Issue date: 9/25/05 Section: Arts & Entertainment

Media Credit: Photo by Eric Drew Mahi-Mahi from Chinatown [Click to enlarge]

Media Credit: Photo By Eric Drew Seafood Alfredo from Olive Garden [Click to enlarge]

Media Credit: Photo by Eric Drew Egg Rolls from Chinatown [Click to enlarge]

If you have ever been sitting in class thinking about what you are going to have for lunch or dinner, a big plate of homemade lasagna or some egg rolls are not too far away.

 

Whether it is Italian or Chinese, University of West Florida students have plenty of restaurants to choose from that are close to campus and offer healthy, affordable food.

 

Chinatown, located at 119 East Nine Mile Rd., specializes in traditional Chinese buffet, though patrons can order individual items off the menu.

 

Manager Michael Hua says Chinatown is a family restaurant, and it appeals to many UWF students because of the quality of the food and the low prices.

 

"We cook from scratch," he says. "We use fresh produce, meat and natural herbs."

 

Hua, whose family owns the restaurant, says all of the recipes have been passed down in his family for many generations. Some of the dishes are exclusive to Chinatown. "The walnut chicken. Nobody else has it," he says.

 

Other items on the $5.99 lunch and $7.99 dinner buffet include sweet and sour pork, chicken, and shrimp, and several variations of stir-fry. All of the fried foods are fried in pure vegetable oil, Hua says.

 

Items ordered off the menu range in price from $1.25 for the hot and sour soup made with soybeans and vegetables to $25.95 for the stir-fried lobster tail, which can be ordered in fresh garlic sauce or Cantonese style: served with scrambled eggs, mushrooms, and ground meat in white sauce.

 

For those health-conscious students looking for something a little less fattening yet still tasty, Chinatown offers several low-fat, low-calorie dishes that taste great.

 

The buffet offers steamed mahi-mahi, steamed broccoli, stuffed mushrooms and spinach and cheese.

 

"We always try something different, not greasy," Hua says. "We are

health-conscious."

 

Hua says some nights the restaurant is very busy, sometimes not. "We take reservations," he says, so it is a good idea to call ahead. The phone numbers for the restaurant are 475-5655 and 484-4202.

 

"It's a family restaurant. We try to keep the prices as low as possible. I keep the prices low by doing a lot of the work myself," Hua says as he shows his work-weary hands from doing maintenance work outside the restaurant.

 

If you are in the mood for Italian food, Olive Garden, located on Bayou Blvd. near Ninth Ave., offers its guests "a genuine Italian dining experience."

 

Aside from the usual lasagna and ravioli dishes common at most Italian restaurants, the Olive Garden chain offers chicken, seafood, and beef dishes, and all are made in the restaurant daily.

 

"In the days of fast food, we make almost everything from scratch," sales manager Don Pinkerton says. "It's good, fresh simple Italian food. Our soups are homemade daily. All our sauces are homemade."

 

If you are in the mood for chicken, Olive Garden's chicken scampi is a favorite among younger people, Pinkerton says . The dish consists of chicken tenderloins sauteed with bell peppers, roasted garlic and onions in a garlic cream sauce over angel hair.

 

"It's delicate, tasty and big," Pinkerton says of the entree. The chicken scampi costs $12.75 at dinner, and all of the entrees include unlimited soup or salad and breadsticks.

 

Olive Garden also offers several seafood dishes that UWF seafood lovers will find appetizing. A favorite is the $13.25 shrimp and crab ravioli, made in a creamy seafood sauce and topped with shrimp and sun-dried tomatoes.

 

For those students looking for a steak, Olive Garden three steak entrees. One of them, the steak gorgonzola-alfredo, offers grilled steak with balsamic glaze, served over fettuccine, spinach, and a blue cheese-alfredo sauce. The dish costs $13.95 at lunch and dinner.

 

Pinkerton recommends trying a glass of wine with every entree, and Olive Garden has a wine that it recommends for each dish for optimum flavor. "We have a good selection on our wine menu to complement our food," Pinkerton says.

 

The Garden Fare items, notated on the menu with an olive branch, are items that are low in fat and calories. Olive Garden offers a nutrition information guide that shows the fat and calories of its dishes.

 

For students on a tight budget, Olive Garden offers an unlimited soup, salad, and breadsticks combination for $5.95 at lunch and $8.75 at dinner. The soups offered are pasta fagioli, an Italian chili; minestrone, a vegetable soup with tomato broth; and zuppa toscana, a spicy potato soup with sausage.

 

Olive Garden is also currently promoting its never-ending pasta bowl. For $7.95, diners at lunch and dinner can create endless pasta dishes from a total of 42 combinations.

 

The pastas to choose from are spaghetti, fettuccine, angel hair, linguine, penne, farfalle and whole wheat linguine. Add marinara, meat sauce, alfredo, five-cheese marinara, mushroom alfredo or garlic cream to complete your dish.

 

"You can't leave here hungry," Pinkerton says. "Almost all college kids are on a budget. We have good value."

 

Olive Garden does not take reservations. For more information, call the restaurant at 477-6544.

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