Written by Sudarshan Gopaladesikan
Unless you want to eat pizza or Chinese food 15 times a week, you might want to consider venturing off campus a few days a week. However, eating off campus takes a little planning. The Ville, or downtown Swarthmore, has little in the way of dining that stays open late enough to cater to college students, so usually, students end up eating on campus or ordering pizza or Chinese from places that deliver. On the bright side, there seems to be a million pizza places that compete for Swarthmore’s business, so prices generally stay low, and they are constantly introducing new recipes.
For the more adventurous Swattie, Baltimore Pike is a short 20-minute walk from campus and has a bunch of chain restaurants, including Houlihan’s, Panera Bread, Einstein Bagels, and Outback Steakhouse. Restaurants along the Pike provide students a refreshing break from Sharples and Essie Mae’s, but for true restaurant connoisseurs, Philadelphia provides a huge wide variety of excellent restaurants. The final bill at some of the city’s more established restaurants can be a bit daunting (unless you're with your parents), but with a little searching, particularly in Chinatown and South Philly, you can find an excellent, hole-in-the-wall restaurant with entrées for less than $10. Crawl on in and eat!