Four New Dining Locations Open in Campus Center

By Lucienne Burns | September 8, 2025

Yella’s, one of the new dining locations, can be found in the Campus Center where Fountain Grill previously was. 

Photo Credit: Lucienne Burns | The ASP

At the University at Albany, the Campus Center is a place bustling with activity, full of students socializing, hanging out in between classes or grabbing a bite to eat. When students returned in the fall, four familiar retail dining locations were gone, but four new spots were there instead, seeming to quickly form long lines in the Campus Center and garner mostly positive feedback. 

On Aug. 12, University Auxiliary Services (UAS) unveiled four new dining locations available to students in the fall, in a post on their Instagram page. With the installation of these new food options, four previous options are no longer there — Fountain Grill, Al Dente, Stocks & Stems in the Campus Center and Argo Tea located in the Lecture Center were closed.

These changes were prompted by observations of student opinion, foot traffic at the dining locations and national trends, according to Firouz Khaksar, District Manager at UAlbany Dining. Fountain Grille was replaced by Yella’s, Al Dente was replaced by M&C, Stocks & Stems was replaced by natural!, and Argo Tea was replaced by Dam̈or.

“With the launch of Yella’s, natural!, M&C and Dam̈or, we are not only bringing in new options — such as smoothies, build-your-own mac and cheese, and boba tea — but also continuing to offer many student favorites from the former locations with a boost, like juicy burgers at Yella’s, flavorful salads at natural! and refreshing chai teas at Dam̈or,” Khaksar said in an email  statement. 

Some UAlbany students believe the change is refreshing because it offers the same convenience as the previous establishments while still incorporating something new. 

“I never really went to Al Dente, but the Fountain Grill really just served dining hall food in a sense,” said Jelani Harris, a sophomore at UAlbany. “I feel like these new places are really unique — they just give something different. Yella’s gives out burgers and fries, but also sandwiches and milkshakes. They mixed it up a little bit. And M&C, it's mac and cheese — not just pasta.” 

Harris thinks that the food’s taste can sometimes be a gamble but appreciates the accessibility of the dining location. 

“I tried the mac and cheese place. I like it because it's really affordable. It's a great thing to eat when I'm coming back from a class, and I don't wanna spend too much money on food,” Harris said.  “I will say though, sometimes it's hit or miss — sometimes it's really good but like other times I'm just not feeling it.” 

Yella’s additionally seems to be receiving positive feedback, with visibly long lines throughout the day. Max Brustmeyer, a senior at UAlbany, spoke about the meal he ate there, saying he preferred the food at Yella’s to its predecessor, Fountain Grill. 

“It’s really good,” Brustmeyer said, enjoying the Jersey Smash burger from the menu. He gave the meal high ratings out of 10 — stating the burger was a nine, the fries were a seven and the milkshake was an eight. 

The four new locations seem to offer a similar menu to what was offered previously, and Yella’s is not an exception, offering the same American-style menu Fountain Grill had. In addition to the typical burgers and fries, Yella’s also offers subs, wings and tenders and a larger variety of burgers and sandwiches. 

Brustmeyer concluded that he was a little upset when he found out that Fountain Grill had closed  but felt fine once he realized the similarity between their menus.  

Not all students had the chance to try out the previous dining locations, forming their opinions with a clean slate. 

“I like to go to the smoothie place because I think it's really good, and they have a lot of options,” said Brianna, a freshman at UAlbany, talking about natural!. “They can make acai bowls, they can make smoothies, they can make salads…I think it's really convenient to have a place like that on campus when you have breaks.” 

To UAS, receiving feedback from students allows them to reach their goals in enhancing students’ lives on campus. 

In the statement, Khaksar stressed the importance of students using the feedback form available on the UAlbany dining website. Khaksar also said that other methods of contact — like messaging their Instagram page or contacting them in person — are also adequate options. 

Khaksar said, “Whatever feedback students have, we want to hear it to know how to continue to both create a model of continuous variety and improvements in the dining experience and provide them opportunities to engage in the campus community through food.” 

Dam̈or, the chai cafe, is not open for business yet– the UAlbany Dining website states it is coming sometime in the Fall semester.