Market Central

A traditional college dining experience. This is Pitt's main dining hall located beneath Litchfield Towers. It is open all day, but typically has more options at peak lunch and dinner hours. When you walk in, there is a make to order omelet stations, burgers, chicken patties, veggie burgers, fries, etc. Then to the left, there is a pizza station and pasta station. There is a make to order stir fry station. In the very back, there is a vegetarian/vegan station. I will say from when I started coming here three years ago, they have made an effort to improve vegetarian and vegan option. When you walk in and go the right, there is usually a home cooked type meal place, wraps, and dessert! Overall, the food quality is pretty average. There is nothing too special, but satisfactory for a hungry college student. It can get monotonous, if you have to go everyday but once a while it is fine.

For the full picture, it's important to understand the perspective, first and foremost. Imagine: broke college students mill about this rowdy, all-you-can-eat cafeteria. It costs ~$13 per admission, but you have no choice but to come here because of limited meal plan options. In the booth seats, there's a student or eight passed out. It's finals week and students look haunted. Some of them look somewhat maniacal. Mostly, people are stabbing vindictively at their food as they stare blankly into their exam materials; eyes glassy, mouth slack. At the service counters, the $13 swipe grants admission to a selection of cheese pizza, burger patties, hamburger buns, fries, Rice Krispies, and fireball ice cream. Other menu options are not in operation. Also imagine: In March bright eyed high schoolers scamper around Market Central during their college visit to Pitt. Market flexes in preparation for fresh faced customers like Barb and her prospective Pitt student Chadwick as they weave through the bustling crowd of students, picking up dishes like tilapia fillets and beef bourguignon and Italian wedding soup and chicken tikka masala with jasmine rice. The food has room for improvement, but overall, Barb is impressed. Market is lit.On a normal day, the menu hovers anywhere between the two scenarios depending on the time of day and period in semester. Typically, the food quality gradually decreases as the semester moves on, although it plateaus for a while in the middle before it falls when finals week hits (this really sucks because students are then, not only sleep deprived but also malnourished, especially if you are studying in market late at night: I took a final on 4 chicken patties, a cheese pizza, and a soft serve cone) but for the most part, the food is acceptable, though mediocre at best. Menu ideas are creative, but mostly look more appealing than they taste; however, Market is on the upper end of average compared to a lot of other university dining halls. They also do try hard to spice up the market experience by adding in special days like Thanksgiving Dinner, double swipe Fridays, Africa Week, etc., which helps keep it a bit more exciting. Also, most of the market workers are friendly and personable. Ophelia is a gem.For a one time entry, Market is not all bad. It's only after a semester of desperately trying to use up all the swipes you have been overcharged for does it get old. Unfortunately, this isn't an uncommon experience for most of the market goers.