It's so silly I had to throw it in here. The 20 colleges with the best food. http://finance.yahoo.com/news/20-universities-best-food-194400132.html
I can personally attest to the food quality at both Cornell and the University of Scranton. UofS is a very small campus situated in downtown (not like they have an uptown) Scranton. I have seen individual schools of larger universities with a bigger footprint than UofS. That said, I went back a few years ago after their new student center was built. Amazing salad bar, incredible quesadilla station and a mongolian BBQ. Cornell's foot print is almost as large as downtown Scranton itself. They have tons of places to eat and they are all different. I would have assumed that they would just be cookie cutter food spots scattered across the space. Not so. The school actually has a food truck (staffed by students of the hotel school) serving Asian fusion dishes. In the summer months I am a frequent visitor to Ithaca and it's to the point now where it isn't unheard of for me to eat all of my meals on campus (though the food in downtown Ithaca is also very tasty).
Now we're talking. You know, it's tempting to look up if those in the top spots are run by management companies or if they're internal self-operations. ARAMARK, Compass, etc. are all standardized production.
Culinary schools don't usually have dining plans, the students prepare food for their cohort and or other classes as part of the curriculum, so there generally isn't a foodservice operation that could be "ranked" by students.
I often try to get into nearby culinary schools' dining rooms for a lunch. $7 - $10, multi-course meals and quality above any fast or sit-down franchise lunches!
