Have half of your meal swipes and dining dollars left? Here’s A Guide to Campus Dining Halls

By: Kathryn Aurelio ‘25

As the semester ends and you’re cramming a semester’s worth of information into Quizlet flashcards, food can start to feel irrelevant. Here’s your reminder to nourish yourself and get your meal swipe’s worth while you still can! Whether you have 30 unused swipes or have an unlimited plan, here’s a quick guide to USC’s campus dining halls.

USC created a convenient app, Trojan Dining, that lets students view menu options for breakfast, lunch, and dinner times for the next three days of the week. Use this as your map on the choose-your-own-adventure trip for finding the best dining hall for you on any given day.

USC Village Dining Hall

Nestled in the Village under the McCarthy Residential College, USC’s largest dining space resembles a scene from Harry Potter featuring collegiate, gothic architecture with high ceilings and stained glass windows. This hall also boasts a 100% self-contained plant-based station that is vegan-friendly! Whether it’s daily specials on the Expo Bar, vegan Buddha noodle bowls, a full sandwich and soup bar, or their specialty–made-to-order crepes and scooped ice cream–the Village dining hall is a tasty and convenient place to have some good eats.

Parkside Restaurant & Grill

Situated in the International Residential College at Parkside across from McClintock, the Parkside dining hall  serves “international specialties” as well as your typical dining hall fair. As the dining hall with the most varied cuisine, it’s also the only dining hall free of peanuts and tree nuts. For those with allergies, Parkside Restaurant is for you! Unfortunately, if you aren’t a resident at Parkside or take classes near the southwest end of campus, it may be a trek to enjoy their nut-free global eats and soft-serve ice-cream station.

Everybody’s Kitchen (EVK)

Located in the nook between the Birnkrant and New North Residential Colleges–and only steps away from Leavey Library–Everybody’s Kitchen (commonly referred to as EVK) is the smallest dining hall offering “homestyle favorites.” As a specialty, the Kitchen has a soft-serve ice cream station with sprinkles, Oreos, chocolate chips, and chocolate/strawberry drizzle. If you have time, EVK’s made-to-order daily specials are definitely worth the wait. Moreover, the IKEA-esque furniture and comfortable mood lighting is the perfect atmosphere to multitask like writing that 10 page paper while watching lectures at 2x speed snaking on tater tots. The combination of atmosphere and dependable food makes EVK my personal favorite. Though I’m probably biased because of its proximity in location to my freshman dorm last year. Another perk is that you can grab a meal to-go if you request to do so at the door.

Hours for All Dining Halls:

Monday - Friday: 7:00 AM - 10:00PM

Saturday - Sunday: 9:00AM - 10:00 PM

CLOSED Monday - Friday: 10:30 AM - 11:00AM

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