Dining hall
UWC-USA students share meals with each other in the Dining Hall in the Montezuma Castle, a grand room that features two Dale Chihuly sculptures and beautiful architectural details in one of the most historic dining halls in the Southwestern United States.
The Dining Hall is full of large, round wooden tables for students and staff to eat together in a spirit of conversation and shared-experience. Employees often describe the Dining Hall as the “heartbeat” of the school because of the conversation and community-building that occurs over delicious food.
The Dining Hall food selection is extensive featuring a variety of healthy and delicious choices at every meal including vegetarian, vegan, and gluten free options. At lunch and dinner, students can choose from a full salad bar, a daily soup, and theme menu specials. Access to excessively sugary desserts and soda are intentionally absent, with a focus on eating fresh and nutritious meals at every opportunity. That doesn’t mean an occasional ice-cream sundae bar or hot chocolate doesn’t make its way into the menu from time to time for special occasions!
Students are encouraged to access the Bite application on their cell phones to see the daily menus and calorie counts and ingredient contents. The Bite App serves as the student’s primary access to the upcoming menu, as the dining hall strives to reduce paper menu waste as much as possible. Parents may also access the Bite App.
Students may eat as much as they’d like during the hours the dining hall is open. UWC-USA strives to be a sustainable community. In the dining hall, this means we encourage students to only take food portions they can finish, minimize food waste as much as possible, compost food waste, and recycle materials that can be recycled.
While students are permitted to eat on the castle veranda or in the castle courtyard, the dining hall does not serve as a 24/7 food pantry for students or employees. Students are not permitted to take loaves of bread or jars of honey (as simple examples) back to their rooms as their own.
The dining hall is managed and staffed by Sodexo, one of the leading food-service providers to schools and organizations across the United States and around the world. The Sodexo staff is always willing and eager to hear from students about new and exciting recipes that make our international community feel more like home.
Students are encouraged to speak with the chef first about food requests or suggestions. Many food issues can be resolved with good communication from students to Sodexo staff directly. Not all requests can be filled, but we will certainly try!
The meal schedule in the dining hall for ’22-’23 is:
Monday through Friday:
Breakfast: 7:30 am – 8:30 am
Hot food service stops at 8:30 am, but students may finish eating until 8:50 and must be in class no later than 9 am. Students who reach the dining hall after 8:30 may access the bread/bagel station/cereal/ or fruit but hot dishes will be closed down at 8:30 am.
Lunch: 11:30 am – 1:00 am
Dinner: 5:30 pm – 7:00pm
Saturday/ Sunday
Brunch: 10:30-12
Dinner: 5:30-7:00 pm
The Red Door Café
Sometimes referred to as the “C-Store” (short for “campus store”) The Red Door Café is now offering Starbucks hot and cold coffee, teas, refreshers, and Frappuccino’s. The Red Door Café schedule for ’21-’22 is:
Friday
8:00 pm- 10:30 pm, last call at 10:15 pm.
Saturday/Sunday
Noon-2 pm
8:00 pm -10:30 pm, last call at 10:15 pm.
In the Red Door Café, students may purchase a variety of fresh baked pastries and muffins, fruit cups, parfaits, and specials in the morning and limited chef specials in the evenings.
Food and beverages in The Red Door Café must be paid for with cash, a Visa/debit card, Apple Pay, or Google Pay. Venmo is not accepted.
Some students enjoy cooking. In the day rooms of each residence hall students will find an oven, microwave, and refrigerator. Creative cooks have whipped up elaborate gourmet meals with just these resources! Students are responsible for securing their own ingredients if they choose to cook in day rooms.
“Great food and great company are two of life’s simplest, yet greatest pleasures.”