Business people from all around the downtown Phoenix area consider the Taylor Place Dining Hall, located in the first floor of the dormitory on Taylor and First streets, one of the best deals in town for ‘all you can eat,’ with prices under $10.
Joseph Garcia, an ASU faculty member, said the dining hall is busier now than ever during lunch.
“I’ve heard people say it was the best kept secret in Phoenix, but now the word is out,” Garcia said. “This place didn’t used to be this busy during lunch when it first opened.”
The dining hall offers a variety of unlimited food options at set prices, all under $10. Breakfast, which may include omelets, eggs, pancakes, hash browns and cereal, retails for $6. Lunch, usually offering sandwiches, burgers, wraps, fries, pizza, salad and soup, costs $7. Dinner, which includes the lunch items as well as heartier dishes like chicken and potatoes, goes for $9.
All meals include drinks, a deal that some say you can’t find anywhere else downtown.
“If you go to, say the Downtown Deli, you can’t get out of there for less than $13,” said Garcia as his friends nodded in agreement.
Local employees are starting to flock to the dining hall during their lunch breaks because to them, they said, it is a better deal.
“It’s a little cheaper,” said Bobby Dulle, who works for the Harlem Globetrotters. “You get more bang for your buck and you have an unlimited amount of food.”
Others say that the food is not only inexpensive, but of good quality too.
“You didn’t used to eat in the cafeteria when I was in school,” said Marshall Terrill, ASU spokesman for the Downtown campus. “I eat here about three or four times a week. This is quality food.”
For some, they enjoy the dining experience because it brings back memories of their college days.
“I enjoy the college atmosphere, it’s nice to relax here,” said Vinh Thien, an employee of Arizona Public Services, who says he eats in the dining hall about once or twice a month.
The dining hall is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Contact the reporter at hdvorak@asu.edu
