Article by Claire Stuvland
Art by Antara Krishnan
Photos by Josephat Ngoga

Dining halls. Quite possibly the most critical part of any college. And at the Claremont Colleges, a consortium of 5 liberal arts colleges, students have seven (7!) dining halls to choose from. It is only natural that I rank them, based on not only their food but the overall experience they provide.

Hoch

First is the Hoch, closest and dearest to Mudd. Without even mentioning the food, we’re off to a great start because “Hoch,” pronounced like the bird species, is simply a versatile name. It’s easy to ask your friends to Hoch lunch:

Hey, are we hoching today??

This automatically gives points to the Hoch before we even consider anything else. 

I’m not sure what others have heard, but when I visited Mudd as a prefrosh, I heard that Mudd had the best dining hall, so I had pretty high expectations coming in. However, those expectations weren’t quite met. 

Let’s start with breakfast. I honestly have found very little to complain about with Hoch breakfast — you can’t go wrong with crepes or made-to-order omelets. A staple in my Hoch breakfast is avocado toast, especially with their avocado spread, garlic tomatoes, arugula, and the spice bar. The many options for smoothie bases and wide variety of fruit also make the smoothies a popular order. Recently, the Hoch bakery section has been stepping up its game and now the chocolate croissants reliably have a satisfactory amount of melted chocolate in them! This means victory for us cross country frosh.

Hoch lunch, though, I’m not as much of a fan. Your experience depends mainly on what time you get there. The 12:15 lunch rush is real and it is dangerous — I swear students swarm the Hoch after their 12:15 classes end. The lines are insane, and I like to theorize that it’s in part because Mudd students go to the Hoch out of convenience while students from the other colleges go to the Hoch because they’re serving some delicious pho or bao, which are some of Exhibition’s specialty entrees. If you’re like me, and you just want to grab your food as fast as possible, this is a major downside. During the lunch rush, eating at the Hoch means choosing food stations with shorter lines, which essentially means avoiding the best entrees. My impatience is definitely to blame, but I’m not unique in this regard. 

Although I complain about Hoch lunch, I can definitely get behind Hoch dinner. The lines are still long at Creations or Exhibition, which typically serve the best entrees, but the mood isn’t nearly as frantic. Lines generally move pretty quickly, and the food is good. My friends and I particularly enjoy the wet burritos and quesadillas, as well as the triple chocolate cookies for dessert.

Speaking of dessert, there’s one thing that everyone I’ve talked to (n = 4) agrees on, and it’s that the Hoch has the best desserts of all the dining halls. The soft serve machine is more reliable than those at McDonald’s, the brownies and cake taste amazing, and the cookies are simply incredible. Most students agree that the triple chocolate cookies are the best, although I could easily argue for the vegan chocolate chip cookies or oatmeal raisin cookies (which are not dry!). My lukewarm take is that the normal chocolate chip cookies are better than the more popular vegan chocolate chip cookies. 

The main reason I frequent the Hoch, though, is convenience. I would rather make the 30 second trek to the Hoch (South dorm superiority) instead of walking ten minutes to another dining hall with food that isn’t good enough to warrant the trip.

McConnell

Pitzer’s dining hall, McConnell, is actually decently close to Mudd. Some of the outer dorms are closer to McConnell than the Hoch, so Pitzer is a convenient option. 

I’m not entirely sure if this is a known joke among Mudders, but I’ve heard McGregor (ironically) called Mickey G’s. When I told that to my friend, she started calling McConnell “Mickey C’s,” which I absolutely love.

It’s not nearly as iconic as the name of the Hoch, but it’s very silly and brings us joy.

My favorite thing about McConnell, though? My friends’ favorite thing about McConnell? The food. I don’t think you can really go wrong with McConnell. Their entrees are separated into four categories: Global, Comfort, Chef’s Table, and Grill. Global is generally the most popular because Pitzer serves international food there, like pad thai, open bao buns, pasta, and Pacific bowls. They’re by no means as high quality as homemade food, but by dining hall standards, it’s honestly really good. Pitzer also serves decent Mediterranean food — by this I mean Mediterranean food that I regularly like to eat — and make-your-own burritos. 

I asked Liv DeBoer HM ’27, the same person who coined “Mickey C’s,” to say a couple things about McConnell because out of the people I know, she likes McConnell the most: “I greatly enjoy my meals at the McConnell dining hall. They have an impressive variety of flavor and vegetarian options. They also have the best tacos and BREAD. Plus, they have cream cheese and bagels 😮. Delicious.” She added a couple points I’d forgotten about. First, Pitzer is probably the best dining hall when in search of vegetarian or vegan options. They have a section that’s entirely meat-free, called Herbivore, and besides that a lot of the food is vegetarian-friendly or can be made vegetarian. Pitzer also has bagels available at every meal, and many cream cheese options at breakfast and brunch: pesto cream cheese, jalapeno cream cheese, sundried tomato cream cheese, plus some vegan options. 

One area I think Pitzer could improve in is desserts. They’re not bad, but the standard is Hoch desserts and while I recognize that this standard is hard to meet, McConnell does not come through. Their key lime bars respectfully go crazy, but Pitzer cookies are no match against Hoch cookies, vegan or triple chocolate or what-have-you, and their bread pudding is sometimes oddly dry. Also, the dessert section often lacks labels. They have a list of their desserts, but no allergy labels, and it’s not always entirely clear which dessert is which. 

Overall, McConnell is one of my top two dining halls; I just wish it were closer to my dorm (South dorm sadness?). 

Mallot

To be fully honest, my take on Malott is at most anecdotal. I frequent Malott brunch, called “Scrunch,” on the weekends, but I’ve never been to another meal at Scripps. My assumption is that this is similar to many other students at Mudd — Malott brunch is popular among Mudders. 

Even before beginning college, I’d heard Malott was known for having acai bowls at brunch. They have this on Saturdays and they serve overnight oats or chia pudding on Sundays. I have tried both and I can confirm they are straight fire, even if the mangoes in the acai bowls give me a brain freeze every time. To my surprise, though, these stations never have long lines — possibly because of how quickly students can grab their bowls and toppings. I see this as a huge bonus, because I’m used to having to wait in long lines for the best foods. 

The long lines at Scrunch tend to be for the chicken and waffles on Saturdays and avocado toast on Sundays. I’m not huge on chicken and waffles, and I get my avocado toast fix at Hoch breakfast, so I don’t mind this. There are definitely some lucky times when the lines are short, but I haven’t observed this enough to confidently say that there’s a consistent time for this.

As a side note, “scracos,” or Scripps tacos, seem to be popular on Taco Tuesday and students line up early outside Malott for them.

One of my friends went and told me that they were “the best tacos ever” and that they were “worth the wait.” I couldn’t really tell if she was being sarcastic or serious but there’s definitely some significance in their popularity!

Overall, Scripps brunch is great, and their other meals are probably also great.

Collins

Among Mudders, Collins has a bit of a rough reputation. I’ve talked to frosh who refuse to eat at Collins and upperclassmen who, while admitting that they’ve never actually been, advise impressionable frosh to never go. 

My take on the controversy? Collins isn’t that bad. In fact, it isn’t bad at all. One of my friends, a freshman at CMC, described its food perfectly when she said that all Collins had was “athlete food.” The food is generally plain and not very special, but it’s certainly not bad, either. When compared to the dining halls of other colleges and universities beyond the 5Cs, Collins would very likely be ranked quite high.

One thing to note is that Collins has the best music. Before orientation, I had to have breakfast at Collins because the Hoch wasn’t open very early, and Collins was blasting EDM at 6:30 in the morning. Awesome. That did a great job setting the tone for my day. I hear from my CMC friends that at lunch, 2000’s throwbacks aren’t infrequent. 

Frary

The main attraction of Frary isn’t the food (although the food is a bonus) — it’s the architecture and ambiance and the fact that Frary is the greatest collaboration between Hogwarts and Catholicism the 21st century will ever see. The lighting, the tables, and the huge mural on the back wall all come together to create a Potterhead’s dream. 

I can’t speak to Frary lunch or dinner, although I’ve heard positive comments about both, but I will absolutely advocate for Frary breakfast and brunch (not to be confused with Frunch, which is Frank brunch). Frary has a yogurt bar with a lot of options for toppings: frozen berries, peaches, coconut, granola, and chocolate chips. I’m absolutely biased because I love yogurt for breakfast, so Frary’s yogurt bar is a highlight for me. They have a small sushi station for brunch, and while sushi and yogurt isn’t the typical pairing, I’m not about to complain. The pastries are delicious as well and every once in a while, there are mini muffins available. According to my senior cross country teammate, those mini muffins are “the best thing at the 5Cs,” which is such a bold claim it must be true. I’m only a frosh, but so far I agree with him — they are kind of mindblowing. 

I can’t talk about Frary without talking about the mural in more detail, though. There’s a TSL article on the huge painting of Prometheus, otherwise called “the hunk without the junk.” A very entertaining title, but one that completely misses how beautiful and vibrant the mural is. It’s genuinely astonishing that we have this in a dining hall of all places, but the mural suits Pomona’s liberal arts grandeur and the atmosphere of Frary. 

Frank

Is too far. That’s all.

SIKE. Another Pomona dining hall! Like many Mudders, I have only been to Frank for one meal: Frunch. Frank brunch on Sundays (it’s closed on Saturdays) is absolutely worth the long walk to the far side of Pomona.

Sushi? Barbecue chicken pizza?? Bagel bar of your dreams??? Who would say no? Even the water, according to Prof. Frosh John Simon HM ’27, is incredibly fresh. The food isn’t the problem at Frank…

It’s the distance. The trek to Frank can be painstaking, not only because of how far it is, but also because the path there isn’t straight. We can go through CMC or Scripps to get to Pomona’s campus, and then we have to navigate Pomona. I have no clue how Pomona is set up; it isn’t nearly as geometrically organized as Mudd’s linear design. This is probably why I haven’t been to Frank for any meal besides brunch, and am unqualified to judge any of its food beyond brunch. 

I can give a little spiel on its menu and setup, however. On the 5C dining app, Frank’s hours are incredibly unclear. Brunch is listed from 00:00 to 00:00, as is dinner. Their menu is generally very comprehensive, though, so I can look past that minor annoyance. Frank is a pretty sizable dining hall with a lot of indoor seating, but my friends and I like its outdoor patio. The wooden tables and chairs give students plenty of space, unlike the patio of a certain Mudd dining hall, and the music is a total vibe. 

Oldenborg

Oldenborg is the last of the gazillion Pomona dining halls, best known for its foreign language tables where students can practice whatever language they’re learning. 

Like the uncultured person I am, I haven’t actually been to Oldenborg yet, so I can’t give a very credible review. However, when I told August McIntosh-Lombardo HM ’25 that I had never been to Oldenborg, she looked me straight in the eyes and said, “Good,” nodding her head solemnly.

Lea Twicken HM ’25 advised me to go to Oldenborg and ask them if they had an English table, which would infuriate the staff but would also be so hilarious.

If any Mudd students are reading this, please consider taking her advice. 

Conclusion

Overall, it’s hard to go wrong with 5C dining! If you chose your dining hall at random, there’s an 86% chance that you’d be at least satisfied with your meal. 🙂