By George!

When I asked to add blueberries to my smoothie, which I have done before, the old lady working there rudely and matter of factly told me I couldn’t. I’ve NEVER heard of a smoothie place where you couldn’t add things. Also, service is SLOW and employees don’t even seem to realize when you’re standing at the counter. All in all terrible customer service and subpar products.

Nothing worth mentioning other than its perfect location. This is where students grab their quick lunch during tight schedules. I’d come by only for the convenience. The staff here are always in a bad mood for god knows why.

Always dirty and smells like warm garbage. Steer clear and head elsewhere for campus fare.

Eat here when I don’t feel like venturing to the HUB or walking up to the Ave… just a quick food break in-​between classes. The coconut cranberry muffin I got was awesome! Better than I expected. But then came the day I went to the By George deli… meh. Not worth. Took awhile to actually get my order. Think they were training a new employee. I thought the sandwich bread would be like the ones that they use at Jimmy Johns or Subway… wrong. Much smaller than I expected. Bottom line… my mom makes better sandwiches.

By George is probably my least favorite on campus café. Their staff is always in such a rush that they mess up orders, even though I never end up getting out of there quickly. The place is incredibly loud in comparison to anything else (excluding the hub, of course). They have a bunch of vending machines, so you can grab a quick bite to eat if you’re passing through. If you want an expensive sandwich, head to the 8 in McMahon– they taste way better.

Every single time I come here, I leave with disappointment.
GENERAL overview at a glance,
Non-​friendly student employees who serve tiny portion of food
Always long lines of wait during rush hours
Seating area always crowded and tables are not always clean
SPECIFICS,
Espresso coffee place — this is not bad. The line is just always so long. Bakeries are overpriced (as well as across campus). The only stand that opens until late night (aka 1am).
Freshëns Smoothies & Frozen Yogurt — I used to come here often for iced drinks but my last visit was pretty awful. The student staff was probably having a bad day (people order drinks and not claiming them) and the service was not pleasant at all.
Subway — Have you heard of $ 5.5 foot-​long sandwich? Yea, me neither until I came here. Please, do yourself a favor and walk to the Ave and get JJ or something else.
Salad bar — Overpriced. One time I picked up some greens and vegetables with a few baby tomatoes. It cost me nearly $ 10. I was so shocked. I was almost going to return the salad but there is no way to do that. I have never touched the salad bar since then.
Pasta stand (daily special) — this is actually okay. Again, student employees give you tiny portions and the meal is plain and not very filling.
Burger stand — definitely overpriced burgers ranging from $ 3.5 to $ 5. Although I do stop by here every once awhile, I challenge myself to walk just slightly further off campus to get better deals at a cheaper price.
Cashier line — often very slow during the rush hour (e.g., 11:30am — 1pm)

I guess with the demolition of the HUB, this place serves as the closest thing to a public lunch cafeteria for all UW students. And it makes me realize how much I miss the HUB, because it was so much better. By George really is not much of a step up from high school cafeterias, because it’s always so crowded and everything is so overpriced that there’s not much about it that makes it appealing.
Okay, I guess I can start with some positive notes. It’s conveniently close to Odegaard Library, but it’s not also open for 24 hours, so you’ll have to get your food elsewhere if you’re pulling an all-​nighter there. This is also the place I visit occasionally to deposit money on my Husky Card, and it’s also home to one of the few public microwaves that I know of on campus. The weird thing about the microwave – aside from the fact that nobody ever seems to clean it – is that you don’t really input how much time you want your food to be heated for. You push a number, like 6 for instance, and it gives you something like 45 seconds for whatever reason. I still haven’t been able to figure it out.
There is a Subway here, but I’ve never found them quite as good as the one on the Ave. Next to that is a bunch of extremely overpriced pastries. There are also burgers for sale here; they carry ridiculous prices as well. I bought and have a picture of a «Husky Burger» here. I can’t figure out what’s so special about it that it has its name or its price. It was $ 3.50 back in spring 2011 and is $ 4.00 now. It’s not particularly big, either. Final thing to note here is the smoothies. I got a 32 oz drink here for $ 6.12 once, and while it was very good, it made me sad how the University can ask for so much money after charging us so much for tuition. I hope inflation has more to do with it than anything else.
Bottom line is that you can and should get your food from somewhere else. I’ve found By George to be a nice place to eat lunch on some of the colder days, but when it’s nice out, there’s really no reason to be holed up in such an unpleasant place. The Ave is not much farther away and they generally don’t seem to have a problem with keeping prices down. Their quality is another matter entirely, but that’s beside the point. If you do happen to be staying overnight at Odegaard, do remember to have a plan about food in advance, because you’re not going to like it when you get hungry while burning the midnight oil and even this place isn’t open to you.

overpriced and not that great… convenience though since it’s right under ode and breakfast is actually really good! but the rest is blehhhh

I’m really looking forward to when the Hub comes back, don’t know when the hell that’s gonna happen, but still. The lines are sooo nuts, the cafeteria is sooo over crowded and noisy, and the food is overpriced and mediocre at best. I only hit up when i forget my food, and then smack myself in the head, *idiot*.

Ummmm well I guess its a university cafeteria. And that’s what you’ll get. University cafeteria food. YUM… um, NOT. SO worth walking half a mile to the U District for real food. Because this was overpriced and pretty bleh. Although the servers were friendly and that counts for something…
Bottom line, if I’m going to be in a rush, I will make sure to pack my lunch.

With my first class of the day up in Denny and my bus stop on 15^th and campus parkway, By George is the closest place I can stop and sit out of the rain and most importantly, refill my water bottle. I can tolerate their breakfast foods [I lean towards the breakfast burrito, which is surprisingly delicious, and the «deluxe eggs,» with a healthy dousing of chipotle tabasco sauce] but I rarely eat any other meal here unless I’m here for the occasional grilled cheese and tomato soup fix.
Oh, and Heidi, the cashier, is sweet and I like talking to her when there’s a lull in the line… Everyone loves Heidi!

Now that I know about next-​door Baci café, I will never eat here again. Unless it is Monday, and Baci is closed. Sigh.
The only item I used to get here is the Veggie Burrito. It solved the immediate dilemma of my hunger, thin wallet, and lazy self, at the expense of nearly everything else that is well and good. I am not proud.
This review is already longer than it needs to be. You’re better off getting food from nearly anywhere else on campus, especially if it’s next door at Baci.

I sometimes eat here when I’m feeling lazy.
The special of the day is sometimes alright, the Mexican food is sometimes okay, coffee is like any other Tully’s coffee on campus (super long lines just before class), there are smoothies that I’ve never had because I never remember it’s an option, and so on…
The tomato soup and grilled cheese WOULD be an okay option if you had your own spoon or were super careful. I’m all about compostable «silverware», but not when your soup spoon gets all bendy/​melty and starts making it hard to eat your soup. *sigh*
The burgers and a sandwich from the newsstand in here have made me sick, though. Blah.
Oh and it’s dark and usually super crowded here during lunch. It’s kind of an okay-​spot if you’re feeling lazy, but… at the same time… it’s kind of sad.

When it’s pouring rain and you’re on this end of campus and the HUB seems too far, it’s not bad. They have $ 3.25 Husky burgers which are surprisingly tasty though inconsistent in quality. Still cheaper than getting a burger at the HUB or a $ 5 – 7 sandwich from any place on campus.

crappy cafeteria college food. dim, ugly space… but where else are students to go with their husky cards?