Reviews for Portola Dining Commons in Isla Vista, CA
I was a Gaucho for a couple of years and the UCSB dining commons are nothing but special to me. Pizza, burgers, pasta, sandwich... bar, salad bar, waffle machine, unlimited soda, all-you-can-eat everything all with a simple card swipe! (or <$20 fornon-students) Seriously, some of you guys' complaints make no sense. You really expect French Laundry quality here? Yeah right!This place's job is to provide us with glucose for our brains to complete our studies, and for that I'd say it's beyondsatisfactory. Ranking of the DCs: 1. Ortega (sushi baby!) 2. DLG (late night cravings) 3. Carrillo (best breakfast) 4. Portola(too far, had it once) Read more
Aesthetically pleasing dinning commons with nice views. Breakfast usually has the same menu with some minor changes. Lunch is... always a delight. Dinner is a hit or miss. Overall fine quality food with nice workers. Shout out to Tina who's a sweetheart ofa worker and is worthy of some tips! Read more
I understand you close at a certain time. But, of someone is concluding their meal and you see them eating...and you've put away... food products, I think its rude to rush them to eat. An employee did this today and it was not very nice. I felt rushed andthere were more cleaning tasks to be done that wouldn't take away from me finishing my meal. There were even dishes stillsitting to be clean once I put mine away. Please have your employees consider this in customer interactions. Thanks Read more
Fantastic! I loved having breakfast and dinner here. Great choice, everyday there was something new and, the most important... thing, the food was absolutely healthy!! Read more
Obviously everyone gets tired of their own dining hall but overall it?s actually really good it got remodeled and everyone likes... this dining all better than the others apparently Read more
A very important thing to realize is that Portola was redone this past summer (2017). It has gotten a lot better since then. So... when looking at reviews only count the recent reviews of the newer Portola. It's now big and open and clean and food was good.I'm shocked to say it, but it may now be my favorite dining hall. Either way, I'm definitely eating here more. Read more
I expected to be impressed. But Jill H and the crew have created something that far exceeds expectations. More than a half dozen... kitchens, great staff, and fantastic views of the mountains and the bioswale. Biggest surprise, for me, is how quiet the spaceis. There were hundreds of people enjoying lunch, but the interior space was calming and it was easy to have a nice conversationwith my colleague. You've done something special here, Team Portola. VERY special. Read more
Got food poisoning multiple times from this dining common in 2019. Beware of the salad bar, they don't seem to replace the... dressings often. I was ignored when I tried to warn them of the health & safety issue. I even tried escalating it to UCSBdining and they were incredibly dismissive. Read more