Feed me

Today's quote: Did you drink and dial?

I desperately need to get away from Iowa City. I can live without the shopping since I already owe so much on credit cards, but I need to eat decent food sometime. I heard a summer entrant complain bitterly aboout Iowa the other day, and I just looked at her. She just got here. I've been here for a year now. One year with no shopping, no internet of my own, no food. And my parents wonder why I've lost 10 pounds since I've been here? Bridget Jones needs to try this diet.

Since some of the summer entrants have been wondering about places to eat, I thought I'd share what I think. Here are some of the restaurants that I have tried:

Peking Buffet: Fair-sized buffet, pretty cheap too since I usually pay about $6-7 a meal there. Don't hope for any real selection of desserts there though, the best part of the buffet is the mongolian grill. Cheaper than HuHott, and basically (HuHott is a little fancier with their special sauces, but also more expensive) the same thing without the heinous wait during peak mealtimes.

Thai Flavors: Not so great on Thai food...but great customer service with a very friendly attitude. Apparently friendly to helping student orgs with raising money too. The tom yum soup is pretty good, and the duck isn't so bad either.

Thai Spice: Decent Thai food, not so great on service. If you go there, plan to wait at least 20 minutes for food to arrive. A little shorter if you go at odd times, like 3pm, and maybe a little longer if you go during peak mealtimes. So far in the all the times I've gone there, I've had to wait 5 minutes before anyone even appeared to seat me, once had to wait 2 hours for food to arrive because I was in a large group, had the waiter bang down water and slosh it onto me, had to wait 15 minutes after I asked for the check for it to actually arrive. So why do I keep going back? Maybe b/c of their pineapple fried rice and tom yum soup. Overall, it's way better to order food to go at this place.

Hamburger Inn: Not so bad of a diner type place, but not fabulous either. The quality of the food is not worth the prices and indifferent service.

Yen Ching: Ok Chinese food. Since I love Chinese food so much, it's pretty hard for a Chinese restaurant to mess up for me. Service is neutral, food is ok. Certain dishes are better than others, and I really like the yu-shiang shrimp/chicken dish there, along with the fish they specially cook. Pretty much same comments for Hunan.

Devotay: Food seemed good, but a bit pricey for a starving law student like myself. Service was pretty good too, and it has a cozy atmosphere. Just can't afford to eat there everyday.

Aoshe: the only Korean restaurant around since that other one closed down, so it wins by default. They also have a sushi menu there, but I don't think that's the place to go for sushi. The food here is ok, be careful if you're not into spicy foods. Service is not that great.

Sushi Popo: ok...so far the best roll I've liked is the LA roll. I tried some of the non-sushi dishes, and wished I hadn't. It's ok, but for better maybe try Three Samurai or the one downtown (I forget one it's called, near Dublin bar).

Zio's: pasta and other Italian type foods. Served very quickly. The people are really nice, and food is pretty cheap.

The Rack: pretty good food, try to order in advance or you might end up waiting a bit. They could do with better ventilation in there.


Overall, I'm pretty sick of all the places to eat around here, so I should cook more. I'm just not motivated to very much, and have been eating ramen for the past couple days. I spose I should venture out to Cedar Rapids and try some restaurants there...maybe I'll hit it up and go shopping at the malls there at the same time.