The Mayo

Thank-​you, Mayo, thank-​you! Now THIS is the place for students to eat!
My friends at Adelaide University ALWAYS want to eat at the bloody Aroma café, which is about thrice as expensive. And I really don’t see the food being all that much better there. I can dig the food here. It’s not quite gourmet, but it fills me up and gives my taste buds a buzz.
I like the burger and the wedges, by the way. Of course, I get to eat here so scarcely because of my lousy friends. I can get them to eat here whenever I want to, but the thing about power is you’ve got to use it sparingly, else you’ll lose it.
Oh, and apparently there’s meant to be a problem with seating. My friends and I must be enormously lucky, then, ’cause we often eat at peak time and have always managed to find a good seat for all of us.

Apart from the relatively cheap prices, the Mayo Café really is quite a disgrace to the upmarket establishment that is The University of Adelaide. It offers a wide range of food, each at its own counter to help decrease lines and get customers served more quickly. There is the typical burgers and chips, but also pasta, noodle and curry dishes and then muffins, rolls and coffee served down the end.
The seating in Mayo is a bit hit and miss and if you are there peak lunchtime on any weekday, good luck finding a table. The tables are also massive which is great if you have a big group, but not so good when its just you because it wastes unnecessary space and then someone might come and sit down next you from lack of no where else to sit and then it just becomes awkward.
My favourites would the cold rolls and the $ 2.50 wedges that come with sour cream and chilli sauce. But if you are looking for yummy salad or something a little more classy and intimate head to Aroma and give Mayo a miss.

The Mayo is handy to have around, but it’s definitely not the nicest place at the University of Adelaide. But, everything is pretty cheap, and there is a large variety of foods, which is not bad. There’s a lot of seating inside and out, so generally you can find a place to sit — although during the peak lunch hours it can be quite difficult at times and you find yourself retreating to the lawns.
For what it is, it’s fine. Though, it does feel quite unclean at times, and therefore I don’t really like sitting and eating inside.

The Mayo is an Adelaide Uni mainstay for cheap eats. Specialising in bain marie fare, Mayo offers plenty of variety from curries, to lasagna, to burgers and salads. Everything sits within a students budget and goes down well.
The place isn’t solely for students. You don’t need an ID card or anything like that to eat there, evidenced by grounds workers, tradies and passing professionals chowing down in the Mayo daily. Inside is a big eating hall of wooden tables littered with newspapers, leftover study material and the kind of scratched out graffiti you only see in a University.
As it’s privately owned now, there are also the big lcd advertising screens you spot in food courts all over the place. I find them annoying and distracting, so I normally retreat outside. Outdoor options include the Union building courtyard and Uni lawns, where you can soak up some sun and debate the worlds wrong as you enjoy your wedges and iced coffee.