SOCNET Chowhall Thread....

[USMCSNIPERONE]

Which dining facility gets the vote for being
the best?

Sorry fellow Marines, but I nominate the
following:
1) Coronado...Navy
2) Ft.Irwin...Army
3) Deigo Garcia...Navy

Put in your vote and we will do a tally in
a few days.

Semper Fi Sniperone

[Jeff Rambo]

Luke AFB, AZ.

[MARK92A]

Id have to agree with Ft Irwin. That Taco Bell and Popeyes Chicken is GREAT the day you roll back to the dustbowl after two weeks in the box!!

[justagrunt]

Wright Patterson Air Farce Base, USAF!

I Got up to do away with my tray after I was done eating and everyone looked at me like I was nuts... I asked where do you take this F-N thing and they all laughed and said;

THEM:
"They come get it..."

ME:
"ARE YOU SHIT'N ME?!?!?"

THEM:
"No"

ME:
"WHAT DO THEY DO, SEND KP'S OUT TO GET THEM?!?!"

THEM:
"What are KP's?"

ME:
"O' MY GOD..!"


------------------
HOW TO ANNOY A LIBERAL... WORK HARD / BE HAPPY

[This message has been edited by justagrunt (edited 08-20-2001).]

[wally]

Nevada test Site. Pay by the piece but a steak was like 1.50
Dining facility Kwajaleen atoll. Run by civilians for civilians. Good eats.

[c130streamer]

Ft Greely Alaska,
The Army cold weather test center, all civilian cooks and they didnt mess around, we had steak, lobster, made to order breakfest, and BBQ and it was always all you can eat.

[WS-G]

Better-than-usual: G-143's HQ Platoon mess section way-back-when. Ft. Gordon RAF Hullavington Dover AFB Hickam AFB NCO Club (BEST)

Something-to-be-desired: Sheppard AFB Hanau AB

Lower-end-of-spectrum: Camp Robinson

[This message has been edited by William M Salter (edited 08-20-2001).]

[LRSC Grunt]

Blanchfield Army Hospital chow hall and aviation chow hall at ft campbell ky was the absolute best. Yes ft irwins was pretty sweet also. They have the original uniforms from Meg Ryan and Denzel Washington hanging on the wall.

Ft Bliss was ok...but not the greatest.

Ft hood, all the rest of ft campbells DFACs, Camp robinson, ft polk, Benning OSUT, and ft chaffee were on the verge of being suitable for human consumption.

The absolute worst .....Macgregor Range...BLAH!!!

BTW, Ive heard the blueberry pancakes at dahlonega, Ga were unfucking believable! I hope to try them sometime http://www.socnetcentral.com/ubboard/wink.gif


[This message has been edited by LRSC Grunt (edited 08-20-2001).]

[DocHabu]

Naval Hospital Okinawa has so far been the best Hospital Galley I've eaten at. As far as Chow Hall's I have to say Anderson AFB on Guam is shit hot!

The worst has too be the CAB / 2D MARDIV chow hall on Camp Schwab, Okinawa.

[para325air]

All I got to say is that every AF chow hall I ate at beat every Army chow hall I ever ate at. Hands down.

------------------
Worldwide Service Provider, No Mission too Tough, No Sky too High, You Call, We'll Fall, 18 Hours or Less.

[WS-G]

My only experience with Navy cuisine was from three days aboard the USS Ponce (LPD-15). Edible, palatable, but unremarkable.

[HmtPD2]

Kadena AFB, Okinawa Japville.

R. Steht
Sergeant/ USMC (former)

[TANGOisinKOREA]

The General Officers mess in CP OSCAR S. Korea. Steak and Lobster I shit you not!

Chas

[USMCSNIPERONE]

Well, So far Ft.Irwin has 3 Thumbs up!
Coronado has 2 and all the rest have one vote.
Camp Robinson has 2 thumbs down,so that gets the nod for the worst.

Two of my three picks made it, so I guess I
was eating pretty good!

Semper Fi Sniperone

[Grand58742]

Best chow hall?

1. The Chow hall, I can't remember the name, on the 33rd FW side of Eglin AFB

2. The Leeward side Marine Chow hall in GTMO, Leeward if I remember correctly

3. Chow hall at Indian Springs AFAF, Nevada. Best kept secret when there isn't anyone going through Silver Flag

Best Enlisted/NCO/O Club?

1. Maxwell AFB NCO club. Best all you can eat BBQ ribs on Thursday

2. Tinker AFB NCO Sports lounge

3. USMC MarBar, Keflavik NAS. Can't beat their grill

Just my .02 worth

[This message has been edited by Grand58742 (edited 08-24-2001).]

[Ted]

Ranger DFac, Hunter Army Airfield. When I first got there it kinda sucked and the leg chowhall was better. But it vastly improved during the latter part of my enlistment to become the best chowhall I have ever eaten at.

[Infanteer]

I don't know if we are talking about food...but CFB Wainwright has the best damn looking kitchen staff in the world...man, those young ladies were good for morale (and they distracted me from the pasty beans those Brits served every damn day...acchhh!)

[trident86]

I'd have to vote for Soto Cano, Honduras. Chow hall and the weight room were awesome, but nothing else in that tent city dustbowl was!

[JOE-BOO]

FORT IRWIN....11ACR DFAC

[RogueExec]

Subase Bangor, WA.

Bar none.

------------------
"Don't let 'em piss on your leg and tell you it's raining."

[Bravo Five Romeo]

I forgot the name of the air force base (started with a T), but it was just outside Madrid, Spain in the 80's. At the time, I was in a leg infantry unit in the 101st (3/327) and we were on our way back from the Sinai. We were on a packed C-141 scheduled to fly straight from Cairo to Sicily to Ft.Campbell. About an hour out of Sicily we had mechanical problems and had to make an emergency landing in Spain. It was after midnight local time and suddenly the mess hall had to feed a few companys of unexpected hungry infantrymen. What impressed me most was how quickly they put together a fantastic meal for so many so quickly. The Air Force dining hall was beautiful and they stuffed us with fantastic steaks and fresh vegetables. No one waited. They woke up their kitchen crews and whipped out an amazing meal in no time at all. The air force may be full of pogues, but these kitchen guys were high speed and we ate like kings.

[This message has been edited by Bravo Five Romeo (edited 09-10-2001).]

[WS-G]

Originally posted by Bravo Five Romeo:
I forgot the name of the air force base (started with a T), but it was just outside Madrid, Spain in the 80's.
That would be Torrejón. Spain was always one of my favorite TDY venues (my family had a long history there prior to the Inquisition).


------------------
Co. G (-)(Abn/Rgr), 143d INF (LRRP), TXARNG — 1981-1985
433 MAW (AFRES) — 1985-1991
(civvy — 1991-2000)
Co. G, 143d Inf (LRS), TXARNG — 2000-2001
Troop G (BRT), 124th Cav, 36th Bde, 49th AD, TXARNG — 2001-present

[KiloRaider]

"Everything" omlettes for breakfast...steak every Wednesday...Seafood night every Thursday...Damn, those Panamanian cooks were good to go! Gotta love that chow at Camp Fairwinds in Port-Au-Prince. As I recall, that seemed to be the best damned chow I've ever had!
...Well, maybe it was that everything else in Haiti just plain f@#$#!! sucked!!!

------------------
S/F
K 3/2 95-99, C 1/25 99-?

[Disturbance]

CFB Wainwright
sandwich bar not unlike subway for lunch
and we all know subway is the greatest thing invented

[DIRSUP KORLING]

Best shore galley:
Balboa Naval Hospital San Diego

Best afloat galley:
USS Topeka

[USMCSNIPERONE]

Cold MRE's in the Mtns of Afghanistan count also!! Let us know!

Semper Fi Sniperone

[This message has been edited by USMCSNIPERONE (edited 09-16-2001).]

[zog]

Hmm.
There was a Coast Guard tender plying Ohio River out of (Sewicklee?) Pa. that had surf n' turf on Fridays ...

[C.Todd]

The Coast Guard Training base in Petaluma, CA.

Breakfast includes eggs to order, ham and bacon, hot and cold cereal, pancakes, waffles, chipped beef on toast, fresh fruit, (very few civilian places can match this chow hall for its breakfasts).

For lunch and dinner you can take your choice of a fully stocked salad bar, pasta bar with everything from manicotti to lasagna to spaghetti to ravioli, including garlic bread, ice cream bar, hamburger/sandwich line, and usually two choices of main meals (steak-cooked to order-and lobster every week).

[USMCSNIPERONE]

I think the best meal was the peanut butter sandwich I recieved after completing SERE school! I would have killed for two!

[jag...justagrunt]

Originally posted by USMCSNIPERONE
I think the best meal was the peanut butter sandwich I recieved after completing SERE school! I would have killed for two!

lmao.

[Razor]

Well if we're going in that direction, I'd say the Gator Lounge and their hot dog special.

[XXNavy]

For seafood, I went to a place outside of St. Thomas, can't remember the name, someone can probably help with that.
It was a bar/restaurant in the bay, the only way in was by a small boat. Built on huge wooden "telephone poles" for lack of a better description. I remember seeing a frame on the wall, with no picture in it. Upon further investigation, the bartender said it was Blackbeards sig! Sure enough, in the middle of the frame, was carved the name Blackbeard, and was dated, like 1792, my memory fails me, (don't know my history, either).
All I know is that they swore it was the real deal...
PS, back to the food, it was fantabulous...

[Forestboy]

RAAF Base Amberly in Australia. Porterhouse steaks,
Them: "And you only want one,Yank?"
ME: "Hell no! I will take as many as you give me."
Boy were we pissed when the Marine cooks showed up.
"CHILIMAC! WTF is that doing in there? Bring back the steaks. "
Our big dinner at the end of the exercise(Croc 99) was big ass buffet tables heaped with shrimp, crab legs, lobster, steaks and this big ass fish that was baked whole and brought out hole and you took as much as you wanted.
Soft serve Icecream every day, lunch and dinner.
Worst was MCAS Futenma 30 minutes prior to closing every day. Veal patties.

[armybrat04]

Army times says the best chow hall is...
Fort bragg.
They(army times) posted this in a "Test your news knowledge quiz," the question: Who has the best chow hall in the Army?
A:Fort Leavenworth, Kan, NC; B:Fort Bragg, NC,;C: Fort Benning,Ga, D:Fort Polk,La.
And the winner is... Fort Bragg, based upon winning the U.S. Army Culinary Arts Competition.
-armybrat-

[bteam10thsfga]

Hill Air Force Base, in Utah besides the food, steaks /seafood and like, the female population was very pro-young GI(I was a shameshield at the time) :)

[Sharky]

BBQ'ed barracuda.......Cape Town South Africa. Not a chowhall but a memorable night.

[colmurph]

It's a "lead pipe cinch" that it doesn't have any connection with the U.S. Army! LOL Best chow I ever had was a meal on a 688 Boat based out of Groton, CT. The Submarine Service is noted for it's good food. Little footnote....when I was a Butterbar assigned to the 3d SFG one of my "Additional Duties" was as "Mess Officer". I had to eat one meal a day in the Consolidated Mess that the 3d ran, and generally oversee the Menu to make sure it followed the Army General Menu. I noticed that the messhall was buying a hell of a lot of "LEMON EXTRACT" and as I love Lemon Merrangue Pie, I was eagerly awaiting the appearance of some on the menu. What I found out after a long wait for a pie that never materialized, was that one of the cooks was an alchoholic and was buying the stuff to drink. "Lemon Breath" was finally discovered and transferred.

[USN Intel Guy]

My best is a tie between the Sub Base in Bangor, WA and the MCRD San Diego Galley. Both rocked.

At the ass-end of the pack is anything starting with USS ......

[AirbornePaintman]

Worst chow hall ever... 2/9 Infantry's Chow Hall!! Blehh!! that is, when it's even open!!

[Fire-Gunner]

The best I've had: Chanute AFB, IL (closed now)

The worst I've had: Camp Rudder, FL

[PS_11B10]

Raw snake or something?

[Fire-Gunner]

No snakes, just pancakes and eggs (at least that's what they called it) in the chow hall.

[brewmonkey]

Originally posted by USMCSNIPERONE
Which dining facility gets the vote for being
the best?

Sorry fellow Marines, but I nominate the
following:
1) Coronado...Navy
2) Ft.Irwin...Army
3) Deigo Garcia...Navy

Put in your vote and we will do a tally in
a few days.

Semper Fi Sniperone


Which mess hall on Irwin? The RDF for the old 177th BDE was ok, but up on main post you had the DFAC run by the civilians that was awesome.

[USMCSNIPERONE]

Originally posted by brewmonkey



Which mess hall on Irwin? The RDF for the old 177th BDE was ok, but up on main post you had the DFAC run by the civilians that was awesome.

It was the Mainside one. It was the only one I ate at. It really is awesome after eating at Marine Chowhalls that are ran by and staffed by Jarheads. Now I'm not bitching about the Marine Corps Chow;) but there is room for improvement compared to the other branches of the Military!!

[DFC5343]

New London Ct. YDT-1 dive boat tied up to the USS Ohio, when she first hit the water. One Kabar for a box of steaks, frozen veggies and frys. Fired up the Hibachi on the dive station and you guessed it....Navy chow done right!

[John Clark]

Pax River Naval Air Station, hands down for the Nav.
Rated #1 in the Nav from 79 - 84.
Became a civilian after that.

John Clark

[Per Ardua]

As long as we are telling tales outta school

BEST

1. Thule AFB Greenland
Anything you wanted anytime of the day/night

2. CFB Greenwood Canada
5-6 different choices plus pasta, plus sangies, plus salad, plus pizza

Worst

RAF Stn St. Mawgan England
Worst food in NATO but after two weeks of survival course I would have eaten the north end of a south bound skunk

[fix]

USMC - Camp Geiger, Jax NC
Army - Camp Merrill, Dahlonega GA (I was pretty hungry though)
Navy - NAS North Island, Coronado CA
AF - Maxwell AFB, Montgomery AL
Foreign - Haifa Air Base, Haifa Israel

S/F

[SOTB]

OK, resurection time.

Best chow hall?

Breakfast -- Ford Island

Lunch/Dinner -- USN chowhall on Guam (I don't remember the exact one). Or ANY sub I've been on.

Midrats -- USMC chowhall at Camp Fuji

[Green Lid]

Diego Garcia- HQBF British Indian Ocean Territory rated ace. Possibly since
RM complement is 20 men. Also they proff from their American friends.

[The Corporate Guy]

USMC - Camp Geiger, Jax NC
S/F

What!?!?!

**rubs eyes**

I must be seeing things.

[andersoma]

Vandenberg AFB, California

Lackland AFB, Texas

RAF Mildenhall NCO Club

Dragon Hill Lodge ROK

Suwon AB (Chow hall ran by the Army)

Eskan Village, Saudi Arabia

Al Jaber AB (Thursday Lobster and Steak night)

Castle AFB, California (Closed)

Disclaimer: this is not in any order.

[K9.hazmat]

Alternate Joint Communications Center AKA:Site R, Raven Rock Mountain

[Mav]

Breakfast - 525th MI BDE chow hall when a certain SFC is there.

Lunch/Dinner - Goodfellow, AFB -- They even take your damned tray, too! You just leave it there after you're done! I'm serious!! I was so shocked that I didn't know what to do with myself. :p

[ke4gde]

Patrick AFB, Florida

Best damn chow/hall for me. :D

[sierra11b]

None of them.

Who wants to car pool to Zorbas or Montereys?

Best i've had: 525th MI/ 51st Corps LRS

Worst: 325th falcon chow halls. (all of them IF they were open :sigh: )

[Trip_Wire]

As i think back to the "good old days" of the "brown shoe Army," I recall my Basic training company at North Ft. Lewis, WA in 1947. It was one of those WW II era messhalls. They served the meals "family style." That is with bowls of the food, brought to you at the table by the DROs. You ate on chinaware dishes. Great food! KP was hell though! I recall scrubing those wooden floors with GI brushes in a line with other KPs from the doors to the kitchen's serving counter. (Long fairly narrow building.)

I guess when I think currantly, I'd have to vote for the dining facility at the 1st SFG(A) at Ft. Lewis, WA.

[sierra11b]

I remember eating some fantastic Southern BBQ in Ft. Polk as we got out of the JRTC sandbox. Not sure where the chow hall was though. All the cooks were civilians that knew the meaning of good BBQ. Or maybe it was because we hadn't eaten decent food in a month? :confused:

[MikeC2W]

Ranger Chow Hall, HAAF.

All of the Ranger School chow halls were pretty damn good - I mean who can forget blue berry pancakes. Then again when you're starving.....

[Dutch8654]

Diego Garcia- HQBF British Indian Ocean Territory rated ace.
We had to catch and eat those funky crabs and whatever else we could find. No chow hall for us there. Went into shock after eating some shellfish....lucky we had a corpsmen that shot me up within a few minutes.

Any fucking sub base or docked sub was the place to dine and swindel for good chow.

[Wes]

Moron, Spain (Yes that was the name). Whatever AF base that was when we left Iraq(Moron AF base?), the chow all was open 23/7 and they took your trays. Maybe my opinion is a bit off because I had been in Iraq for a year, but that was damn good food and you could go there anytime and as often as you wanted. The free part also helped.

Stateside I would say Camp Rilea, OR.

[andersoma]

Wes, Moron Air Base is just one of those joint NATO bases the Air Force use as a contigency base and an aletrnate to the alternate to the alternate for the Space Shuttle. Small group of Air Force personnel are stationed there. I was there for a week, the chow is exceptional. 35 minutes from Seville, Spain. Awesome party place.

[Massgrunt]

Hmmm. I was a Marine. So If this was a "Worst Of" list, I'd be in a lot better standing. All my good ones are when compared to Camp Horno's "PFC Martini" chow hall. If I ever jump on a grenade, I want a better fucking chow hall than that named after me. Weekends were the worst: Veal parm and lima beans, or hot dogs without buns, or shit like that. We'd drive down the road to the SOI chow hall. Shit, we looked forward to going to CAX for the food.

The best I've ever eaten at was the Camp Victory chow hall. Every KBR chow hall I've eaten at owns every Marine chow hall I've ever eaten at. It's not even worth listing them.

[SOTB]

The best I've ever eaten at was the Camp Victory chow hall. Every KBR chow hall I've eaten at owns every Marine chow hall I've ever eaten at.The one in the camp across the road wasn't bad. The best was to end your meal with a ice cream cookie sandwhich -- made by grabbing two freshly-made oatmeal or chocolate chip cookies, a scoop of that day's flavor of ice cream and -- PRESTO! Hmm-good....

[RgrBarney]

Eagle Base in Bosnia. The one down close to the Post Office, not the one up on the hill. And the coffee shops at all the bases in Bosnia were great and usually staffed by local women who may or may not have had all their teeth, but they were not in BDUs either. :D

Forgot to add the Danes had a great chowhall at their camp too. Lunch was always great, but the best part was the coffee and fresh baked pastries every day at 4:00.

[Attila175]

Army - Camp Merrill, Dahlonega GA

[SOTB]

Army - Camp Merrill, Dahlonega GAWhile I don't think it was the best chow hall ever, I admit that it is one with the longest impact on my current food likes.

To this day, I still make blueberry pancakes on the weekends for my family -- and while initially a "hardsell", even my wife now puts peanut butter on her pancakes (my daughter loves the idea, of course)....

[Massgrunt]

You know, this thread just made me realize I could have eaten mid rats tonight.

Fuck.

[Wes]

Wes, Moron Air Base is just one of those joint NATO bases the Air Force use as a contigency base and an aletrnate to the alternate to the alternate for the Space Shuttle. Small group of Air Force personnel are stationed there. I was there for a week, the chow is exceptional. 35 minutes from Seville, Spain. Awesome party place.

We were stuck there for 3 days waiting to come home from Iraq because our plane broke. We were still under General Order 1 so no alcohol... ya, so when the first few drunks were found we were locked down to the barracks and could only go to the chow hall. The chow hall was the only thing that kept us sane while our families waited for us at Stewart.

DAMN good chow though... I think we almost consumed their food storage in those 3 days. :D

[Spinner]

Our dining facility at Fort Stewart for the 124 MI Bn was a finalist back in 1990 for some excellence award. They also served some pretty good chow.

The worst I ever encountered, by far, was the dining facility at Ft. Huachuca, again in 1990. So bad, the Commandant of the school came in to check it out one day in response to complaints. I happened to be sitting there, just having some milk and fruit, because I figured even God couldn't screw that up. The Commandant took a couple of bites, got a very pissed off look on his face. He then grabbed his tray and proceeded right up to the kitchen area and slammed it down, and started ripping the Facility NCOIC right then and there. I can't say I saw much improvement in my final month there, but it was great theatre.

Davis-Monthan AFB was excellent.

[PSYOP ROB]

Another vote for 525 MI at Bragg, with 528th SOSB coming in close behind.
The chow hall at Camp As Saliyah, Qatar is good also
Funny chow hall moment: USSOCOM Change of Command, GEN Lindsay is outgoing, GEN Stiner is incoming CINCSOC. They sent a bunch of us to MacDill to stand in the formations and represent USASOC in the hangar. They bus us to the chow hall and everybody gets in line. We are initially shocked at the amount of food you can get (2 meats, potatoes and macaroni and cheese, definitely not what we are used to from an Army chow hall). Everybody eats and then gets up with their trays, maybe 30 of us, and we start walking around the place looking for where you put the trays up. We all play follow the leader for a while until the little ladies come out of the back and start yelling at us to put the trays down so they can bus them. Local Air Force dudes just sat there staring and shaking their heads.

[Bearcat06]

Kwajalein Atoll Chow Hall, Hickam AFB Chow Hall (the Zoomies had civilians cleaning off your tables and CNN on the TV...pretty impressive to a dumb ass Army MP), and Wake Island Chow Hall (Thai Cusine 24/7). Johnston Atoll wasn't bad either because on Saturday Night, you could go to the club and cook your own steak and eat beach side.

[bigbull_21]

I'd have to say Camp Margarita...three different lines, and you can go through the lines as many times as you want. Best chowhall I've been to out of pendleton, lejeune, 29 palms, ft. greely/ft wainwright.

[Bravo_One_Three]

Hands down the chowhall at the former USNRT Capas Tarlac, RP. Run by an MS1 who was a former Vietnam era USMC 0331. Since the Marines were the only permanent personnel on the base, and we worked odd schedules, that chowhall was open for 1 hour every 3 hours from 1900-0700, and he served breakfast around the clock on top of whatever else was on the menu.He used to hire some seriously hot local women to wait tables too.

Sunday mornings were the best Red Horse hangover cure... Chili Mac and Eggs to order. He'd run the off duty section meal cards (guys who were out in AC on libo) to cover the costs.

I've never seen a guy get more write-ups for NAM's, NUC's, NavComs etc from Marine Officers. When I left Capas to go back to San Miguel, the only people I went out of my way to say goodbye to were him, his staff, and the civilian DoD Guards.

[Massgrunt]

SOTB's comment about Geiger made me remember something. When I was there, a bit more recently, the food sucked. But they had a big banner saying "#1 Chow Hall in the Marine Corps 1999!"

Picture me seeing that sign, and my eyes getting real big as I slowly stop chewing my chili mac. I was like "WHAT have I DONE!"

[SOTB]

SOTB's comment about Geiger made me remember something....Heeeeeeeeeeey! That wasn't MY comment.

In the spring of 1981, that chowhall sucked at Geiger. Hell, in 1981 the Corps was being investigated for not feeding its people (something about cutting costs to meet the budget). When I got to Onna Point in Okinawa, they had so little money that they broke open the C-Rats and T-Rats and cooked them in the chowhall. My whole team would ride our bikes (bicycles) from Onna to the North gate of Kadena (an hour ride) just to eat in the AF chow hall.

So noooooooooooooo, you won't see any commentary of MINE in referrence to the Corps puting out great chow -- save Camp Fuji. Where the SNCO in charge was truly a squared-away dude....

[WS-G]

Bravo Bunker (ING), Baghdad. By far the best DFAC I've eaten in since I arrived in-theatre. Fresh local cuisine that's much more like what I'm used to having at home than the flash-frozen, mass-produced, shipped-in-reefer-truck glop KBR serves in all the American DFACs. Those just have a certain repetitiveness to the menu that seems to repeat itself every four days or so.

MOD EDIT. I've taken the hijack out as well as the referral/slam on US chowhalls offering pork products. Personally, if you don't like pork -- or if you prefer the food of your new-found friends to that of your countrymen -- then go eat in a raghead restaurant. For THIS thread, leave the politics out of it.

[Massgrunt]

Heeeeeeeeeeey! That wasn't MY comment.

In the spring of 1981, that chowhall sucked at Geiger. Hell, in 1981 the Corps was being investigated for not feeding its people (something about cutting costs to meet the budget). When I got to Onna Point in Okinawa, they had so little money that they broke open the C-Rats and T-Rats and cooked them in the chowhall. My whole team would ride our bikes (bicycles) from Onna to the North gate of Kadena (an hour ride) just to eat in the AF chow hall.

So noooooooooooooo, you won't see any commentary of MINE in referrence to the Corps puting out great chow -- save Camp Fuji. Where the SNCO in charge was truly a squared-away dude....
Ah, just edit my post. Give in to temptation!!!

[Chuvak]

USS Newport News (SSN 750). Four-square a day, shimp, lobbster, cappucino afterwards. As long as the food is fresh anyway. But I hear once you've been out for a few months you end up eating nothing but "slidders" all the time and no veggies.

[Cass]

USS Newport News (SSN 750). Four-square a day, shimp, lobbster, cappucino afterwards. As long as the food is fresh anyway. But I hear once you've been out for a few months you end up eating nothing but "slidders" all the time and no veggies.

I had the luxury of eating Submarine Service chow when I was diving off the USS Florikin, a Sub-Rescue and Diving ship (very small). I recall one of the settings on the table for breakfast was Avoset, a ½&½ milk and cream for pouring over your corn flakes, if you chose corn flakes. I mean, to my dive team this was top drawer at its best.

This was a far cry from the cookie cutter "eat it or don't eat" chow my Team received on the APD's we traveled on.

Best: NAF Monterey. Big luxury was breakfast on Sunday from 0600 to 1100 with eggs to order and several meats of choice.

Oddist Chow Hall: Bomber Base on Okinawa during the Korean gig. Open 24 hours per day to feed the Round-the-clock Bomber crews. Big ass tent, steak and eggs at 0200 hours.

[dogman]

Moron was pretty good, even after being stuck there for 9 months during Gulf 1. Probably the best for me at the moment was at Lajes Field in the Azores. We had just come out of Somalia in APR 93 when there wasn't a UN chow hall or that Indian pizza and chicken shack yet, and we cleaned house on the midnight chow at Azores. The absolute worst was that warehouse DFAC right next to Blue Bird DZ in the embassy compound in the Mog. The fuckin' helos would lift off right over the see-though roof of the building and dirt and grit would be in all the food, so everything you ate was crunchy. Those green omlete T-rats were bad enough, but crunchy green omelets was enough to turn the stomach.

The lovely embassy compound - I still marvel today at the half-assed attempt to camoflage the water tower :D

http://www.discipleofdesign.com/pics/mog10.jpg

[GoNavy12]

I don't know about the best chow I ever ate because I've only eaten on around 10 military chow halls but I can tell you that the army one in Ft. Dix is nothing special, I'd do my best to steer clear of that chow hall because a lot of guys ship out there.

[Spinner]

I should add that back in the 60s and 70s, the Navy lived up to its billing of serving good food. We used to go to Great Lakes Naval Training Center and the Glenview Naval Air Station on field trips and to see recruit graduation ceremonies, which always included a noontime meal. It was always very good. First time I ever had Navy Bean soup.

Glenview NAS has been closed for some time now. Can only wonder about the Training Center.

[BOOTS2REI]

Chow halls in the Foreign Legion Regiment where all about the same,but!! We had BEEEER on tap right next to the sodas.KP had its benefits.

[B 2/75]

Call me one of poor taste (buds) but I kind of grew an appreciation for the old UN HQ cafeteria on canal street before it had the roof come down, and I also liked the mess hall on the ISG compound.

[riptide]

Hickam by far

[Brianj]

Ashore: A tie, between the Russian Village Chow Hall at DLI and (the twice mentioned) Sub Base Bangor.

Elsewhere: USS San Francisco. Superhuman cranks on that boat when I rode it. Even when we ran out of almost everything, those guys still made peanut butter and spam taste good.

Honorable Mentions: Mongolian BBQ at Kaneohe O'Club/Sunday Brunch at Kadena AB.

[Ryan_G]

Mara: Tossup between the DFAC on LSA Anaconda and North Camp, Sinai/MFO.


You have got to be kidding right? Anaconda? All 4 dfac's on that base suck.

The chow hall here at Eglin is ok...

[Inspector Cluseo]

Chow halls in the Foreign Legion Regiment where all about the same,but!! We had BEEEER on tap right next to the sodas.KP had its benefits.
Thats absolutley right Tex, and some pretty good vin de Noel and Camerone
and St Michel (for you REPMEN):D
Cheers again Tex

[KidA]

Wherever in the fuck it was where I went to PLDC in Korea. No shit that was some good eating.

[Paranutz]

Ranger BN Chow Halls Hands down!!!!! The Best RLTW!

No BS like One Starch and One Protien......All you can eat and whatever you want! You better just eat it.........

3rd BN is the Best of the Three though...

[jsmurphy]

Best chow hall?

They all seemed like 5-star restaurants after a long FTX.

[Trip_Wire]

I liked the 1st SFG(A) Dinning facility at Ft. Lewis, the few times that I have eaten there.

The 2nd Ranger BN.'s Dinning facility wasn't as nice; (interior) however, the food was good.

[NightLandNav]

I'm with the others, they were all good when I was hungry*.

* Body starting to eat itself.

[CombatMedic1981]

Hohenfels Germany CMTC 1/4 DFAC.

[CV]

Camp Fucking Victory. Better chow there than I ever had CONUS.

[CA SGT]

Iraq/embassy DFAC had some bitchin' blueberry cheesecake....

[WCG175]

1st Bat chow hall, Hunter Army Airfield

I was very impressed with the chow at Ft. Wainright, AK when I was up there last March.

Chow for the FFL was pretty good when I did some training with the 3rd REI. I REALLY loved the coffee! Man that was good!

[Massgrunt]

Camp Fucking Victory. Better chow there than I ever had CONUS.
I agree, it was awesome.

"You mean I can have milk shakes with every meal?!?!" :D

[NightLandNav]

No shit, I can say I never felt complaint about one tray anywhere.

For some reason the cow on CVN-72 sticks out as damn good.

I can say, the first time I heard "How would you like your eggs Sir?"...I honestly had no fucking idea what to say...and blurted out "anything but runny". That got a laugh down the line, and a scoop of scrambled.

Scrambled was fine.

Still, when I only have 5 min for chow; Rice with some kind of meat liberally salted and three glasses of "fruit drink" is still my #1 choice.

[Ranger275]

Ranger BN Chow Halls Hands down!!!!! The Best RLTW!

No BS like One Starch and One Protien......All you can eat and whatever you want! You better just eat it.........

Concur 100%!!!

The guy who said the Ft. Irwin chow hall must be out of his mind! I was fortunate enough to get food poisoning from that dump, twice in 1998! :eek:

[PanaVet]

Late 80s and early 90s the JOTB chow hall on Ft. Sherman, Panama was pretty damn good.

[Doctor_Doom]

Schofield Officer's Club is pretty darn good, and the Officer's Club at MCBH Kaneohe was really good too.

I have to try Hickam... don't know if Ford Island still has a DFAC.

I knew the one submariner I met recently was a jerk when he kept complaining about how the sub chow was terrible... spoiled, he was...

[Brianj]

I knew the one submariner I met recently was a jerk when he kept complaining about how the sub chow was terrible... spoiled, he was...

Maybe his Chop sucked...in my experience, sub chow really depended upon the Chop (Supply Officer) onboard. More than anywhere else, I think, that one guy could make or break the whole deal, depending upon what he bought, where he bought it, and how he stored it. And I served on some boats where the Skipper had a strict policy of "food storage only in designated food storage spaces", and if we were on a long run, we'd be on spam and peanut butter fairly soon.

Other Skippers took a more liberal approach - I pulled out of Apra on the San Francisco once and we looked like a scene from "Das Boot" - bananas and hams hanging from the overhead in the wardroom, and food stacked all over the messdecks...we ate ate so much fresh fruit the first 2-3 weeks that I didn't miss going without it for the next several months.

[psyoper22]

the two i can actually remember going to and enjoying was the one in Ft Knox, KY and the Navy Chow Hall in Ft. Meade, MD. the Navy Chow Hall reminded me of a diner.

[CombatWombat]

Army Mountain Warfare School DFAC. Yes, I'm a little biased. Some squirrelly NCO back in the mid-80's convinced DA that 'due to increased calorie burn during cold weather ops' he was authorized double rations per student. Holy lord, that's some serious food.

[Kalanis]

1. 3rd PPCLI, Canada. Best buffet I have ever eaten at anywhere. And we had a sick guy, they made a "take out" cart with everything from chicken noodle soup to strawberry waffles. Sample everything to see what he could keep down.

2. NTS - agree with wally

3. Hickam AFB - relaxing AF ambiance with all the rock and fish tanks.

[trailrunner78]

The Air Force dining facility at Tempelhof Air Base in Berlin. We used to drive over there whenever we could rather than eat in 3/6 Inf.'s mess hall......oh yeah, this is 1980.....;)

[MikeC2W]

Ranger BN Chow Halls Hands down!!!!! The Best RLTW!

No BS like One Starch and One Protien......All you can eat and whatever you want! You better just eat it.........

3rd BN is the Best of the Three though...

No shit aye...ya think? You only half correct however. 3rd Batt chow sucked! At least as compared to the 1st Batt chow hall...which by the way I stated in this thread almost 2 fucking years ago?! Where ya been? Christ I was 4 years late....what's that make you! HAHAHAHAHAHAH

Holy resurrected threads!

It was fun to reread though...I can't wait to put some peanut butter on my pancakes...can't believe I haven't done that in years - the horror.

[BlackHorse]

Best
1st Cav Speciality House (early 80s) Hell yeah.
Camp Dobol 1996-1997,Bosnia, didn't really care for Eagle Base
Camp Bullis AFB, (1981) of course that was the one and only time I had steak for chow. zoomies know how to live.

Worst
Any Brit mess hall in their sector of the FRG, esp. the one we were kicked out of.

[DWE]

1/4 Inf DFAC Hoenfels

1st Batt Chow Hall. We were flying out of Hunter and they allowed us to go to that chowhall since it was the weekend. Talk about some ugly looks. 1st Batt didn't like 24th mech coming into their area, LOL! It was great food and looked like a museum with everything on the walls.

[WCG175]

1/4 Inf DFAC Hoenfels

1st Batt Chow Hall. We were flying out of Hunter and they allowed us to go to that chowhall since it was the weekend. Talk about some ugly looks. 1st Batt didn't like 24th mech coming into their area, LOL! It was great food and looked like a museum with everything on the walls.

They had things on the walls? Eh, maybe I should of looked up from my plate more often!:D

[DWE]

They had things on the walls? Eh, maybe I should of looked up from my plate more often!:D

At the time I was a 19 year old LEG 12B. It was like being in a Museum, LOL!

[finman]

WrightPat AFB
Yuma
Eglin AFB

I still love the MRE's even after 20 years on the outside

[rgrjoe175]

The chow hall in the mountains and the Florida phase of suck school. It was damn good chow at the time...LOL Sorta like the Chicken Stew LRRP... damn that was good. Now I would not eat that shit if you paid me...LOL

JP

[GreenWarrior]

Which dining facility gets the vote for being
the best?

Sorry fellow Marines, but I nominate the
following:
1) Coronado...Navy
2) Ft.Irwin...Army
3) Deigo Garcia...Navy

Put in your vote and we will do a tally in
a few days.

Semper Fi Sniperone

I actually liked the chowhall at NAB Coronado. However, if they were the ones who prepared those fucking ham and cheese boxed lunches we ate what seemed like every other day in second phase, then I re-nig my vote for them. :D

[CTA]

I was on COMRATS during my active time in the Navy with the exception of basic and “A” school, but in spite of that, I did manage to sample a few chow halls. Rating Scale used - 1 Star (*) to 4:

ASU Bahrain **
Comiso AFB **
Hellenikon AFB *
Incirlik AFB (good Mongolian BBQ) ***
Lajes Field **
NAS Naples *
NAS Norfolk **
NAS Rota **
NAS Sig * / Italian side ***
Norfolk Naval Base **
NSGA NW *
NTTC Corry Station ***
Rhein Main ** / German side ***
RTC San Diego **
USCG Lampedusa **

I’ve had countless flight line lunches in places like Cyprus, Aviano, Naples, Hyers & Toulon… and the box lunches always sucked. And unfortunately, I was never on any ships long enough to sample their chow with the exception of a few box lunches before being catapulted off or lifted via HC. Regardless of the chow hall, the Navy usually does a pretty good job slinging breakfast.

[Brian1/75]

No shit aye...ya think? You only half correct however. 3rd Batt chow sucked! At least as compared to the 1st Batt chow hall...which by the way I stated in this thread almost 2 fucking years ago?! Where ya been? Christ I was 4 years late....what's that make you! HAHAHAHAHAHAH
Damn things must have changed. 3rd Batts chow hall is god-like. Sometimes I prefer the leg dfac compared to RDF. They just bitch about your servings, which is annoying. Hell they don't even serve dinner most of the time, so you have to go to the leg dfac.

[freds4]

Another vote for Hickam AFB. The last time I was there they had a lobster tank and on your birthday you got to pick a lobster to be prepared for you. (ID required of course)

[CombatMedic1981]

Hohenfels, CMTC 1/4 DEFAC.

[8Ball]

Eskan Village, Saudi Arabia



Things must have really taken a turn for the worst in the last 3 years.....

Oh, and my vote is for the SWC Chow Hall at Bragg in the early 90's.

[heavyguns1/1]

Cubi Point Phillipines.
Omlets made just for you, great after hangover PT

[Billy L-bach]

FOB Marez
hands down

[Louis]

Victory

[RGR.Montcalm]

I'd have to vote for Soto Cano, Honduras. Chow hall and the weight room were awesome, but nothing else in that tent city dustbowl was!


Not a tent city anymore- I second that opinion though. One of my last 'acts' as CSM there was to get 2 of those 'make your own' waffle makers like they have in hotels for the DFAC.

Close seconds- Ranger DFAC 1/75; Enlisted messhall- Little Creek- all you could eat and they took away your tray (1979); Kadena DFAC; Anderson AFB, Guam; Ft Greely; 29 Palms wasn't bad- each DFAC had a 'theme', Italian, German, fast food, etc... (1980)

[SOTB]

Midrats -- USMC chowhall at Camp FujiI'm going to change my mind on this one -- now it is Stryker DFAC on VBC....

[Guy]

The Air Force are running the chow-hall!:D

Stay safe.

[Carl Spackler]

Hickam HI.

[PS11B10]

Sports Bar - Victory Base, Iraq (wasn't too bad...)

[Inspector Cluseo]

Kadena 76' (it was almost worth having "minus one but symetrical")

Camp Fuji - SOTB Holy Shite it must have changed since 76 and 78' - (still quonset huts with a piss tube between each and a walk to the shitters ???)

Any Legion Camerone fete......or US Air Force Base

[RetPara]

Oh, and my vote is for the SWC Chow Hall at Bragg in the early 90's.

Did that used to be the PsyOps DFAC late 70's\early 80's?

Katterbach AAF in the mid-80's HH6 actually liked... maybe it was because she was 6-8 months pregnant, we were in a Gausthaus waiting quarters for two months and Germans don't seem to serve a lot of fresh veggies...

Yokohama Navy Base had a DFAC in the early 70's that was incredible compared to anything I saw in the Corps.... Subic Bay... didn't really notice the DFAC... I was just counting time to get back to the vil...

[SOTB]

Kadena 76' (it was almost worth having "minus one but symetrical")Having ridden my bike from Onna Point to the Kadena chow hall many times JUST FOR DINNER (I forget which one, but I think it was the nearest to the most NW gate), I understand your reasoning.
Camp Fuji - SOTB Holy Shite it must have changed since 76 and 78' - (still quonset huts with a piss tube between each and a walk to the shitters ???)No, same crappy conditions -- but I think we got lucky and the BN I deployed with had a great SNOIC of the chowhall.Any Legion Camerone fete....What is it?

[cuda-dude]

Ft Irwin is good. 2nd for me is Ft. Benning. Chow probably wasn't that good, I was just so damn hungry.

[Bravo Five Romeo]

What is it?The Legion's number one holiday celebrating the anniversary of the battle of Camerone... bigger than Bastille Day and Christmas... a full day and night of festivities and traditions complete with a feast.

Inspector Cluseo,
Do they still bring out Captain Danjou's hand?

This battle and the holiday created to celebrate it were the first things I read about when I was learning about the legion as a teenager.

[8Ball]

RetPara
Not really sure about that, Sir.
It was the one behind the SF museum. There were civilian's serving on the line. BIG woman who would throw more on your plate than you could possibly eat and call you "Sweetie". It was almost like being at Grandma's house......almost.........

[Inspector Cluseo]

The Legion's number one holiday celebrating the anniversary of the battle of Camerone... bigger than Bastille Day and Christmas... a full day and night of festivities and traditions complete with a feast.

Inspector Cluseo,
Do they still bring out Captain Banjo's hand?

This battle and the holiday created to celebrate it were the first things I read about when I was learning about the legion as a teenager.

The Wooden Hand of Capitan Danjou is kept in the Legions Museum in Aubagne (HQ Legion Etrangere) it is part of the ceremony or "fête" held there each year (30 Avril) and is slowly paraded in review in display box. No matter where you are stationed there is a considerable feast and ceromony...sometimes it is celebrated early prior to a deployment etc. It can, if in garrison turn into a bit a a drunken debauchery after the formal ceromony.....to say the least:D

Heck, me and a couple of members of the board still meet for a meal and a toast each year.
I was never able to be in Aubagne for Camerone (always w/ my Regiments) but hope to attend in the coming years.

[ccorgr175]

Ranger Chow Hall, HAAF.

All of the Ranger School chow halls were pretty damn good - I mean who can forget blue berry pancakes. Then again when you're starving.....

Amen, brother.

There was a close second down at Hurlburt AF Base in FL...we were down there for Scout Swimmer...a bunch of Ranger Tadpoles enjoying the Airforce way of Life...:D

2%

[Fire-Gunner]

Kandahar AB, Canadian side, was pretty damn good. All you can eat king crab legs and lobster tails for dinner on Fridays. :D

[TigerDad]

FORT IRWIN....11ACR DFAC


The Burger King in Baker. When I was last at Fort Irwin - all we were getting was MREs on the lovely shores of Bicycle Lake - finally, we all got so hungry that we loaded up as many as we could into the Huey and flew over the mountians and landed next to the Burger King. We ate our fill of Whoppers, fries and, in my case a Strawberry Shake - then we took about a dozen "to go" orders back to Bicycle Lake and shared the wealth. The next day, we caught hell for it - but it was worth it.

TigerDad :p

[Boats]

USCG Subsistence Specialist School Dining Facility, Petaluma, Calif. -Treat yourself if you're in the area. Walk in with any Mil ID, pay low-ball prices if your're not CG, and enjoy.

[RickyRecon]

Madigan Army Medical Center, Ft. Lewis

You had to have a medic buddy slip you your med records so you could get in or they would not let you in the door.

[Carl Spackler]

Submarine USS Los Angeles SDV OPS 05...best damn galley in the fleet!

[kuzikan]

The Best? Thats the one where you either have to use sterno to heat it up yourself or eat it just plain cold out of the box

[JJMR]

Pensacola, NACCS - Navy
San Clemente, - Navy
Ft Benning, GA - Army - "Take a Lap" ...shit.:cool:

[Timbco1]

We had a MS1 on the DD-986 take over for a while who's family owned several major restaurants.He took pride in his meals and it was awesome until a MSC from P.I. took over and it was back to boiled cabbage ,rice,and canned stuff:(

[Almighty Bones]

Elmendorf Air Force Base, Anchorage Alaska was awesome. I think it just happened to win best chow hall or something rather award back when I was going there. Extremely nice facility.

[25Diver]

By far hands down Key West chow hall during dive school.

[DevilDog19]

the new chow hall in 29 stumps.

[Gryfen-FL]

Oh yea,

Striker DFAC isn't exactly a shining jewel....but they do have pretty kickass breakfast stir fry and fresh waffles. :D

[Believeraz]

Oh yea,

fresh waffles. :D

Where are these alleged fresh waffles you speak of? I hear of them, but do not see them. :D

[sierraseven]

Madigan Army Medical Center, Ft. Lewis

You had to have a medic buddy slip you your med records so you could get in or they would not let you in the door.

Yes. I was there for a year in Charlie school. Good food, quiet, really nice staff.

S7

[DrlSgt]

....After 15 months of eating mermite chow from KBR...the best chow hall was my very own kitchen...

My first meal back with my wife....chicken scampi with pasta noodle and rolling rock beer!

Sorry...........it was the best...besides...3rd RGR BN chow hall..............they were pretty good!

[AngryBob]

Not necessarily the best, but most memorable for me was at Bragg in 83-84 after Phase 1. We were trucked back to the company and dumped on the street. The ol'boys that ran the mess hall picked us up in PU trucks and walked with us to the end of the street. They poured it on; think I was asleep before finishing. I don't remember going back to the bay. Just fed and happy! THANKS!

[sandspeed]

I'll have to echo the Indian Springs AFAF/Creech AFB chow hall. Not a bad place.
Flightline Kitchen at Osan AB, ROK... Pretty good short order stuff
British chow hall at Ali Al Salem AB right before OIF. That place was great. Even though the food here in the UK sucks, apparently the Brits have good cooks in the RAF

[OldSwabbie]

Now this has got my mouth watering. Hands down for me? Enlisted Chow Hall Keflavik Iceland - 1977/1978. On Friday/Saturday Nights they had Seafood dinners, FRESH Icelandic Cod (fresh off the boat), Lobster & Steak. The ONLY problem was the knucklehead Icelandics who worked there got to bring their familes in and would hog the line before us GI's could get there. There was such a problem the base commander made the Chow Hall "Off Limits" to contract personnel on Friday/Saturday nights. They almost Rioted. They got over it and we got our Lobster and Steak. Still remember those. AND the USO fish fry's on the weekends too, 2$ got you a huge plate of the best fish you ever ate.

OldSwabbie

[Mottbomb]

The DFAC at Camp Rudder during Ranger School.

Breakfast was the best ever there. Breakfast burrito, potatoes, eggs, pancakes or French toast, cereal, 1 chocolate milk, 1 white milk, OJ, oatmeal or grits (or both if you were sneaky), donut or cinnamon roll or turnover, fresh fruit, bread, pb packets. Then at your table you take the sugar and pour it alllll over everything. Eat til you feel like puking.

The run from the mess hall to the barracks sucked, but it was totally worth it :D

[BOFH]

Any DFAC run by KBR. I know the food sucked, but they let me eat as much as I wanted. Only place in the military I was not limited to "proper portion size." It was amazing. "Quantity, not quality." Enough tobasco sauce makes even those things they called eggs taste good.

[sailor99]

I don't count stateside..it's easy to have a good chow here!


I'm actually surprised that no one mentioned...

Mosul - Stir Fry every meal!!!
Balad - DFAC 4 on Tuesdays Mongolian BBQ!!! and suprisingly,
C/JSOTF-A at Camp Vance in Afghanistan

[yasnevo]

The best I've ever eaten at was the Camp Victory chow hall. Every KBR chow hall I've eaten at owns every Marine chow hall I've ever eaten at. It's not even worth listing them.


I tend to agree... the big VBC chow hall is damn good... our DFAC at Camp Slayer is pretty tasty too...

[AMP]

In the late 70's Offutt AFB in Nebraska. One of the few AF chow halls to have military cooks. Those guys could cook. Midnight chow was the best.

[andersoma]

Castle AFB, California

Lackland AFB, Texas

Suwon AB Army Chowhall

DFAC Tallil AB, Iraq

[18Chewie]

That's an easy one...

3rd Ranger Bn. chowhall at Fort Benning. Everything else at Benning (and Columbus/Phoenix) sucked, but the 3rd Bn. chowhall was amazing. Its the only thing I miss from there, actually.

[PJBrandon]

By far the best chow hall I have ever eaten at was the one at CDQC down in Key West. You didnt pay a dime and you got as much as you wanted.

[olddogdiving]

Wake Island AAF- run by Thai nationals if your into Thai food bing em some bugs from the subpen they make the best Thai curry!
Agree w/ Andersoma Talil had a great DFAC!
The worst was club 99 DFAC inside the believers perimeter IZ, the Sudanese boys tried hard, dont get me wrong but the place was the pits even the Brits whinged about it.

[Ole crusty bastard]

The best memories of eating at a mess-hall has to be when I was in basic training. Fort Jackson, South Carolina, back in 1964, we were living in 8 man tents and had a latrine without partitions between the toilets. Our company mess-hall was a place where you learned to eat all of your food, wash pots and pans, eat in a hurry and look at the NCO's without making eye contact.

I remember in the mornings, you had to do 7 trips up and down the monkey bars while waiting in the line. For most of us, especially me, this made for raw, open blisters the first few weeks. The elation of being able to, as time marched on, complete this task was very cool.

I've seen that these old wooden, WW ll type, company sized, mess-halls are a thing of the past, seems that consolidation is more efficient. Civilians have taken the place of KP's and a Mess Sargent has no need to compete with the neighboring company.

My ramblings really have nothing to do with who has the best chow, so to the point of this thread, Fort Bliss, 64-65, was the first time I saw civilians pulling KP. Indianhead, Maryland 67-68, was the first time I saw beans for breakfast, then again this was the Navy and I was Army, so what do I know?:D

I guess to show my age, I've never had a MRE, but a can of pound cake after some beanie weenies found in a box of C-rats was about as good as it gets.

Rereading my post, the comment about the latrine does not come under a fond memory.

[killer-indian]

SPOD, Kuwait. Ran by the Navy. Fresh, clean, good. FOB Speicher, thursdays was Currie Day, until KBR decided $500 dollars a month for Indian employees was 'too expensive' and that a $250 dollar a month Nigerian was more appropriate. They could turn a Grade A prime rib into a catcher's mit...

[Ranger Manges]

you all that said Dahlonega didn't have to eat there every meal for 5 years :eek: Yeah, it was great as a stud but it got old.

Best was the MFO chow hall at South Camp ;)

[Wearman]

you all that said Dahlonega didn't have to eat there every meal for 5 years :eek: Yeah, it was great as a stud but it got old.

Best was the MFO chow hall at South Camp ;)


Dave, You know something funny. As a Stud we thought the pancakes were the shiznit. Went back there a few times from 3rd for some training. The pancakes sucked......... Big time. Guess it is all about perception and the level of starvation at the time.

Best chow hall - Patawawa Canada. Tables waited on and bussed for all PAX E-7 and above. Food quality was not all that bad as well.

[Psi Brr]

Best on-base Chow was the Amphib Base in Coronado. Omelettes to order were always a great way to start the day.

Worst on-base chow was, without question, NTC Great Lakes. The cooks there had to read a manual to boil water, and they still fucked it up.

[HEAVYDROP]

HOW ABOUT THE WORST.....VN SOCK RATIONS...YUM YUM

[billdawg]

DFAC- TQ, Iraq. They had real plates and real silverware. ANd if we got in in time, they had homemade pancakes for breakfast.

[Yarg]

Osan Air Base, it was lrke being in a fairly good restuarant.

Anything served by KBR sucks, they cook everything to death. I like my eggs sunny side up, all they will serve is hard cooked. If I die of the bird flew it is my choice, wait their has been no confirmed cases from eating eggs yet?

Y/O

[Yarg]

I kinda feel bad about dogging KBR cooking on my last post, the Christmas dinner they served here yesterday at Camp Ramadi was great, smoked turkey, the roast beef was red juicy and tender. I didn't even look at the prime rib, I am so used to it being cooked to shoe leather. why cant they cook like this everyday???

Y/O

[WhiskeyBoarder]

Osan Air Base, it was lrke being in a fairly good restuarant.

Anything served by KBR sucks, they cook everything to death. I like my eggs sunny side up, all they will serve is hard cooked. If I die of the bird flew it is my choice, wait their has been no confirmed cases from eating eggs yet?

Y/O

I hate to sound like I have a case of sour grapes, but... well... I am having a case of sour grapes.

All this talk about Camp Ramadi and TQ makes me gag a little in my mouth. Not that the chow at either of those locations is bad. In fact, it's just the opposite. It was SWEAR WORD awesome!! However, in 04-05, when I was spending my time at a small, rough "camp" *to remain unnamed* somewhere in between the two bases referred to above, I would have traded my entire year's worth of hot-A's (or whatever they call them) and MREs for just a week of the meals served at Camp Ramadi and TQ.

These two camps were considered our MWR trips. I seriously, and I shit you not, volunteered to jump on convoys between missions that ran through downtown Ramadi back when that guaranteed an ambush / IED encounter just to eat at Camp Ramadi and shop at their PX.

I'm not half as mad as I sound. Just want to provide some perspective. Any extra frustration is because the Flyers are down one and short two men to the f'n Blackhawks.

Thanks!


DAMMIT. 3-1.

[Yarg]

Whiskey

Actually you are correct, I have been here since July. I have heard that the food used to be first rate at all of the Camps. I guess to put more money in their pocket, the DFAC contracting company started sustituting some of the foods, or adding other by products to them. I have been told that they used to cook the meat medium, everything is now cooked to death. I have been told they were instructed to do that to reduce the risk of any bacterial issues. I came over hear hearing stories of how good the food was, only to be disappointed. You were hear in it's prime of good cooking. Sour grapes completly understood. Their food still surpasses eating MRE's by a longshot.

Y/O

[WhiskeyBoarder]

Yarg,

I think we are on the same page. It's all good. Just a little venting since the Flyers went on to lose 5-1. Sorry about that.

To get this thread back on track:

The best chow I have had was at Camp Doha in Kuwait. I don't think the camp is as utilized as it had been prior to OIF, but it's chow was real good prior to OIF 1.

[Yarg]

Whiskey

Doha, I forgot all about that place. Your right was their in 96 Awesome food. I hear it is gone now? I am going to be venting if the Chargers lose Sunday.

Y/O

[billdawg]

Whiskey

Doha, I forgot all about that place. Your right was their in 96 Awesome food. I hear it is gone now? I am going to be venting if the Chargers lose Sunday.

Y/O


TQ was the best run. Never ate at Ramadi, it was close enough, any of our runs there, were turn & burn. Same with BIAP. Going to AA sucked, but that was because of the route, and that's where HQ was at, so that always sucked.
In 2003 I ate nothing but MREs. Didn't mind tham. You'd figure I couldn't look at another after eating them for 7 months straight, but I still like certain meals.

[Rover in Iraq]

I thought that FOB Sykes in Tallafar when 3rd ACR was there in 2005 was awesome. After they left it got progressively worse. Presently my vote is for the DFAC on FOB Diamondback in Mosul. Last year I was in Talil and it was above average (great sandwich bar). The worst I ever had was in the Embassy DFAC in the Greenzone back in 2003 and 2004, would hope its gotten better, couldn't possibly worse.

In CONUS the absolute best I had was at the Florida Ranger camp but that might just be because they had starved me for two months.:smile:

[Papa Smurf]

SPOD, Kuwait. Ran by the Navy. Fresh, clean, good. FOB Speicher, thursdays was Currie Day, until KBR decided $500 dollars a month for Indian employees was 'too expensive' and that a $250 dollar a month Nigerian was more appropriate. They could turn a Grade A prime rib into a catcher's mit...

FOB Speicher - Nice to see his name in lights. I served aboard Saratoga with Spike before he was shot down; damn good guy.

Best chow: flight mess, NAS Atsugi (actually had table cloths and waiters).

Worst, cant get any worse than NTC Great Lakes (Recruit Side).

[307th_ACE]

Ft Greely Alaska,
The Army cold weather test center, all civilian cooks and they didnt mess around, we had steak, lobster, made to order breakfest, and BBQ and it was always all you can eat.

Agree totally if this was the same one we used at NWTC (I think it was).

618th LE chow hall (DFAC if you will) at Ft. Bragg. I know absolutely nothing about cooking awards, but I do know they won a few back in the 90s. I'm still trying to recreate the omelets they made -- no luck, I can burn water.

[swede]

Wright Patterson Air Farce Base, USAF!

I Got up to do away with my tray after I was done eating and everyone looked at me like I was nuts... I asked where do you take this F-N thing and they all laughed and said;

THEM:
"They come get it..."

ME:
"ARE YOU SHIT'N ME?!?!?"

THEM:
"No"

ME:
"WHAT DO THEY DO, SEND KP'S OUT TO GET THEM?!?!"

THEM:
"What are KP's?"

ME:
"O' MY GOD..!"


------------------
HOW TO ANNOY A LIBERAL... WORK HARD / BE HAPPY

[This message has been edited by justagrunt (edited 08-20-2001).]

What are KP"S lmao kinda like the when i asked "What do you want me to do with all this 60 ammo"... capt in the 101st "whats a 60":biggrin:

[goceltics89]

Best: NAS Pax River
Worst: Dam Neck, VA

[kpmurphy66]

I agree, the AF ones usually beat the Army's hands down, and the Army's usually beat the Corps's and most Navy's from my experience. I have to agree and nominate the NCO Mess at Hickham. Stay safe all.

[bravodelta]

Here's a list of all the chow halls/DFACs I've been to, better ones being on top

-NAB Coronado
-Camp Lemonier, Djibouti
-Camp Buehring
-Naval Hospital Great Lakes
-MCAS Miramar
-Camp McCrady, Ft. Jackson
-Port Hueneme
-NAVSTA Norfolk
-Two aircraft carriers

From Camp McCrady down, it was pretty bad. Everything above it was actually pretty damn good.

[dagger0824]

Here's a list of all the chow halls/DFACs I've been to, better ones being on top

-NAB Coronado
-Camp Lemonier, Djibouti
-Camp Buehring
-Naval Hospital Great Lakes
-MCAS Miramar
-Camp McCrady, Ft. Jackson
-Port Hueneme
-NAVSTA Norfolk
-Two aircraft carriers

From Camp McCrady down, it was pretty bad. Everything above it was actually pretty damn good.

NAB Coronado and Port Hueneme both have great chowhalls. Though I prefer Hueneme's food over Coronado.

And ANG Camp San Luis Obispo wasn't too shabby either.

[mpj0311]

Camp Doha Kuwait City...

[Husker19D30]

Although it's long gone now Camp McGovern Bosnia was a great chow hall. They'd always leave a steam table going with chili, soup, hot dogs and sammich fixings in case you came back from a late night patrol. Plus, hot Bosnian chicks.

[UM24]

Without a doubt NAB Coronado!

[Winnie]

Camp Doha Kuwait City...I loved that chowhall. Friday steak night was always good. The ice cream bar in the back was great.

[ARCHANGELRANGER]

Best: CSM Cooke DFAC, Camp Taji (US side)
Worst: Camp Taji (Iraqi side)

Yuck.

[bmbsqd]

Redstone Arsenal, AL, 1983 during Phase 1 of EOD school

Ali Asaleem (the base DFAC, not the tent city MRE pallets)

DFAC #3 at Anaconda (the one where all the hot Georgian/Polish mil chicks ate back in 2003)


Worst

CTU chow arrangement at Al Ameen Power Station, 2004

DynCorp DFAC in Kabul base

Indian Head, MD (EOD School) DFAC (except breakfast, even the Navy couldn't fuck that up)

[EODFPJ]

Redstone Arsenal, AL, 1983 during Phase 1 of EOD school

Ali Asaleem (the base DFAC, not the tent city MRE pallets)

DFAC #3 at Anaconda (the one where all the hot Georgian/Polish mil chicks ate back in 2003)


Worst

CTU chow arrangement at Al Ameen Power Station, 2004

DynCorp DFAC in Kabul base

Indian Head, MD (EOD School) DFAC (except breakfast, even the Navy couldn't fuck that up)


You think it was bad in '83 in Indian Head? Try in '76 in the pre-Carter years. . .even breakfast sucked and it got worst when Carter was CINC.

[Ole crusty bastard]

You think it was bad in '83 in Indian Head? Try in '76 in the pre-Carter years. . .even breakfast sucked and it got worst when Carter was CINC.


I remember joking with cohorts about "why beans for breakfast?". Funny as we thought it was ('76), I like beans most anytime, at my age all exercise is good.

[Lake918]

When I was in the Green Zone in 05-06 the best Chow Hall was the embassy dinning facility in the palace. The thing even had a coffee shop!

But the worst by far was the Dyncorp / Blackwater man camp dinning facility. I lost count on how many times I got food poisoning. You know its bad when the guy that comes to your room to fix your toilet is also the guy serving food in the chow hall.

AL

[Fubar]

1. Barge Wimbrown - steak & egss to order 24/7
2. San Clemente Island - can't reveal details but crustacians were involved
3. Tie - NAB Coronado & Diego Garcia

[Carpe Noctem]

If you have to eat at Huachuca, I'd recommend Thunder Mountain, the Signal DFAC. Yardley and Virginia DFACs over at Prosser Village...ehhh, not so much.

[Buggerbear1958]

Hands down 1) H-4 DFAC on F.O.B. Marez in Mosul, Iraq. KBR was in charge but this one thing they did right.
2) Camp Arifjan Zone VI DFAC in Kuwait. Soup and Salad bar was 100 yds long.

[Forgetthisname]

618th LE chow hall (DFAC if you will) at Ft. Bragg. I know absolutely nothing about cooking awards, but I do know they won a few back in the 90s. I'm still trying to recreate the omelets they made -- no luck, I can burn water.

Unfortunately, they reorganized the 618th ESC (A) now and they don't have their own cooks etc anymore. Now they eat at the Smoke Bomb Hill DFAC at Bragg which is far from terrible (But not really noteworthy IMHO).

[vagabondingshane]

Best- Sergeants Mess RAF Machrihanish, Scotland
Worst- Camp Bucca, Iraq

[Just Another Guy]

Battery Pratt (1978-80). If you were there, you know - that's a joke! Hey, wait a minute, I had the Support Center. Nevermind.

[cj]

The worst without a doubt was Dolan Baracks, Schwabisch Hall, FRG in 1984. Col Mitchner, 11th CAG CO and post commander, relieved both the CO and NCOIC of the chow hall. The weekends were so bad that when I worked CQ and took headcount, we'd probably get less than 20-30 personnel for luch and dinner and that was from out of post count of over 500.

The best, not sure since I didn't enjoy many that left a good memory. :rolleyes:

[Doc_KB1974]

Camp Bhuering, Kuwait in 2006..hear it sucks now
Ramstein Airbase, Germany..one near the NCO club
Panzer Kaserne, Germany

[SOTB]

When I was in the Green Zone in 05-06 the best Chow Hall was the embassy dinning facility in the palace. The thing even had a coffee shop!Mmmm, I've eaten at the Palace before, during, and after the timeframe you mention -- I simply cannot agree. It was -- at best -- "OK", compared to other in-country options. Or other GZ options....

[Doc_KB1974]

Camp Bhuering, Kuwait in 2006..hear it sucks now
Ramstein Airbase, Germany..one near the NCO club
Panzer Kaserne, Germany

Need to correct myself....Camp Bhuering..main facility..behind the massive gym..Thanksgiving 2005...We were back in baumholder at the end of the next year.

[TakeshiX]

Hmmmm thats a hard one. All the army chow halls I ate at were about the same with no real complaints.

One thing I will say was there seemed to be this uniform problem where every single one of them the coffee was always burnt. I dunno I alway fiqured there was some chow hall reg some where that stipulated the temp on the coffee urn so that every army chow hall had nasty coffee. lol

[wwolverton]

The best? Homestead AFB - 34 years ago, after 8 weeks of the ROTC chow hall at Ft. Bragg (which was probably the worst!), it was made to order omelets, steak and lobster twice a week, and even tremendous hot meals brought out to the Hawk/Nike sites. Yummmm!

[mcfizzle]

Absolute Best:
Redstone Arsenal, AL (late 2005) I heard it won a few awards before I was there.

Close second:
Ft. Irwin (late 2008) We had to sneak in usually, don't ask why. And we NEVER got their before like 30 minutes till close, but it was still damned good chow.

Honorable mentions:
Ali Asaleem (the actual mess hall, not the MRE tent like stated earlier)
COB Adder / Tallil AFB, Iraq (might be two DFACs there now, but the old one was GREAT most days)
And there is a DFAC on Ft. Hood, run by civis, that is REALLY good. Completely forgot which on (I could drive there with my eyes closed though). I clearly remember riding to it with my Section Sergeant (SSG), and Team Leader (green 2LT) when I was a Squad Leader (CPL), and had one of our FNG's with us, and finding out they closed it when 1CAV deployed in '08, and all of us looking at each other heart broken. :frown:

That was definatly our bonding moment with our LT, lol. The 13ESC Pizza Hut became our best friend when it finally opened, and that CAV DFAC was still closed.

[mcfizzle]

*double tap*

Forgot to mention the Rod and Gun club (the Sportsman Center? I never knew what it was called) on Ft. Hood. Best breakfast I've ever had. Even my dad agreed it was better than what mom makes. lol

[Reload]

From what i've heard Coronado has a great facility!

[ACAB]

The best, British Consulate in Basra '06, a close second the Aussie DFAC in Camp Smitty and Camp Virginia in Kuwait.

The worst, by an absolute mile, the 'European' DFAC in KAF '07. Dire does nor describe it!

[J.P.26]

1. CDQC in key west- same guy n his crew busting their ass every meal of the week. Damn shame a smoke session was gleaming from the crystal ball every meal or I would've gotten fat as fuck.

2. Camp Lemonier, DJ- not only were there hot navy nurses to eat with, it was a feast-like arrangment every meal, sandwich bar 24rs, and, a block down you could wash it all down with a pocket full of beer cards.

3. ODA compound at TK- the Army hmfic had the jibs wired tight. Food was amazing, and they kept it sealed and warm after hours, infinate rip-its and gatorade, and a bigscreen with garaunteed porno on ch 14. Only thing keeping it from no.2 is the absence of beer.

[carefreetoast4]

NAS Key West Galley-by far has the best food.

Worst-Pope AFB. Overpriced and they tried to tell me that they were serving me Tilapia, but that fish was Cod! (I know my fish, my Hubby is from Florida, and comes from a long line of Fishermen)

Best when I was deployed:LSA- Anaconda DFAC 4 Mongolian BBQ every Wed. nuff said. We would load up and leave our compound and get that awesome stuff.

[pan51shovel]

The Camp Liberty Iraq, First Armored Division DFAC (Mess Hall) has a hell of a lot wider selection than anything I ever saw when I was active duty. Good salad bar, 24 hour sandwiches, free energy drinks. and gatorade.. But I'll go ahead and bitch about it anyway:

They put so much on my plate, if I'm not careful I'll look like Jobba the Hutt before I'm through.

Don't eat the Mexican food here unless you love the taste of East Indian curry powder in your burritos. In fact: for a variety of very good reasons, I wouldn't recommend the Mexican food here even if you do! :eek:

Yes, lobster and steak are served quite often, they sure fuck the steaks up though!

Don't drink the milk here unless you like sour lumps in it!

There's two other DFACs close by here but Division is probably the best of the three.

Well...I had to find something to groan about! :biggrin:

[AQUATEENHUNGERFORCE]

Transit Center at Manas:
The main meals run from bland to adequate. If you want to get obese, this is the place. The fast food line has at least two things that have been deep fried every day and there are 4 different tubs of hand dipped blue bell as well as as many candy bars and sweets you can stuff into your pockets.

[btq96r]

Public Service Announcement

Contractors have to pay for all meals in Kuwait now. No more swiping your CAC and heading to the serving line. The Apporiated Funds DFAC's (the ones that are sort of like a bunch of trailers put together, standard DFAC food served) will only accept that Eagle Cash ponzi scheme card, while the Assistance in Kind DFAC's (nice setting, real plates, food only so-so) can still take cash. Standard meal rate applies.

Comes out to:
Breakfast: $2.30
Lunch: $4.25
Dinner: $4.25

[Molotov]

The chow hall on the Medina annex of Lackland AFB.

[Lagnaippe]

The worst, by an absolute mile, the 'European' DFAC in KAF '07. Dire does nor describe it!

It is still bad. However, the other DFACs here are not a whole lot better. All are worse than every one I went to in Iraq, and that's about 12 or so.

I'm not complaining though. Bad is still better than MRE.

[jdefrain]

The best chow I had in the military was on the USS Grayback steak and eggs at anytime , but for land based chow halls it was defiantly Clark Air Base in Angeles City, PI

[x175Ranger]

The best was the RDF on HAAF (Ranger Dining Facility on Hunter Army Airfield) when it was at 1276 in the mid 90s. I can still see that Asian chick doing morning aerobics on the big screen....

The worst by far was the mess hall on Camp Erawon in Lop Buri. I think the shit we ate in the survival class (definitely rats, frogs, and crickets) was as good as the shit they served on trays in the mess hall, (probably rats, frogs, and crickets).

[SWOA 3/5 SFG(A)]

True.

This was my number one also. And that was almost 20 years ago. First bacon cheeseburger I ever saw in the military.

Camp Jackson, was what I found through Google, but I cannot remember for certain either.

v/r


Wherever in the fuck it was where I went to PLDC in Korea. No shit that was some good eating.

[Edward Brakmanis]

(1) NAS Barbers Point, Hawaii, (2) USNAB Coronado, California.

[Apache]

Over the top AF -always had great chow and plenty of it at AF Bases

Excellent -Navy

I still remember traveling and landing at an AF outpost (I'm thinking OKI )
They FED a platoon of hungry grunts -tablecloths,plates,the whole works
They even had flush facilities !

[Stopp700]

Well in the late 70's it had to be the Messhall(sorry, I mean DFAC) for the 2d/75th.
We had to give a Dog and Pony Show to some PRC Generals one day. It was lobsters and steamship round for lunch!!!!! All the other meals were always something above the rest of Ft Lewis.

[Detro...]

The best was a DFAC on a Royal Canadian Horse Artillery base in Pettiwawa, Canada. It was setup like a food court with damn near anything you could imagine. My favorites were the "Moose burger" which was a steak sandwich and the Poutine! Second was probably the DFAC in Djibouti. Not sure if the food was actually good or if I was just sick of the food on ship? Sorry to all my seafaring brethren. Oh yeah, I've spent a fair amount of time at NAB Coronado, and have never been really impressed but the food.

[Purple36]

Mmmm, I've eaten at the Palace before, during, and after the timeframe you mention -- I simply cannot agree. It was -- at best -- "OK", compared to other in-country options. Or other GZ options....

I was there in 05, where was this coffee shop?

[KidA]

True.
Camp Jackson, was what I found through Google, but I cannot remember for certain either.

v/r

Camp Jackson sounds correct.

And all this talk about NAB Coronado is pissing me off since some fool made the decision contractors can't eat there.

I guess they don't like money.

[xenonburnout]

Los Angeles class submarine USS City of Corpus Christi SSN705... 1982-1985... best Damned cook in the Navy. Hell, the squadron brass ate there at times when we were in...

[Blueheart]

The Chowhall @ MHAF in Idaho has okay reviews but from personal experience I'd say the Gunfighter Club has the best food on Base, hands down. :)