Popovich Cafe

For a place that calls itself a cafeteria the severe dearth of palatable food is perplexing. What do they put in their chicken? Mice?
Additionally, The staff could probably find alternate employment as Walking Dead zombie extras.

In the realm of overpriced USC Hospitality food, Popovich Café is actually my favorite place to go. It’s super convenient for me as a business student, and I think the portions they give are pretty fair. I also think they’ve tried to improve since some of the other reviews on this page were written.
Let’s just get it out of the way:
Yes, the food is extremely overpriced.
No, it’s not more expensive than other stuff people will pay for around USC and Greater LA in general.
Sure, $ 8 is overpriced for a salad, but many other places in LA will charge you upwards of $ 14 for a salad. In my experience, Popovich gives you a pretty decent salad, as the portions are good and I’ve never encountered wilted leaves or anything that would signal old and stale food.
There’s also the Jamba Juice machine and a small stand for No Tomatoes!, the Indian restaurant on campus as well. They still offer paninis, but I don’t think they do a panini or salad of the day anymore.
Finally, they are the only place on campus that brews Peet’s Coffee and Tea, which is a good call for those of us who like our coffee stronger than the kind you find at Starbucks.
Also, once Fertita finishes construction, the patio will actually be a very nice place to spend a lunch break. Don’t forget your USC ID so that they can take the tax off your order!
Final verdict:
Would I go across the street for better food? Considering how much time I have in between classes and how convenient and quick Popovich is, my answer would actually be no.

The staff are nice, but the food quality has plummeted from a couple of years ago. (And it was not exactly celebrated to begin with.) The Chipotle chicken sandwich comes out with chicken that is somewhere between raw and mushy — microwaved and the bread has a paper — towel quality. I stopped in as a last resort because I hadn’t eaten all day between classes, but ended up feeling worse for it. Should have toughed it out and crossed the street — you’ll be happy you did too.

Employees are very nice. Food is decent. Expensive. The drip coffee is usually old and stale tasting… likely because it had been sitting there all day. But they can make you fresh espresso so… theres the solution for that.
Its kind of like a café in an airport. Its conveniently placed… inconveniently priced. But hey! This is Business school… perhaps you’ve heard of scarcity and that whole supply/​demand hoopla?!

The bf recommended the chicken pesto panini, but the size has shrink since the days he’s been here. The sandwich, which also comes with your choice of side salad, is good, but for the size, not worth the $ 6+ sticker price.
They serve Peet’s coffee and having the option to order their version of a frapp on days I need coffee before running upstairs for class is convenient.
Make sure to bring your USC ID to waive the sales tax charge (though there are days when the machine to read your ID is down or they forget to take it off).

Located in Popovich hall, this café is on the left as you walk in from the main entrance across from the Alumni house. I don’t frequent this place, but I like how they have a patio outside so it’s great to be able to sit out there on a sunny day and chat with friends. The food is okay… everyone usually likes the paninis but i’m not a big fan. The salads are usually pretty good, especially since they give you such large portions.
They added a new Jamba juice machine so that’s cool. They also have smoothies they can make you and those are yummy. The main problem is that this place gets really crowded quite quickly, so you can spend a lot of time waiting in line.

Super overpriced for a café in the MBA building! The food isn’t even spectacular, but it’s just efficient. If you have an extra 5 minutes, I would suggest going across the street instead to get your quick lunch/​dinner at Chick-​fil-​A or Chipotle. I’m glad they’ve broaden their «refrigerator» section with more California roll options, cold salads, and yogurt parfaits. Still super overpriced though…

I’ve only ever gotten the chipotle chicken sandwich here, and it’s alright… nothing special esp for the SC price you pay. comes with a half pickle and a macaroni salad which i never eat anyways because first of all, i hate pickles, and secondly, the macaroni salad is kind of tangy. Me no likey. i do like that they serve soup though! and have a jamba juice express machine now! it kind of has a slushie texture instead of the smoothie texture tho… very syrup-​y aka artificial :/​The smoothies you order at the counter are good though! the outdoor patio area adds a nice touch to this place.
The service is meh. The workers are nice but the food usually does take an abnormally long time to make. I also wish they would list out what their soup or panini of the day is.

A bunch of the people that work here are real cool, but the lines move slow as f**k and most of the food is crap. I only eat here when I have to get something to eat and there’s no time to go anywhere.
If you eat anything here w/​chicken in it, you’re rolling the dice.
Just Sayin

I’ve only ever come here on Mondays and Thursdays to get the Panini of the Day.
Monday’s Panini is the Mango Habanero Chicken
Thursdays is New York Steak.
Each panini comes with a side and a pickle. The side is usually pasta salad. It is a little on the pricey side for a cheap person like me, but I still come back for more.

Hours are 7AM-8:30PM (MON-​THUR), 7AM-​3PM (FRI). But it always seemed like they were closed whenever I went over there last year. The food wasn’t exceptional, but it wasn’t bad either. Better than cafeteria food, I guess. Decent.
I have never been a fan of long lines, but the two times I visited and actually got food, they moved through them very fast. They do have Starbucks as well as an assortment of other chilled drinks. I don’t know, this place never captured my heart, so despite living 30 feet away in Marks Hall, I went there two times. Then again, I know someone else in my dorm who went there at least once a week. It depends on what you’re willing to spend money on, I guess, but I’d prefer something from Wahoo’s or Seeds than here.

I ate here for the first and LAST time yesterday. This place tastes like crap! The sandwich was not even halfway decent. The bread was hard as f*ck. They probably put viagra to make it that hard! It’s like they deep-​freezed this crap. The tuna was probably like a week old! It had absolutely no feel when you ate it — reminds me of hard foam. It’s something that is probably served at some gas station in the middle of nowhere. I don’t care wtf they serve, but I will NEVER buy anything but packaged goods here (e.g. drinks). That’s something that somebody else told me and I will follow. Even if I was starving and desperately needed food before my 3 hour class with the super old, boring finance professor I will NEVER eat here again. I’d rather make the walk to the new food court in the middle of campus or to Chipotle, Chick-​fil-​a across the street. No student should have to subject himself or herself to this torture. It’s bad enough that you are in deep, six-​figure debt because of this school. It’s not ok to subject yourself to the inhumane food served at this dump!

Not the greatest food in the world but definitely a decent option while on campus. They have pretty good panini’s (the best is on Monday with the Mango Habanero) and also have Starbucks coffee. You can get every meal here and they have all kinds of snacks and fruit as well. Good for a quick snack or a quick lunch.
For meals it will usually cost you between $ 6-​$ 8. They also have internet access and tv’s but unfortunately the tv’s are always on MSNBC (super biased).