<p>We drove down tonight to take DS some stuff, and wanted to go out to dinner. We were looking for something along the lines of Olive Garden or Red Lobster. Decent but not fancy. For some reason Applebees didn't cut it for some in our group. We ended up at Boston Market, sticky wobbly tables and all.</p>
<p>How far do you have to go to get to a decent family sit-down restaurant? Any suggestions for next time?</p>
<p>Ironically, he ended up coming home with us. If we'd known that we could have eaten up here!</p>
<p>There is a Ruby Tuesday’s, a Chevy’s, and several other normal strip-mall kinds of restaurants in Greenbelt…about 5-10 minutes east of campus on rt. 193. You’re likely to run into Nasa folk (trust me, they really are nice people), but it’s not standard college fare.</p>
<p>I like Plato’s Diner (next to Applebee’s), but I’m a “diner” kind of person. In Silver Spring (10-15 min? southwest …I think) there are more places than you can imagine, and an awesome movie theater.</p>
<p>Pollo abrasa has great Latin American chicken is in Beltsville about 10 minutes the other way on Rt 1. I hear Varsity Grille isn’t bad. Calvert House Inn (a little fancier) on Rt. 1 (take a right off campus) is very good if you like seafood. It’s about 10 minutes away.</p>
<p>There’s an Olive Garden and an Outback in PG Plaza, about five minutes away from campus.</p>
<p>Is Greenbelt a good place to stay for a campus visit? Husband often stays at a Marriot property there when he works in Bethesda.</p>
<p>Jerry’s, not a chain, but there are three of them, in Rockville, has something called a Crab Bomb that my husband absolutely loved. Somewhat pricey, but a must have for a visit to Maryland</p>
<p>If you want to experience Ledo’s in the original location, do it soon. The Post had an article this morning about them moving from University Blvd. to a new building in across from CP City Hall.</p>
<p>Montegut, when we are headed to College Park, first we check the Marriott on campus. One time it was available and the rates were reasonable (rarely does both occur at the same time, in our experience). After sampling several of the Rt 1 options (with Quality Inn in downtown College Park our reasonable choice), we started checking out the Greenbelt hotels. The last 6 times I’ve been up there, we’ve stayed either at one of the Marriott properties, or the Holiday Inn Greenbelt. Much quieter location, not quite as “colorful” as Rt 1, but more relaxing, especially if we have some down time when the college student(s) are ready for us to be gone for a while.</p>
<p>There are several restaurants we frequent when in College Park. The Varsity Grille mentioned by somebodynew isn’t bad. It is the closest to campus. Also if you go north on Route 1, on Cherry Hill Road, right before the junction for 95, there are two restaurants we frequent. One is Hard Times Cafe. Their specialty is chili but they have a variety of other things on their menu. In the same shopping center next to Hard Times is Mama Lucia’s, an Italian restaurant. Also on Route 1 on the other side of 95 in the shopping center next to Ikea is a new Buffalo Wild Wings.</p>
<p>Also in Greenbelt off of 193, near the hotels, is a restaurant called Jaspers. We haven’t been there in awhile but it is always good when we go.</p>
<p>We like Jaspar’s which is in Greenbelt…same shopping center as Chevy’s. Chevy’s was okay but service was slow when we were there. Another place to try is William’s American Bistro, which is in the shopping center where the Target is. It’s a new place and doesn’t look like much but the food was surprisingly good…focused on locally grown, organic ingredients. (Both are a bit pricier than the chain restaurants but not unreasonable for the Baltimore/Washington region.)</p>
<p>There are two of them. There’s one on 193: Route 1 north to 193 East…take it until you see Target. The one at PG Plaza: take Campus Drive up to Adelphi Road. Turn Left on Adelphi, right on Belcrest. Target will be on your right.</p>
<p>Sure, it’s located at 6100 Greenbelt Rd, Greenbelt, MD 20770 (it’s in a strip mall). Coming off campus from Campus Drive turn left on Route 1 (Baltimore Ave), take it 7/10ths of a mile to Rt 193 (Greenbelt Road), go right on Rt 193 (1.3 miles). It will be on your left. </p>
<p>If you’re looking for landmarks, it’s just past the turn to the Greenbelt Metro station and you’ll see a bunch of businesses in the strip mall area like a Boston Market and Gamestop and Silver Diner. There are a whole series of lights to get into the strip mall shopping area, you can take any one of them but the direction you’ll be coming from it’s down toward the far end.</p>
<p>PG actually stands for Prince George**'s** County, but many people there hate when people abbreviate it. It is the county in which College Park and the University of Maryland are located.</p>