Written by Jessie Sawyer
Restaurants in the Lewiston-Auburn area run the gamut from awful to really good. The favorite is definitely DaVinci’s, which has a great atmosphere, delicious food, and more than reasonable prices. During Parents’ Weekend, the wait for a table at DaVinci’s can get up to two hours long. Chopsticks Chinese restaurant has a very classy dining room and decent food. Margaritas is also often frequented by Bates students. Students who are under 21 go for the food, and students who are of age go for the food and the moderately priced mixed drinks. Another very popular restaurant among Batesies is Russell Street Variety, which is about a two-minute walk from Adams Hall. Students can phone in orders and walk over 15 minutes later to get cheap and delicious pizzas, calzones, or subs. Domino’s and Papa John’s, the two pizza delivery places in the area, are popular, especially late at night.
Lewiston’s restaurants are decent enough, but for real options in dining, most students go to Portland, which boasts a number of ethnic restaurants that Lewiston lacks. Japanese restaurants, in particular, are frequent destinations for Batesies in Portland. In Lewiston itself, there are a couple of 24-hour places: Dunkin’ Donuts and Denny’s. These two restaurants, especially Dunkin’ Donuts, which is a 10-minute walk from campus, are frequently filled with semi-drunk Batesies, wolfing down breakfast food at 2 in the morning. Some caffeine addicts are on first-name terms with the staff at Dunkin’ Donuts or Tim Hortons, a similar chain. Often, students eat at off-campus restaurants as a break from the dining hall, and there are enough restaurants in Lewiston to suit most tastes and wallets.