Sixty-six national awards, 59 of which are the Loyal E. Horton Menu Award for Excellence, have been granted to the University’s dining services since 1986, helping it remain in the top 1 percent of food services nationwide.

After winning the Ivy Award of Distinction, the industry’s highest accolade, from Restaurant and Institutions Magazine in 1995, it is not a mystery why 8,020 University students, including 95 percent of all freshmen, according to J. Michael Floyd, director of Food Services for the past 22 years, decide to sign up for a meal plan option each year.

The idea behind the eco-friendly, diverse dining halls located across the campus is to give the students a choice between four distinct restaurant experiences.

Each hall has its own design, look, menu structure, service style, music selection and TV channels.

This assortment is what Floyd believes to be the “hallmark of their success.”

Bolton Dining Hall, the largest hall located near the high-rise dormitories off of Baxter Street, is decorated with neon signs which led to the adoption of its nickname, “The Max,” after the infamous “Saved by the Bell” restaurant hang-out.

On the opposite side of campus is the Village Summit, which spreads across the second floor of East Village Commons near Ramsey Student Center.

The newest location boasts made-to-order smoothies and omelets, a “toss of the day” at the dynamic salad bar, a selection of rotating soups with optional bread bowls, a wrap of the day, pizza and sandwiches. It is one of two dining halls open Saturday and Sunday.

Snelling Dining Commons, located on South Campus near the South Campus parking deck, is the only 24-hour collegiate dining hall in the country, making it the perfect place for a student to eat “pizza at 11 p.m. and breakfast at 3 a.m.,” said Floyd.

The move to all-day service occurred in March 2007 and has been a huge success ever since with an average of 500 students frequenting it each night.

Before midnight, students can enjoy pizza at Giorgio’s, burgers and sandwiches from Sanford Grill and made-to-order omelets. After the clock strikes 12, breakfast and chocolate chip cookies are available.

The recently renovated Oglethorpe Dining Commons next to Oglethorpe Residence Hall off of Lumpkin Street offers sushi, made-to-order stir fry, bistro burgers, O’Casa Wraps’ burritos, Oriental trading Market salad bar, Chicken Country Unlimited and specialty coffees at Joe at the O. The only other hall open on Saturday and Sunday, it also is the location of the beloved Sunday brunch.

Floyd said the Sunday brunch has a “Ritz Carlton effect” with live music played on a renovated Steinway piano, a three-tier chocolate fountain and fresh flowers and linens.

Vegetarians also have an array of choices with a daily selection of vegetarian chicken and beef patties, beans, brown rice, soy products and rotating entrées.

According to Jeanne Fry, the associate director of Food Services, it is very possible to “eat there and follow a vegetarian lifestyle with fair variety without compromising one’s nutrition.”