GW closed District House and University Student Center dining venues on weekends this semester, which students say leaves those on meal plans with limited dining options, odd eating hours and added costs.
Halal Shack, District Market, True Burger, D.C. Taco, Absurd Bird and Chaat House are now closed on weekends, which University spokesperson Claire Sabin said officials implemented because the dining vendors faced lower foot traffic — a pattern that coincides with the addition of new on-campus dining options, like Panda Express and Chick-fil-A. More than a dozen students said they’re frustrated with District House’s limited weekend hours, saying dining halls have limited access to food options, especially for healthier options or meal deals, which makes it difficult for those with limited dining dollars.
GW Dining serves between 10,000 and 11,000 meals per day Monday through Thursday, compared to 3,000 to 4,000 meals from Friday through Sunday, Sabin said. She declined to comment on the number of meals GW Dining serves at each dining location.
“These adjustments to hours help us balance operations while continuing to serve the community effectively during peak demand times,” Sabin said in an email.
Ellie Allen, a sophomore on the Revolutionary 85 meal plan, said she frequents District House because each venue offers a set menu, which she prefers over dining halls where offerings change daily.
She said Thurston and Shenkman’s limited weekend hours, combined with the cut weekend hours at District and the USC, have led her to use dining dollars to order GrubHub from off-campus dining locations more frequently.
Thurston and Shenkman halls are open on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. and on Sundays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. to 9 p.m., according to the University dining website. Comparatively, District House vendors like True Burger and Halal Shack operated every day from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
“A lot of people only eat here or in USC, they don’t eat in the dining halls, because it’s so unreliable,” Allen said. “But this is reliable. You know what you’re going to get every day. Nothing’s changing.”
For students looking to use a meal swipe outside of the dining hall, Sushi Do and Panda Express are open both Saturday and Sunday, Chick-fil-A is open on Saturday and Zingers is open on Sunday.
With the changes, students on block meal plans cannot use swipes at any location after 8 p.m. on Saturdays and after 9 p.m. on Sundays. Students on All Access and Revolutionary 85 meal plans have the option to use one flex meal swipe per week at Panda Express on weekends or Chick-fil-A only on Saturday. District House and University Student Center vendors accept unlimited swipes for certain meal deal combinations, as denoted on the eateries’ menus.
Allen said the addition of Chick-fil-A and Panda Express to the weekend dining option lineup is not a fair trade for District House because students are limited to one flex swipe per week, meaning they must use dining dollars if they want to eat at the fast food chains more than once every seven days. With only one flex swipe, Allen said she’s forced to save all of her dining dollars for the weekends.
Officials’ move to terminate District and USC weekend dining options comes after officials reduced hours at various locations last academic year. In Fall 2024, all District House vendors operated from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., and all USC vendors operated from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily. In January, officials closed Baba’s Pizza in District on the weekends and changed D.C. Taco and Absurd Bird’s hours to close at 6 p.m. on the weekends.
Officials also added some hours at Absurd Bird, Sushi Do and Zingers at the start of the semester. Sushi Do is now open on weekends, and Zingers is open on Sunday. Absurd Bird is now closed on weekends but open until 1 a.m. on Thursday and Friday.
Sabin said students pushed for a late-night option on campus, which led officials to expand Thursday and Friday hours for Absurd Bird. She said officials made changes to the dining schedule with help from GW Dining’s Student Advisory Panel.
Student Advisory Panel executive board members did not return a request for comment.
Student Government Association leaders have long called on officials to expand food options, and students in October 2023 said they prefer District House vendors over other dining options, an option they will now only have access to on weekdays. In February 2024, students also reported stomach illnesses, which they said were connected to eating at Thurston and Shenkman halls.
Noah Burnside, a sophomore living in District House, said he misses sitting in District House on the weekends to eat, study or chat with friends — an experience he said he can’t replicate at Panda Express or Chick-fil-A. He added that students need a wider variety of options beyond the two national fast food chains, which he said are not healthy options.
“Panda and Chick-fil-A are great,” Burnside said. “But, like, it’s not something that I want to be eating, like, every day.”
Burnside said that although Thurston and Shenkman halls remain open on weekends, he has encountered issues with these dining halls running out of food near closing, limited late-night options and no available tables during peak hours.
“If the administration is going to restrict the kind of the dining options here in District, they should then supplement that by having either more food or expanding the tables or something in Shenkman,” Burnside said. “Making that more accessible for people who have different schedules.”
Olivia Andrade, a first-year on the All Access meal plan that allows unlimited swiping once per hour and over $200 dining dollars for the semester, said she pays too much for her meal plan — $3,150 per semester. She said she’s now forced to go to Thurston or Shenkman halls on the weekends, which are often crowded.
“I’m not getting my bang for my buck,” she said. “When I signed up for this, this was supposed to be open.”
