This week, I wanted to touch on something else that I found important in my life these days: lunch. Since the beginning of senior year, I’ve eaten lunch at school a grand total of 0 times, and when I have both blended English and lunch back to back, the options are endless. That being said, I wanted to use this week’s post to rank my top three (I’m gonna rant so I can’t do 5) off-campus lunch spots. I’ll include things like location, price, and wait time in my rankings, so you’ll know I didn’t just choose my favorite restaurants. Here we go!
#3: McDonalds
In terms of location and price, McDonalds is a great option. Barely over a mile away, at maximum a 5 minute drive from the athletic lot. In terms of price, it’s McDonalds. Cheap, fried, and greasy; most orders clock in just around $10. Healthiness aside, the food is fine, as much as you’d expect from America’s face of fast food. Wait, fast food? Lies. The reason that McDonalds is so low on my list is the wait time. You may think, “Gabe, it’s fast food. The entire purpose is to be fast. How could you have an issue with the wait time?” And normally, I’d agree with you, but for whatever reason, the McDonalds on Ogden and River has screwed me over on numerous occasions. On my way out of school, sometimes I’ll strike up a conversation in the lot, fiddle with my music, or watch TikTok for a little while trying to figure out where I want to go. When I finally pick, and head to McDonalds, I’ll order pretty much the same thing: 10pc Nuggets, Medium Fry, and a Medium Sprite (recently they ran out of Dr.Pepper). And, for some reason, they decide that my nuggets and fries need to be fried for an extra 11 minutes and send me to the waiting spot. I’ll be sitting, counting down the minutes until 6th hour starts. When I finally get my food, I’ll get caught at three red lights and by the time I’m out of my car, I have four minutes to get to class. I swear they have it out for me. However, most of the time, it’s a fine option for a quick lunch. For those reasons, McDonalds takes #3
#2: Jersey Mikes
The #2 spots undoubtedly belong to Jersey Mikes. Only a half-mile away, It’s easily the closest spot on this list. Plus, if you’re parked in the athletic lot, you don’t have to turn around to get there. For prices, it’s fair, with most regular-sized subs floating around the $7-9 range. Plus chips and drink, it really isn’t too bad. For time, it depends entirely on what you order. A cold sub will have you in and out in less than 10 minutes, while in my experience a hot sub can take anywhere from 7-15 minutes depending on how many other customers are in the store. Taste-wise, you can’t go wrong. If you don’t like what your food at Jersey Mikes, it’s entirely your fault. You can have any protein, any mix of veggies, condiments, breads, cheeses, or go with a classic or a favorite. During my golf season, sometimes I’d spend a little bit more to get my sandwich in Giant size, eat half of it for lunch, and save the other half for after practice. Tasty, close, and quick there is no doubt in my mind that the #2 spot goes to Jersey Mikes.
Honorable Mentions:
There are many other worthwhile options for lunch, but since I only have 1000 words to talk about my pick, I decided to throw together an honorable mentions list. Here are those picks:
Chipotle, Diehl Road
Potbelly’s, Diehl Road
Panera Bread, Ogden Avenue
Portillo’s, Ogden Avenue
These are all good options on any day, as they’re close and fast enough for off campus lunch, and (other than Panera) are all reasonably priced.
For specifically Fridays where I have blended english and lunch back to back and can go somewhere further, or somewhere that takes longer to get/eat the food, here are my picks:
Strings Ramen, East New York Street
Five Guys, East Chicago Avenue
The prices are a little higher, but when I want a real burger I always think of Five Guys, and if you’ve never tried Strings in Aurora, I strongly recommend it. It’s pretty good, and I prefer it over Sudoku Ramen, which is a little closer on Ogden Avenue.
The final honorable mention is the place I go most often, and would be my #1 pick if everyone could do it, but I have to mention home. I live four minutes away from school and I’ll go home and make all sorts of things I have in the house: burgers, mac-n-cheese, quesadillas, canned soups, and sandwiches. However, not everybody can go home for their off campus lunch, so I’ve placed it here. Still, I’m excited for my #1 pick.
#1: Costco Food Court
Ok, I know this isn’t technically a restaurant, but hear me out. Costco is only five minutes away from school, and like Jersey Mikes, the athletic lot exit puts you on the right path. Price wise, it’s absolute highway robbery. I can get a slice of pizza, a hotdog, and a bottomless soda for less than four dollars. In this economy, that’s absolutely insane. As far as wait time, I can’t recall a single time I waited more than 45 seconds for my food to be ready, and it’s honestly a mystery to me. All of that, plus the food tastes great. Costco will try to tell you that a membership card is required, but it’s pretty easy to sneak past them. For all those reasons, Costco takes the #1 spot.
I hope that everybody else enjoys off-campus lunch as much as I do, and I hope you can find the time to try at least one of these restaurants. Happy lunch-ing!
Gabe, I really appreciate your perspective and your opinions on the best places for off campus lunch. To be honest, I was very surprised by your answers. Costco was not a place I had ever thought of or considered as a lunch place; however, you make an extremely solid argument as to why it is your first pick. I think price is an extremely important thing today, and that perspective has a great impact as most of us are somewhat broke high school students that don’t have much time on our hands for a meal. So your option of Costco is helpful; however, I’m curious to know how easy it truly is for someone to get past Costco security without a membership card. I understand you claim that it’s easy to sneak past, I’m just curious if that would work for others as well. Another thing I’m curious to ask you about is your third pick, Mcdonalds. You mention that the food is fine, what you would expect, so I guess I’m just wondering what that means, like what does the food taste like. I raise this question because personally I refrain from Mcdonalds as I have tasted to food a handful of times and I strongly dislike it, it usually tastes like cardboard, and along with my health concerns I personally don’t have a desire to eat it. So I’m curious how it made your top three if the food is mediocre and the wait time is apparently horrendous? Overall, I found your opinions very entertaining and inciteful, I will definitely have them in mind the next time I go off campus for lunch, especially your Jersey Mike’s recommendation!
That is fantastic that Costco Food Court tops your list. It makes sense when you think about the aspects you address, price, location, and wait time. It sounds like the place to dine for lunch. You mention some strong contenders here. This was fun read. Thanks for sharing.
I love that you rated the Costco Food Court as #1! It is considerably cheaper than any option I’ve seen, and the food always tastes good (I’d hope so considering all the grease that goes into it). The first few days of school I went out every day, going to Chipotle, Costco, Mcdonalds, Portillos, you name it. Then one day, I checked how much money I spent. I was dumbfounded, I hadn’t realized I was spending so much money. So I decided to bring lunch from home, have to say I’ve saved myself an incredible amount of money. This doesn’t stop me from going out with my friends however, every time I go with them, I end up buying maybe a drink, or a medium fries, or some ice cream. Costco is by far my favorite place to eat at as well. Great list!
Hi Gabe,
Costco at number 1 is the best take I’ve heard all day! I’m totally with you on this one. Costco Food Court is the absolute GOAT of fast food. It’s the perfect combination of delicious, affordable, and convenient.
I do kind of want to defend Chipotle, I don’t understand why it doesn’t make the list to McDonalds. The food is always fresh and made to order, and there are plenty of healthy options to choose from. However, I do find that Chipotle can be a bit more expensive than some other fast food options.
Overall, I think Costco Food Court and Chipotle are both great fast food options. It really depends on what you’re looking for. If you’re looking for a delicious, affordable, and convenient meal, Costco is the way to go. If you’re looking for a healthier fast food option, Chipotle is a good choice. They are one of pretty much the only “Healthy” fast food places around.
I really enjoyed reading this Gabe. I think that your ranking is solid and I would honestly agree with most of it. More importantly, this was well written and grabbed my attention. One of the main reasons why I agree with putting Costco Food Court at number one is its affordability, and Costco is known for offering generous portion sizes. Whether you’re ordering a slice of pizza, a hot dog, or a churro. Personally, I would have put chickfila in my list because of their great customer service, and matched taste. However it is quite the drive from North, so it is a bit unrealistic on certain day to make the trip, no matter how delicious.