Cuisines

Five minutes from campus, east on Forest Park, for a closer bite.

Street tacos and excellent margs, popular with WUSM students. Late night happy hour specials include $2 tacos and $2 tequila shots after 10 p.m.

A 10-minute drive from campus, with lots of seating and food options (including a renowned spicy ramen).

Handcrafted ramen, with a broth informed by one of Japan's leading ramen chefs.

Lovely date night spot by James Beard semifinalist Ben Poremba, offering upscale Mediterranean small plates on delicate china dishes, in a renovated 1930s Standard Oil filling station. In warm weather, sit under the string lights on their expansive but uncrowded patio. Try the smoked trout toast, hummus, roasted carrots, caponata, and freshly baked bread from their outdoor stone oven.

Memphis-style barbecue worth the sometimes long line — a true favorite in STL.

Gluten-free noodles can be substituted into any of their dishes.

Contender for best phở in the city with plenty of other non-phở options.

Very phở-centric Vietnamese restaurant.

This locally owned company is known for their deep dish, cornmeal crust pizza (though they also have gluten-free, whole grain and thin crust available, if deep dish ain’t your thang). The Western Addition, the Kirkwood, and the Southside Classico are great options to try. Obama liked Pi so much on his visit to St. Louis in 2008, he personally called the restaurant and invited the owners to the White House to cook for the first family, making Pi the first restaurant to prepare food for the White House. This prompted the owners to open a branch in D.C.

Sit outside and people watch passersby in the Loop while you enjoy shawarma, salad and rice, and hookah if you wish. Huge portions (coming from someone with a big appetite), so if you want to stretch your pocketbook, plan on eating half and taking home leftovers!

Best Indian food in town! Quite a bit fancier than the other options. Craving Indian buffet-style dining for lunch? Rasoi has you covered, and you barely have to step outside to get there from campus.

Tender brisket and great sides (popovers!); original location in the heart of the hopping Loop neighborhood, and now with a new location in the CWE.

Delicious, affordable Afghani food with reliably good kabobs.

If you’re not typically a calzone fan, Sauce On the Side will make you a convert. Tons of filling options, plus a rotating special (e.g., a turkey dinner-filled calzone called “The Mayflower” each November).

Affordable, fast-casual, Korean-Mexican fusion, popular with WashU undergrads.

Incredible Nashville-style hot chicken from the owners of Pappy’s (which is right next door).

Great barbecue and incredible burgers. Tons of sauce options and rotating sides, so you’ll never be bored.

Family-owned Kurdish restaurant serving sakuska, pilau, and life-changing dolmas. Jenar Mohammed, a longtime home cook, along with her family, opened Sultān, their first restaurant, to rave reviews last year.

The focus of the long-running show Welcome to Sweetie Pie’s on the Oprah Network. Southern soul food served cafeteria style, known for their chicken wings and mac’n’cheese.

The new kid on the block taking over the STL taco scene. The patio is the place to sit, and it’s even covered and heated in winter months! Their frozen margs are just insane good, even if you typically don’t order your margs frozen. Tacos are huge (you might need a fork) and include unique, slow roasted fillings such as green chile pork, chicken tinga, and Thai street beef.

While The Hill is known for its Italian eats, Taco Circus is a great find for those with food allergies who love Tex-Mex. They offer extremely filling tacos including al Pastor, carnitas, and grilled skirt steak which all can come on corn tortillas if you have a wheat allergy/are gluten free.

Craving Taiwanese? Tai Ke, St. Louis’ first 100% Taiwanese restaurant is incredible. Try the Gua Bao (pork belly bun).

Craving Thai? Don’t want to leave CWE? The lunch talk was pizza? As your closest solution, Thai 202 will be your hero.

St. Louis’ only Taiwanese bakery, which sells Taiwanese bolo buns, umami burst bread (with miso), naisu milk buns, and crispy orange buns. Also has boba, fruit milk, and coffee.

Brisket chili and burnt ends, served by a waitstaff, so you don’t have to do the barbecue line cattle call.

The unofficial favorite lunch talk caterer here at WUSM, The Vine serves up beef and chicken shawarma, hummus, pita, baked eggplant, fattoush salad, taboul, and other cravable items.

Union Loafers is *the* place to buy a loaf of bread here in town (Companion Bakery is also locally owned!), but their pizza is to die for. Ian Froeb of the STL Today magazine describes it as, “New York-ish, but with an airiness and aggressive blistering more reminiscent of Neapolitan pies.”

The true St. Louis-style Italian experience. Baked mostaccioli (mostaccioli al forno on the Zia’s menu) is a St. Louis classic, and get t-rav as an app.