<p>Any one have good suggestions where to eat dinner with son on move in day? Should we stay on campus or venture off?</p>
<p>I’d like an answer to this too, since my parents want to eat dinner with me before they (HOPEFULLY) drive back home.</p>
<p>I’d venture off campus. I’ll give a brief list here of some various kinds of places to go, in case others want a reference.</p>
<p>Best Pittsburgh has to offer, or The Royal Treatment (you will need a reservation beforehand for these places):
- Eleven (upscale Alice Waters-esque cuisine, in Shadyside)
- Umi (amazing sushi but super expensive, in Shadyside. Coolest sushi restaurant I’ve ever seen, hands down.)
- Soba (pan-asian food, again in Shadyside… awesome atmosphere.)
- Dish Osteria (Southside… definitely recommend this place. I -love- it. Classic Italian cuisine with a new-age twist.)</p>
<p>Nice but not crazy upscale places, or places I would take my mom:
- Girasole in Shadyside. Went here while pretending to be my gay friend’s girlfriend to appease his homophobic father. Best Italian dinner I’ve had in Shadyside.
- Joe Mama’s (in Oakland - your family diner type of place. big pasta dishes, garlic bread, pizza, etc. Friendly waiters, big portions.)
- Primanti Bros.’ (in Oakland - huge sandwiches, fries, po boy style sandwiches)
- Cheesecake Factory (Southside Works)
- Tusca (Southside - Tapas and modern Italian/Spanish dishes. Pretty fancy schmancy attire, very very small portions.)
- Bangkok Balcony (Squirrel hill. Awesome asian dining)
- Sun Penang (Squirrel hill. upscale-ish Thai and other Asian flavors)
- Walnut Grill (good for lunch and dinner. Traditional ‘night out on the town’ style food.)
- Luca (Craig street. Fancy-ish Italian.)
- Union Grill (American grill food on a college budget).</p>
<p>Budget places, or places you go to get your drunk munchies on for cheap:
- Gingers/The Exchange (deli on campus, serves food 'til 7 most nights. Tell your kid not to call it ‘The Exchange’ or he’ll get mocked.)
- Chipotle (Oakland. Come here for your goodbye dinner only if you hate your child.)
- Aladdin’s (Squirrel hill. Indian food, eh-okay. They do a buffet!).
- Lulu’s Noodles (Craig street. Pan-asian. Great noodles, great pad thai, okay everything else)
- Rose Tea (Squirrel hill. Asian/Chinese).
- Claddagh’s Irish Pub (Southside. By Irish, I mean -super- Irish. You may not know what half this stuff is, but it’s great.)
- Fuel & Fuddle (Oakland. Beer, fried things, and meat things. It’ll put hair on your chest.)</p>
<p>I’ll add two more.<br>
Pangea in Shadyside (American/Mediterranean/Asian fusion) which would be in the “Nice but not Crazy Upscale” category. </p>
<p>[Pangea</a> Restaurant](<a href=“http://www.pangea-shadyside.com/]Pangea”>http://www.pangea-shadyside.com/)</p>
<p>Casbah in Shadyside (Mediterranean) which is part of the same restaurant group as Umi, Eleven and Soba. </p>
<p>[</a> CASBAH | 412.661.5656](<a href="http://www.bigburrito.com/casbah/]">http://www.bigburrito.com/casbah/)</p>
<p>Thanks for the responses.</p>
<p>Is Shadyside walking distance? We’ll have a car - but are happy to walk when we can.</p>
<p>Also, for former freshmen… are the freshmen usually happy to spend time at dinner with their parents that evening or are they more likely to be anxious to get back to the dorm and get started on their grand adventure? </p>
<p>I’d love to go to one of the higher end places you’ve mentioned - but I’m thinking son, who does love a good meal, will just want to eat and get us out of his hair. No point in doing something that is just going to frustrate him.</p>
<p>Parts of Shadyside are in walking distance, but you probably would want to drive to places like Soba or Umi…those would be quite a long walk.</p>
<p>I went out to dinner with my parents, and many freshmen did the same! There’s definitely plenty of time for that to happen, and I think many (though not all) students take the time to do so.</p>
<p>@colbye - I think in that case, you would be best off going somewhere on Craig St. (such as Lulu’s, or Ali Baba if you like Middle Eastern food) - it’s about a 3/5 minute walk from campus, and will be more casual. Also, definitely a very “CMU” thing to do - your son will be back there many times!</p>
<p>There is a 3-ish hour period of time where pretty much no freshmen are going to be around campus, so don’t worry about being rushed into dinner. I helped with orientation last year and was in orientation the year before that, and both years students would head out and not come back for at least a few hours.</p>
<p>I also second Casbah and Pangea. Casbah is amaaazing.</p>
<p>A lot of parents have a lot of driving to do so your roomate or others may be abandoned by parents early (we dumped S early afternoon and started driving home). Lunch at orientation is a zoo so perhaps plan on a late lunch/early dinner. CMU gives a small amount of credit to the student for that day that is inadequate to feed the family and the lines at any of the food places were just horrendous. It certainly stressed us out and the awful food made me wonder about the amount of $$$ we were spending on the meal plan. I have no idea why CMU doesn’t just provide free bag lunches and sodas to parents and students so they can sit outside and enjoy some family time while they finish unpacking. Better that parents don’t experience the food at one of the CMU joints…The only good side to this was that it dampened significantly my initial feeling of envy of S attending such a great university.</p>
<p>If I could do it all over…get there the night before. Unpack as early as possible (just dump the stuff in room and help with essential set up like moving beds if needed and the electrical/computer arrangement). Do any essential paperwork. Then take family to relaxing late lunch AWAY from CMU. Return if you still need to set up bank accounts etc and then leave by 3 pm. </p>
<p>I wondered if S felt bad about the no dinner/extended goodbye last year but he said he found it helpful to have some down/solo time before everyone came back to the dorm. Also, if parents are going to be weepy or clingy you may want to pass on the dinner plans. </p>
<p>This year I plan to do drop off in one long day of driving so it will definitely be lunch only and I think we will probably go first to the strip to get seafood at wholey’s…not a “nice” lunch but great food (I also will bring a cooler to stock up on italian cheeses) and I can get a strong cup of italian coffee before taking on the 5 hr drive home. This is a great place in pittsburgh and if you come the day before move in…please go down and visit.</p>
<p>PS…son has assured us that food that day was the worst he had at CMU and there are some bright spots in the food choices on campus</p>
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<p>Yeah… orientation food is basically cattle fodder. It gets better-ish for the rest of the year.</p>
<p>I would also recommend, not that it’s particularly Pittsburgh food, but there are a lot of good restaurants at the Waterfront in Homestead. If you’re willing to bus or have access to a car. As a CMU student you’ll probably want to know where the Waterfront is and how to get to it if you ever need to go to like Best Buy or Target or want to go to the movies.</p>
<p>It really depends on how exhausted you are from unpacking and enduring the speeches all day and how hot it is that day.</p>
<p>It’s not really the time for the “omg my mom is crying her eyes out” kodak moment sob last goodbye dinner-- if you want that kind of memory, do it on Saturday night.</p>
<p>Parents should take the cues from the student-- if the roommie and your S/D are hitting it off and already out and about- just give a hug and no pressure, say goodbye. Remember, it’s your S/Ds moment- not the parents (read “Letting Go” – an essential read for parents and “the Naked Roommate” an essential read for studnets).</p>
<p>The parking in squirrel hill and shadyside is non-existent so I second/third/fourth what others have said-it’s not really about the food, but an opportunity to have a last goodbye/kiss and hug- craig street is fine. If parents have a long drive (5+), just head out by 5pm if you can. Your S/D will be just fine - there are going to be tons of people on the dorm floor hanging out ready to mingle.
Another option is to grab take-out and simply sit with S/D on their dorm lounge or in the UC to catch a breath and take another photo, make the bed if the sheets aren’t on yet, stuff some more cash in your S/D’s hands and say goodbye. Parents need to hold those tears --!! We saw lots of grown men (parents and students) crying both times-- and sibs and moms-- and then , some that just look stone faced.</p>
<p>Orientation- there’s going to be more food that night anyways! If S/D bought a mini-fridge-- put some stuff in it before you leave too.</p>
<p>Has anyone tried the Monterey Bay Fish Grotto? This could be for a lunch or adults’ dinner before the flight home.</p>
<p>^ Went there with some friends last year. The atmosphere of the restaurant is really cool, but the fish… not so much. Keep in mind it’s Pittsburgh; totally landlocked and a zillion miles away from the nearest saltwater-fish-carrying body. It was decent but given those prices I probably would save my money and go for a nice Italian dinner or something.</p>