The only reason I still eat there is because getting food anywhere else is either unfeasible with limited transportation or astronomically expensive elsewhere on campus. I have some serious health concerns about this place. Mold in some of the food served, flies baked into the muffins. The school won't even do anything because they're trying to cut their losses with the big 2020 project. Ever since it became all you can eat, whatever quality they had before declined further. Don't even get me started on how many students suffer in the bathroom after having a single meal there. It's abhorrent and needs to change.

Before the start of Fall 2021, this place actually served up decent food, especially in the 2018-19 school year. As of recent, the food has been on a constant decline and of I could give this a zero stars, I would. Why zero stars if the food before was decent and only recently has food been an issue? All of the items that made the Pavilion relatively decent has all been removed and replaced with cheap mass produced garbage. Just this week, most of the food options were sketchy for a college dining center and I say that because they had the nerve to serve up some TV dinner meals, to be specific, the items tasted and looked like they were straight out of a Banquet or Hungry Man box and assembled to look pretty in a serving tray. It's insane that us students on campus are charged over $2000 for a meal plan that only gets us dollar tree quality meals at best. To make things worse, all other dining options (which throughout my time here have consistently been of great quality) are currently being withheld from us due to "Covid concerns" yet the pavilion is always at capacity, as if that's "Covid safe" at all. As a fourth year student here at the University, it is quite disappointing to see how much this dining center is declining from what it was back in my freshman and sophomore years.

Hayden Nguyen

Food is horrible. Overcooked or undercooked. No Variety of choices for food. And it's the same food over and over again. And then the food can give constipation, diarrhea, indigestion, or food poisoning.

Naomi Yokoi

If you like mold and bugs in food you’ll love this place. Enjoy the frozen desserts and sink your teeth into meat that’s is 100% fat and trimmings Want indigestion? Go here!! And if you wanna go broke on the meal plans this is a perfect place for you

Brandon Pardi

Sometimes the soup is cool I guess. But it's rarely there. The food is irrefutably sad ESPECIALLY if you're vegan. It's also (probably) not healthy either but we literally have no other option so we take what we can get :/ Update: hairs, maggots, bugs, and very raw meat have been found in meals. Unacceptable

The “Verse Soloing God” Beyonder

Before the start of Fall 2021, this place actually served up decent food, especially in the 2018-19 school year. As of recent, the food has been on a constant decline and of I could give this a zero stars, I would. Why zero stars if the food before was decent and only recently has food been an issue? All of the items that made the Pavilion relatively decent has all been removed and replaced with cheap mass produced garbage. Just this week, most of the food options were sketchy for a college dining center and I say that because they had the nerve to serve up some TV dinner meals, to be specific, the items tasted and looked like they were straight out of a Banquet or Hungry Man box and assembled to look pretty in a serving tray. It's insane that us students on campus are charged over $2000 for a meal plan that only gets us dollar tree quality meals at best. To make things worse, all other dining options (which throughout my time here have consistently been of great quality) are currently being withheld from us due to "Covid concerns" yet the pavilion is always at capacity, as if that's "Covid safe" at all. As a fourth year student here at the University, it is quite disappointing to see how much this dining center is declining from what it was back in my freshman and sophomore years.

Isabella M.

The only reason I still eat there is because getting food anywhere else is either unfeasible with limited transportation or astronomically expensive elsewhere on campus. I have some serious health concerns about this place. Mold in some of the food served, flies baked into the muffins. The school won't even do anything because they're trying to cut their losses with the big 2020 project. Ever since it became all you can eat, whatever quality they had before declined further. Don't even get me started on how many students suffer in the bathroom after having a single meal there. It's abhorrent and needs to change.

Brianna M. Franco

Spices must be too expensive because they're nowhere to be found in all of the food. Must be charging so much for the food to pay for salt. The only "safe" options for food is a sandwich which has been messed up before. It's a nice new building with plenty of seats but don't let looks deceive you.

David Murillo

Wayy too overpriced for the same bland food. A pound of cantaloupe sets you back almost 7 dollars, and they purposefully overweigh it by adding a heavier plate. Menus never change for the restraunts, so after a couple weeks of eating chicken tenders and fries every day you might understand why UC students hate the Pavillion. But yeah, let's let the chancellor walk away with 6 figures. Edit 1- UCM moved from meal plan to meal swipes. I am no longer a regular, as I live off campus now, but have paid the crazy 18$ dinner fee a few times when I was not in the mood to cook or drive somewhere. The food is the same boring stuff, although I have heard that there have been some good items on the menu occasionally. They added curly fries every once in a while, which were very good, for what they were. At the end of the day still not worth it at all to me, but if you have nothing else, it's there. And you can eat as much as you want. Beats the scam that is the Los Reyes food truck.