setting

. OSU STATISTICS . COLUMBUS . CAMPUS .
. LIVING . FOOD & DRINK . STUFF TO DO .

Here's a list of spots to stop for a meal, snack or brewski. This list does not cover every location, only very popular or important ones. With the exception of bars (where I don't believe they employ college students), your character can probably get a job at any of these locations.

On Campus
People eating at on campus locations generally rely on their buckID meal swipes, although most places also accept cash, it's much faster and more convenient to just pay with the cash or meal swipes on your buckID.

Commons - Each section of campus has a common hall where students can get food from 6AM to 7PM. The food is just as one would expect it to be on a college campus, but since it runs entirely on meal plan, and there's a soft serve ice cream machine you can keep going back to, many people just go there for their food.

Buckeye Express - "Affectionately" termed BuckYuck by students, there are two of these--one on North and one on South. They're perfect for getting food fast and are open until 10PM. The problem is, the fast food isn't actually that good, and there's plenty of other places that offer better food later in the evening.

Mirror Lake Cafe - Open from 7AM until 2AM, Mirror Lake is a great place to go for food. They serve custom-made subs (toasted or not), pre-made sandwiches, salads, smoothies, pizzas and other hot dishes that all taste pretty good. Mirror Lake Cafe is located right on Mirror Lake (surprise) so many students get their food and head outside to sit by the water. Mirror Lake is home to the pizza sub, which is the delicious, inert incarnation of Jesus Christ.

Burrito Noches - With the largest cult following since Rocky Horror Picture Show, Burrito Noches is the place to be if you don't like eating dinner until 11PM. Burrito Noches opens at 9PM (6PM on weekends) and closes at 2AM and sells burritos a la Chipotle for meal swipes or cash. You can also get choco tacos, the delicious frozen waffle cone and ice cream treat that harkens to your childhood. In Burrito Noches, they're almost always playing some classic rock station, and it seems like every time you go there, Boston is on the radio.

Marketplace - Arguably the best food on campus, Marketplace is ALWAYS packed. It features a cafe, spots for paninis, wraps, soups, salads, pizzas, Italian and Chinese foods, all made by students just like your character. Marketplace opens at 7AM, it's cafe area closes at 10PM, but the rest of it closes at 8PM. It can be rather confusing the figure out how to order at first, and incredibly frustrating on busy days, as you can wait up to 45 minutes for a small, personal pizza that you could get elsewhere in a quarter of the time.
Employees at Marketplace are in a special living-learning program, where, in exchange for cheaper room and board, they work at Marketplace for 5 to 7 hours a week.

Campus Grind - The Campus Grind is a coffee shop hidden in one of the large classroom buildings on campus. Many, many people go there between classes to grab a coffee or lunch (as they offer sandwiches, muffins, bagels and all sorts of other edible goodies). The service is fast and the food is good, making it a very popular spot. It's open from 7AM to 6PM on weekdays only, but they usually run out of food by 4 or 5PM and only have coffee.

The Crane Cafe - Conveniently located in the language department building, Hagerty Hall, the Crane Cafe is an incredibly popular spot, especially if you're majoring in foreign affairs (languages, literatures, studies). Eight large, flat screen TVs broadcast television from all over the world (TV-Nihon, AlJazeera, etc. etc.). Usually, there's something interesting on (a crazy Spanish soap opera or a strange Russian children's show) although occasionally each television screen will just have a news station on it.
The Cafe itself is kind of expensive, so many students just sit around at the tables watching television, studying or enjoying the air conditioning. The Crane Cafe's smoothies are the best on campus, and are almost always sold out by 2PM. Crane Cafe opens at 9AM and closes at 7PM on weekdays and isn't open on weekends.

The Ohio Union's Food Court - The Ohio Union's Food Court becomes exponentially more disgusting with each passing year. It hosts a Wendy's, Mark Pi's, Villa Pizza and a number of other random fast food joints. For more information regarding the Ohio Union, please visit the Stuff To Do section.

Other On Campus Locations - There are literally dozens of other on-campus cafes and eateries--a Jimmy Johns, an Irish Pub, the Medical Student Union Cafe, Brennan's Cafes at the main library, the architecture building, and by The Numbers and a Starbucks in the basement of the Wexner Center to name a few.

Off-Campus/High Street/Etc.
Off Campus has a slew of fast food restaurants. Pretty much all the basics you'd find in the midwest: McDonalds, Chipotle, Panera, Burger King (far off campus), Dairy Queen (far off campus), Chinese places, pizza places, bars, White Castles, a Cold Stone Creamery and Taco Bells. There are a few places unique to Columbus, though. The list below features only places in the immediate campus area that are especially important to everyday life.

Located on High Street
Larry's - Larry's is the indie, disaffected intellectual seedy bar on campus. Apparently it's got a pretty good juke box.

Buckeye Donut - 24-hour donut and coffee place with pretty good gyros. Buckeye Donut is seedy, and is a safe haven for many of the campus's local "celebrities" and 30-year-old undergraduates. It's a great place to go to study. It was once also a great place to go to get lung cancer, but Columbus has since made smoking indoors at bars illegal.

Steak & Shake - Yes, this is a chain of fast food joints, but nothing is more important to the OSU student than 24-hour greasy food and ice cream, and this is the only place on campus where you can get both. This place is always busiest right after the bars close--at 2AM--and has two floors, although the second has only ever been open to customers on days like the Michigan football game.

Bento Go Go (asian yum yum) - Japanese food made fresh by Mandarin Chinese. The portions are small and the food is expensive, and alright, but don't make a habit of going there to eat. Instead, visit the Sake Lounge at Night.
Bento Go Go Sake Lounge - At night, Bento Go Go opens up into a "sake lounge", which is basically a bar that may or may not serve imported beers. It's always packed, with people streaming down the stairs and onto the sidewalk, and blaring techno music.

Located in The Campus Gateway Center

Pesto - Started just last year by an OSU Fischer graduate, Pesto serves Italian food in the same way that Chipotle serves burritos: fast and good. It's got a cute atmosphere, with very modern decor, weird lights that look like katamari balls, and techno music. They also have ice cream in weird flavors like champagne and mango.

Eddy George's Grill - I'm not actually sure who Eddy George is. I think he has something to do with football. Anyway, he owns a sports bar on the edge of the Campus Gateway Center. It's really popular and they look like they have good football food. When it's warm out, the tall windows are taken out and tall tables are set up out on the sidewalk for customers to eat at. They are, of course, separated from the rest of the sidewalk by a gate to avoid crazy drunk people.

Potbelly's - Potbelly's is yet another Sub and Milkshake place to compliment the other eight million places to get subs and milkshakes on campus. The thing that sets this one apart, though is the fact that their milkshakes are actually made with chunks of fruit or cookie or chocolate or whatever, and their hot pepper sauce will kill you for eight days.

Ugly Tuna Saloona - Ugly Tuna Saloona is a seafood restaurant and bar that has live bands performing on the weekends. It's located on a balcony in the Gateway Center and is extremely popular.

Mad Mex - A rather nondescript (expensive) mexican bar and restaurant that sits just below Ugly Tuna Saloona. The name is incredibly hard to remember ("Hey, what's that Angry Mexican place really called?" "I'm going to try out that Enraged Southerner restaurant below the Saloona, wanna come?") for some reason.

Sky Bar - Sky Bar is an over-21 bar that's decorated in all black with strategically placed blue lights to create a very cool atmosphere. The bar is actually primarily a dance club, with a different musical theme every night of the week.

The Happy Greek - The Happy Greek pub in the short north opened a new branch on campus in the Gateway Center. The new branch is a full-fledged restaurant, with a large bar on the second floor.

For more information regarding places to eat, drink and hang out, contact me. I'll be able to fill you in on just about anything.