Schatz, The Donner of CMU’s Dining Services

Some things just taste delicious when you don’t have someone complaining in your ear that it tastes disgusting.

For some reason, Schatz Dining Hall has so many students holding to the verdict that it is quite possibly the worst place on campus, and that its food is indigestible, as if some canard is floating around about someone getting sick from eating there. It is, however, the only place on campus that you really cannot leave without a full stomach, as the wide variety of food that Schatz serves are never so terrible as to make you sick.

The fact that it's a buffet, an addition which students at Carnegie Mellon in the past have proposed the dining services to offer, should have quelled complaints but seems to have only exacerbated them. Going to Schatz, especially in the morning, one will find a constant and loyal customer base, and that is athletes. Naturally, athletes tend to be on the larger meal plans at Carnegie Mellon, and that added with the fact that it’s the only place you can quickly get to 1,000 calories before 10 a.m. on a single block makes Schatz the no-brainer.

Ironically, Schatz shares that similar reputation and loyal customer base with another Carnegie Mellon staple: Donner House. Like how Donner is with dormitories, perhaps it’s the fact that Schatz is seen as a pittance compared to other university dining halls that people demean the establishment. I, however, find it unfair to bash Schatz for some of the alleged flaws that people hold to it after going to it more often, as what other possible way is there for something to grow on a person? The same can probably be said about Donner House and how many of its residents defend the dormitory.

There are definitely worse places on campus to go than Schatz and some places that may be better but take ages to order. There is never a line at Schatz; not because there aren’t people who want to eat there, but because it doesn’t require you to wait for an order to be ready. It’s pay and chow, unlike some other locations on campus which are not at all well-staffed, like Egg Shoppe, which can take up to 30 or 40 minutes to deliver a single order because there are two or three people working the entire location.

The most baffling thing to me is that people liking Schatz is a cardinal sin to many students here, when there is nothing in particular that stands out as extremely repulsive. It’s a fine establishment, especially if you wish to have breakfast with a large group of friends. It even throws occasional banquets of extremely nice cuisine. For example, last semester, there was an ice sculpture winter party that Schatz threw, and it was probably the nicest food that this campus has offered here in a while.

Ultimately, the Schatz enjoyers are the only ones who win in the end.