Food within a student's budget

Just wanted to call upon the experience of ba.fooders to find good restaurants in the Stanford area without costly experimentation.

Typically, we students just go to the places that others students go to, not necessarily because the place is particularly good. We just don't have the money to go hunting for better places, so as long as the places we go are tolerable, we keep going back.

Well, I am getting tired of that, and "listening in" to the ba.food conversations, I just figured that others might have knowledge of better places.

These are the places that I and my friends go:

Frankie, Johnny, and Luigi's Too (Mtn. View)
Applewood Inn (Menlo Prk)
Jing Jing (Palo Alto)
Mango Cafe (Palo Alto)
Miyake's (Palo Alto)-- we know the sushi is lousy, but is there
                         a place as cheap and as fun?
Rosita's Taqueria (Redwood City)
Chevy's (Redwood City?)
India Cookhouse (Mtn. View)
El Paso Cafe (Mtn. View)
Fresh Choice (Palo Alto)
Thai City or Thai Garden (Palo Alto)
Ramona's (Palo Alto)
Il Fornaio, La Pastaia, Florentine's (Palo Alto)-- for more expensive,
                                                   nice dinners
Alice's (Portola Valley?)
MacArthur Park or Sundance (Palo Alto)-- for more expensive, nicer dinners Gombei (Menlo PArk) Max's Opera Cafe (Palo Alto) Gaylord's or Passage to India (Palo Alto) Chilli's (Menlo Park) Jose's (Palo Alto)

Get the gist?

Typically, we look for places between $8 and $15 w/o drinks. It should be within a 20 minute drive of Stanford.

This may be a tall order, but any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.

-- Andrew Katz

(sorry, no .sig)