New Dining Hall Opens

Following the renovation of the dining halls of four Houses in the past two years, Leverett dining hall was renovated this summer and opened on Friday night to rave reviews from students and staff.

“It’s a change you can definitely taste,” Nikhil Kacker ’02 said.

The dining hall was renovated using a template created by Harvard University Dining Services (HUDS) meant to modernize the services while giving the dining halls a more homey feel. The three Quad dining halls—Pforzheimer, Cabot and Currier—will be renovated simultaneously next summer, according to Alix McNitt, the HUDS assistant director of marketing and communications.

In Leverett, the old 40-foot L-shaped serving line has been replaced by serving stations that create a less cluttered space. Moving the salad bar from the dining area to the serving area also creates a more spacious seating room.

“It’s the most fluid and open of the dining halls,” McNitt said.

Gone are the days of waiting in one long line for upwards of fifteen minutes. Now, Leverett diners can head immediately to the food area of their choice.

“You just swipe and go,” Jesse V. Milligan ’02 said. “It’s quick. You’re in and out.”

Some of the kitchen walls have been taken down in the dining hall, leaving the chefs and cooking area open to view.

Milligan says he likes the opportunity to interact with the cooks and see them preparing his food.

“It’s an anti-poison measure,” he said.

The new design also allows more space for storage space.

Last year, HUDS workers were forced to place refrigeration units into the manager’s office for lack of a better space to put them.

The food quality has improved dramatically since last year, according to students.

The food tastes fresher and less dry because it is cooked in smaller batches and kept warm on a state-of-the-art heating system, said Penny Duggan, a dining hall worker in Leverett.

The new cereal containers also receive praise from Leverett students. Instead of the cereal being scooped out, different brands now pour down directly into bowls.

“It seemed really unsanitary before,” Kacker said. “People would just scoop the cereal out with their hands sometimes. It was pretty disgusting.”

Leverett diners no longer need to remove their utensils from their trays at the end of a meal, which is one of Milligan’s favorite aspects of the new dining hall.

“It’s designed for lazy people like me,” he said.

Enthusiasm for the new dining hall is nearly unanimous, with even the dining hall workers excited at the change.

“They even let us choose our uniforms,” Duggan says.

The renovations began the day after Commencement, after a year and a half of HUDS planning .

“You can’t even believe how fast how fast this stuff can happen,” McNitt said. “The walls were literally being torn down. The place is just demolished.”

Multiple types of construction occured simultaneously on the site--a consequence of the three-month deadline.

“We don’t have a choice,” McNitt said. “We have to be open.”

—Staff writer Amit R. Paley can be reached at paley@fas.harvard.edu.