<p>^^ The perfect college trifecta 
^^</p>
<p>At least in the 2 colleges where my son attended/attends, there are many local restaurants that offer good, affordable food, and these are not part of national chains. Iâve had some of my best meals when I let son and friends guide me.</p>
<p>Many urban colleges offer a lot of choices in local restaurants. The area just west of Boston University has a ton of local eateries in a huge variety.</p>
<p>The apartment that our kids stay at is above a Dunkin Donuts (they own the buildings). Thereâs a local sub shop across the street along with an Asian restaurant. The Asian restaurant has live entertainment on the weekends. These three places are all there is in the campus area and they essentially have a monopoly outside the college cafeterias.</p>
<p>On the flip side, an on-campus sushi place at one school we visited helped bump that school up a couple notches 
.</p>
<p>We donât have chic fila here ( or in & out, there is a panera bread but we have never been- with all the local choices, who needs national chains?))-
D did have [Ezellâs</a> Chicken](<a href=âhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ezellâs_Chicken]Ezellâsâ>Ezell's Chicken - Wikipedia) across the street from her high school. so that is what she want when she is home.</p>
<p>Her college town has some great places for the size- salvadoran, piroshkys & the 2ndbest ice cream in Washington.</p>
<p>I do agree however that places to eat do impact the quality of life on/off campus.</p>
<p>When looking at schools D had to make sure there was at least one of the following Chick-Fila, Which Wich or PotbellyâŠ</p>
<p>Chipotle was key here.</p>
<p>Chick-Fil-A has terrific customer service - always. They used to provide small scholarships to their employees who went on to colleger - most of their employees are high school students.</p>
<p>starbucks for my S2</p>
<p>rushedmom - I guess you didnât look anywhere in the northeast, I havenât seen any of those places from DC to NH!</p>
<p>Personally, I think half the fun of going away to college is discovering new regional food to fall in love with.</p>
<p>We have chick fil a and potbelly in Maryland!</p>
<p>Sent from my DROID RAZR using CC App</p>
<p>I did a Google search, and came up with, âNo locations in Maine.â It takes awhile for chains to get up here, so Iâm not surprised!</p>
<p>I know where several Potbelly and Chick-fila restaurants are located in the DC suburbs, but whether or not a college applicant would consider them to be close enough to campus is a whole different story.</p>
<p>S2 (HS junior from TX) was shocked to learn that Chick-fil-A is not a national chain when he went on a college tour in Seattle. He gives extra points to colleges that have one on campus. Donât know if it will be a deal breaker though.</p>
<p>One very lovely small university didnât make it onto Happykidâs list because she couldnât spot any Asian supermarkets when we were in that city. Something about needing a regular steamed-bun fix.</p>
<p>One place made her list because she could walk to Whole Foods from campus, and another made it because the shopping closest to campus featured a nifty second-hand store, and a NYC-style bagel place.</p>
<p>Kids.</p>
<p>Does that count as âfitâ? :)</p>
<p>Oh the things you learn from CC!</p>
<p>I thought a âChick-a-Fillâ meant the football player wanted to go to school with attractive girls. It wasnât until about post 7 that I realized you all were talking about a fast food joint. Whoops.</p>
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<p>LOL! One of the most liberal universities in the USA, and NOT noted for itâs athletic programs, houses the only Chick-fil-A in the city AND the state of New York!</p>
<p>[Chick-fil-A:</a> New York University](<a href=âhttp://www.chick-fil-a.com/nyu]Chick-fil-A:â>http://www.chick-fil-a.com/nyu)</p>
<p>Wawaâs are HUGE in New Jersey. Literally when all the college kids come home on their breaks - they put on facebook - âheading right to wawaâ or âjust got back to town - canât wait to go to wawaâ. Itâs pretty funny.</p>
<p>I always thought WaWa was short for Walmart :). We donât have them here.</p>