Dining at Vanderbilt

THE RAW AND THE COOKED. The array of meal choices at Vanderbilt run the gamut from hot traditional dishes like breaded pork to ethnic favorites like sushi. There are also convenient quick meal alternatives like Ro*Tiki, an island-themed eatery where students place orders on the touchscreen “talking totem pole” (demonstrated at r. by Dining Director Camp Howard). Photo: Michael Buzalka

The Vanderbilt campus includes two “big box” dining centers and a number of smaller retail outlets, plus six c-stores. Here are the major venues:

Commons Dining Center

Located in the new Commons complex, opened two years ago, the Commons Center is designed to encourage communal dining. Its array of dining concepts includes a salad bar with sizzle station, a chef's table, pizza from a specialty oven, a deli, wok, grill and vegetarian/vegan station.

Rand Dining Hall

The centerpiece of campus dining for decades because of its convenient location in the academic heart of Vanderbilt, Rand has been updated to feature an array of cuisines, from salads and international fare to deli favorites, Mexican items and specialty burgers.

Chef James Bistro

The most recent addition to Vanderbilt's dining mix, Chef James Bistro (named for a famous campus culinarian), sits next to Rand and complements its choices with a mix of prepared entrees, soups, sides and various grab-and-go selections in a format reminiscent of a Whole Foods prepared foods operation..

Major retail outlets around campus include…

C.T. West, a cowboy-themed casual barbecue restaurant specializing in smoked ribs, pork and brisket, as well as burgers and chili.

Ro*Tiki, located in one of the Varsity Market c-stores, is a tropical themed QSR offering pizzas, sandwiches, soups and salads, all made to order from instructions entered by customers on a touch-screen remote ordering station.

The Pub at Overcup Oak is a sports pub themed casual dining restaurant with counter service that includes a stage and flat-screen TVs. The menu includes typoical pub fare such as paninis, salads, appetizers, sandwiches and burgers, as well as beer by the glass for those of age.

Grins is the only certified kosher restaurant in Nashville, serving vegetarian fare.

Nectar is a campus c-store offering natural, organic and gourmet products, including grab-and-go selections, snacks, frozen meals and specialty foods.

Off-Campus Partnerships

One innovative component of Vanderbilt's meal plan system is the Taste of Nashville program, which allows meal plan holders to use the cash portion of their meal plan accounts to pay for food and beverages at area restaurants near campus. The program started in 2007 when upperclassmen were first required to purchase meal plans, says Dining Services Director Camp Howard.

“We did it for two reasons, actually. It served as a release valve for capacity issues and it helped take the sting out of the meal plan requirement. It started with seven restaurants but is now up to 25. It's an excellent revenue stream and students like it because they can use their meal money off campus.”

Howard says the program makes a virtue of necessity by conceding that students will patronize off-campus restaurants anyway, so why not have the dining department benefit. It also defangs the oft-heard student complaint (at almost every school, not just Vanderbilt) that campus dining is a “monopoly.”

Taste of Nashville restaurants have to meet several criteria to be eligible. They have to be within 10 minutes walk from campus, meet stringent food safety standards and demonstrate a certain level of student interest based on surveys and unsolicited recommendations.