BoardPlus Burn: Cronkhite Dining Room

Never been to Lamont? (There’s a café there?) Not really sure where the Greenhouse is located? Still have $130 left on your BoardPlus before it expires on May 22? No worries, we’ve got your back (even though you just might live in a hole) on just how to spend your newfound wad of cash in this burning BoardPlus series.

BoardPlus Redemption Center: Cronkhite Dining Room, Cronkhite Graduate Center, Radcliffe Institute

Hours: Breakfast: Monday-Friday, 7:30 a.m.-10:00 a.m.; Lunch: Monday-Friday, 12:00 p.m.-2:00 p.m.; Dinner: Monday-Friday 5:00 p.m.-7:15 p.m.

Ambiance: Located in the same building as the Undergraduate Admissions Office, Cronkhite Dining Room looks onto a pristinely manicured, enclosed garden and courtyard. With a couple tables and chairs on the patio, Cronkhite could be a great place to catch a bit and study on a nice day. And even from inside, the views are beautiful and add a real charm to the space.

Inside, Cronkhite’s seating options look similar to those found in typical Harvard dining halls with tables arranged in rows and with a few smaller, private rooms to eat and chat. If it seems to resemble your House dining hall, that’s because Cronkhite is indeed also a graduate student dining hall. However, Cronkhite is much smaller and intimate than its dining hall counterparts in the Houses.

If you’re looking to work and plug-in, we at FlyBy could find only a few power ports along the wall, so arrive early during meal hours if you need to juice-up your laptop.

Food: It’s a pretty standard Harvard dining hall with buffet lines and trays. The entrées, soups, deserts, and drink selections were all just like those found in any undergraduate dining hall.  The salad bar has a few more premade salad options, but is largely also similar to what undergraduates expect in Annenberg or their House. However, unlike for undergraduates, Cronkhite offers containers for diners to fill and eat on-the-go.

The Final Word: It’s certainly hard to justify burning BoardPlus on food that could very well have come from your meal plan. But that logic is what got you in this mess of having so much BoardPlus leftover, so you might as well explore something new while you can.

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.