Byrne Hal

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While most undergraduates will never sample the gourmet, made-to-order offerings at Byrne due to its location away from central campus, those who are fortunate enough to be residents of River cluster often discover the unique dining experience Byrne provides sometime during fall term.

Cloistered between the Feldberg library and the main entrance of the Tuck school of Business, Byrne is the official dining hall for Dartmouth's graduate business students. Furnished with plush leather seats and lofted ceiling, the main dining area has--save for short periods of bustle in between Tuck classes--a subdued and refined ambiance that's missing in typical undergraduate dining halls.

And the school intends to keep it that way, because undergraduate students may not charge Byrne hall food on their DDS plans--they must use DASH. Thus, while temptations of prime-rib and steak nights (not to mention omelets that make Collis's fairly good counterparts taste like cafeteria food) draw the occasional wide-eyed undergrad to its stately environs, it's a luxury most cannot afford, even if the dishes are less expensive and better than those offered at other dining halls.

As an undergraduate visitor, be prepared to feel slightly under-dressed and somewhat out of place when you find those eating around you discussing shockingly unacademic things like equity stakes, stock options, and the bulge bracket. But even if you're more at home discussing moral philosophy and can't add value to a conversation on treasury yields, you can still gain Byrne hall cred by guessing the weight of your ice cream--if you guess right, you get the ice cream for free as well as the non-quantifiable but nonetheless fulfilling glances of approval from the Tuckies standing in line behind you.