Off-Campus Eateries

We’re lucky at William and Mary to have three fantastic dining halls and a number of other places on campus to eat at like Quizno’s and the Dodge room.  The meal plans that are offered provide a ton of options, and the food is better than you’d expect.  However, every once in a while it’s nice to get off campus for a culinary change of pace.  Fortunately, Williamsburg has more places to choose from than you could shake a drumstick at.  We don’t have the expertise (or the budgets) to discuss some of the pricier venues, so we will focus on the more college-wallet appropriate eateries.

Richmond Road is a Mecca of inexpensive and delightfully unhealthy foods.  The classics like McDonald’s, Wendy’s, KFC, and Taco Bell are all there, as are a few less traditional places like La Tolteca and the Wasabi Grill.  Chanello’s Pizza has cheesy bread that one noted campus food critic calls “absolutely delicious.”  Over in New Town, a brand new outdoor shopping village right next to campus, the options are just as varied.  California Tortilla (CalTor to students here) is a great option, and Cheeburger has terrific burgers.  If you finish the one-pound burger there, they put your picture on the wall, which is one of the highest honors a person can achieve.  The Green Leafe Cafe, a popular deli and bar near campus, just opened another Cafe in New Town, and they hold specials such as Trivia Night and Mug night.  Another great thing about New Town is that most shops and restaurants there take William and Mary Express, which is a debit system that is held right on the WM Student ID card.  And of course who could forget our next door neighbors in Colonial Williamsburg.  The Cheese Shop is an institution that students at WM hold an almost religious appreciation for.  Lenny’s Gourmet is another sandwich shop that offers student discounts and takes Express, and Aroma’s Cafe has top notch coffee, teas, and sandwiches (supposedly good breakfast too, but we’ve never been awake in time).

We’ve covered less than 1% of the dining options in the area, but we feel this is a good summary of some of the more popular places for college students to indulge.  Luckily, William and Mary also has a brand new state of the art recreation center with exercise machines, a weight room, a rock climbing wall, swimming pool, and numerous athletic courts, which is how we manage to eat the way we do while still remaining the status of one of the most physically fit college campuses in the country (as rated by some fitness magazine that we probably should be reading instead of watching the Food Network so much).  We’d love to talk more, but we’re going to get dinner.  Bon Appetite!

Evan Brown ’09

Owen Affe ’11