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    New kind of dining hall at Camp Pendleton designed for Marines to enjoy chow and downtime
    • April 17, 2026

    A new Camp Pendleton dining hall is offering more of life’s creature comforts with coastal Southern California vibes, a pizza oven and a drive-thru for the base’s Marines.

    With floor-to-ceiling windows and big open spaces, the new 31,000-square-foot Area 62 hall at Camp San Mateo on the base’s northern end feels more like a college-style dining hall than the chow halls found on most military installations.

    • A Sodexo food service staff member serves food to U.S....

      A Sodexo food service staff member serves food to U.S. Marines at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, Calif., April 9, 2026. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Adrian Estrada)

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    A Sodexo food service staff member serves food to U.S. Marines at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, Calif., April 9, 2026. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Adrian Estrada)

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    It’s also a departure from the camouflage netting and combat photos that were the wall decor, Marine officials said, and on par with what can be found at restaurants “out in town.” Camp Pendleton has 12 chow halls — this one is the first of its kind at the base and on the West Coast.

    “It is timeless, it’s elegant, and it’s a relaxing environment for the U.S. Marine to sit down and relax, refresh, renew and to go back to work and be that lethal weapon for America,” said Patrick Grosso, a retired major who oversees all of the Marines’ garrison mess halls west of the Mississippi.

    “That mess hall answers the equation of what Marines want and then some,” he added. “It is the benchmark mess hall of the Marine Corps, and they ain’t done. We’re not going to stop asking Marines about what they want from their house and their kitchen.”

    Marines and sailors visiting this new kitchen now have the option to pick from a variety of foods and quantities and can access food and drinks at most hours of the day.

    Available is everything from hand-carved, upscale meats to individual casserolettes and panini sandwiches to freshly baked pizza from the facility’s own pizza oven, there is a huge salad bar and a selection of hearty hot and cold soups. For troops on the go, there’s also a drive-thru and a walk-up window.

    The new $33 million facility, which opened recently, replaces a 72-year-old chow hall and follows an initiative by Gen. Eric Smith, the Marine Corps commandant, who has prioritized making service members more comfortable by creating living and dining spaces with more civilian-style amenities. It can serve 650 service members at a time and is open to active-duty personnel, reservists, foreign military personnel and some base visitors.

    The upgrade is part of the Barracks 2030 Initiative, the Marines’ largest infrastructure investment to modernize barracks and improve the quality of life for the troops. Now, in its fourth phase, more barracks at Camp Pendleton underwent upgrades and repairs this week, and additional food facilities have been identified for improvement.

    “Taking care of Marines is a warfighting function. Otherwise, they cannot focus on the mission at hand,” Smith said when initiating the effort in 2024.

    “The commandant of the Marine Corps challenged leaders to talk to the Marines and sailors and find out what they want from their barracks, aka their house and their mess hall, aka their kitchen,” Grosso said. “He challenged leaders to talk to them about how they’re feeling.”

    Grosso said that Smith’s attitude is a huge departure from when he joined the Marines in 1984 as a private.

    “I don’t remember anyone asking me how I felt,” he said, reflecting on his nearly 27-year career. “Now, it’s all about really, truly caring.”

    To get input on what Marines and sailors wanted, Grosso said hundreds of small focus groups, especially young Marines and sailors living in the barracks, were surveyed across the MCI-West installations, which also include Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego and Marine Air Station Yuma, in Arizona.

    High on the list of feedback, he said, was the idea of walk-up or drive-thru capability. But creating a palatable ambiance was also important, he said.

    To do that, architects opened up the space, creating wide walkways and varied seating options with a mix of high-top, standard tables and six-person booths, to encourage service members to hang out and relax after they’re done eating. The decor is coastal scenes from nearby beach towns such as San Clemente and Dana Point. Flat screen TVs, surround-sound speakers, and comfy outdoor lounges also help troops escape work for a while, Grosso said.

    The Marines also brought in experts to make sure the quality of food was up to “industry standard menus,” he said.

    “When we go to the pizza line, one day it’s doing a variety of pizzas, the next day it’s doing individual casseroles,” he said. “The contractor has cool menu concepts.”

    Two Marines with the 1st Combat Engineer Battalion having lunch one recent day, said the experience was in stark contrast from dining at other bases. Pfc. Preston Thayn, 19, of Price, Utah, and Pfc. Zackery Trumble, 21, of Hobbs, New Mexico, said they were enjoying the new spacious setting and views.

    “It’s a cleaner look and feels more relaxed,” Thayn said. “It feels like more of a restaurant off-base.”

    “This is the nicest chow hall I’ve seen,” Trumble said. “There’s a lot of selection of food, and it’s not the same thing every day.”

    Both ate chicken for lunch and mentioned other dishes they’ve enjoyed, including a variety of pizzas and other selections they called “decently healthy,” to keep them energized for work.

    And, Cpl. David Diaz, who’s from the San Fernando Valley, took advantage of a Taco Tuesday, eating chicken and carnitas tacos, rice, and beans. Familiar with the old mess hall, he said he was surprised when he first walked into the new one. What he really noticed was the spacing of the food-serving lines, which he said flowed better than before.

    “It’s a place you can socialize and provides a comfortable space where you can have lunch with friends,” he said. “It’s a different vibe, kinda like the food court in a mall.”

    Done eating, he was fueled up for what his job as a heavy equipment mechanic required, he said. “I feel good and I’m ready to take over the rest of the day.”

    And, Diaz added that he is also working on filling out his re-enlistment papers for another four years in the Marines.

    Things like the improved mess hall and the overall feeling of being cared for, he said, made a difference in wanting to keep serving.

    “It refreshes the mind to see someone is caring for us,” he said.

    “Just having someone caring about the chow hall or someone’s room, it’s just having an extra eye on like a parent,” he added. “It’s like my commandant cares about me to give me a new chow hall, why not stay, if they care for me?”

    ​ Orange County Register 

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