B+
Grocery Store Is Far from Campus, Restaurants Not Bad
The main problem with off-campus eating is that the grocery store (Stop and Shop) is a bit of a hike. There is a weekly shuttle, and the walk is not unmanageable, but you can't just pop over in the middle of the night or anything like that. A lot of people who have the cash will resort to Gourmet Heaven, Durfee's, or restaurants near campus if they need quick food, but the cost adds up (it's exorbitant) and the selection is poor. Stop and Shop is a pretty standard grocery, and there are specialty places around if you're looking for something special (G-Heav has some stuff you can't get there, Hong Kong market has things that you can't get in the "ethnic foods" section, I've been told there's a Trader Joe's fairly close, there are a couple Hispanic food groceries farther out.)
I haven't had the chance to eat out very often, and it has almost always been at Asian places when I've gone. They seem good, though.
The stuff right next to campus (anything around Broadway and York) is usually very overpriced (G-Heav especially.) Ivy Noodle is okay and close, but the food is often really greasy. Dee Asian Kitchen is across the New Haven Green, and has really good boba and steam buns (both around $3.00, and both fairly filling even by themselves) as well as enormous bowls of soup or noodles for about $6.00 or $7.00. Basil, which is also fairly close to campus, has similar noodles and boba, but I think it's a little pricier and I'm not sure if they do to-go (and no steam buns or dim sum style stuff.) If you are looking for cheap and filling food at a restaurant, the falafel sandwiches at Mamoun's are great. We fed a group of 10 guys (who had not eaten for several hours) for under $40 dollars once, and everyone went away full.
I've been to a couple spendier sit-down places, though I tend not to do these often. I think Great Wall is the standard for Chinese food. There's definitely more variety and higher quality dishes, but it's definitely spendier than the places I mentioned above. I've also been to Bangkok Gardens, which has pretty good Thai food, but is also more expensive.
May 25, 2012
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