Between the five dining halls on campus, it can be difficult to choose which location will best satisfy your cravings for the classic Italian dish. The pasta-bilities are endless!

After embracing my inner Gordon Ramsay, I ranked each of the five dining halls for the top pasta dish on campus. Next time you are about to enter carb heaven, be sure to browse this list.

No. 5: Pollock Dining Commons

I immediately regret picking the bowl with the “meatballs.” Yes, “meatballs” is in quotations because I’m not entirely convinced that it was real meat. The consistency resembled a crab cake and a hot dog combined.

The one plus-side to Pollock pasta is that it is a part of the buffet. Students can pick up one bowl of pasta, or 25. To get my money’s worth, I grabbed bowls with both the red sauce and the alfredo sauce.

The bowl with alfredo sauce was edible at best. The bowl with red sauce was extremely questionable.

The most substantial problem was the temperature of the food. The pasta barely reached lukewarm. For this reason alone, Pollock deserves to be last on the list.

Pasta la vista, Pollock Dining Commons.

No. 4: West Food District

Creamy tomato basil sauce: smooth, seasoned, and creamy indeed. It is the best sauce on campus. West pasta has lots of potential. This is the only location on campus where students are in control of scooping the noodles themselves, which made me feel ~empowered~. Students can choose between wheat and classic penne and Milano and creamy tomato basil sauce when making their own bowls.

The problem is the noodles themselves. If you look closely, you can differentiate between a light pasta noodle and a dark pasta noodle. Some noodles were undercooked, some were overcooked, and some were just right. That level of inconsistency leads to low marks.

Similar to Pollock, the noodle temperature was not hot enough. If the chef were to crank the heater a few degrees, this would be an entirely different story. Cold noodles are not the move.

No. 3: Redifer Commons

Alfredo sauce on spaghetti noodles was a mistake. It was a pre-pasta-rous decision on my part. The two do not belong together. Unfortunately, I was left with a puddle of excess sauce and pasta water by the end of my meal. The spaghetti noodle is less commonly found on campus than penne, so the variety was a treat. Most notably, the price was right for the serving size. I received a plate overflowing with pasta for just $2.31. That is tough to beat.

No. 2: North

Who would’ve thought? Not me.

Generally, North takes last place on every list. I can now sleep at night knowing those architecture students at least have full bellies of pasta.

The vodka sauce threw me for a spin that I didn’t know I needed. Too often, dining hall food is bland, but there was a nice kick to the creamy sauce. The pasta is drained adequately which prevents the excess liquid that is frequently found at the other locations. The breadstick was a great touch to soak up the leftover sauce.

No. 1: Findlay Dining Commons (East)

Nothing quite beats a bowl of pasta after an intense workout at the IM Building. Though the line is always long, the chef at East has perfected the sauce to noodle ratio.

Pro tip: strike up a conversation with the workers at the pasta station and they will surely give you the largest piece of garlic bread. It works every time.

It’s impossible to walk away from this pasta bowl still feeling hungry. The bowl is piled with your noodle of choice. The noodle temperature is — get this — actually warm. East is the place to go for a properly prepared pasta dinner.