Student recommendation: Food & Drinks

Have you ever had that feeling, when you just couldn't be bothered to cook dinner yourself, and didn't want to continue that 4-day Domino's streak? The Estimator Committee is here to the rescue: we reviewed three restaurants, to see which one is the best for a student like you.

For our review we picked the Erasmus Paviljoen Grand Café, Eetcafé Condordia and the Grand Café de Dijk. Below you can read about our experiences, rating and our recommendation!

Erasmus Paviljoen Grand Café

The Erasmus Paviljoen Grand Café is located in heart of our Erasmus University right next to the pond. Being a central gathering place at our university, it is visited by students and professors alike. Whether you want to have breakfast, lunch, diner or a drink party, the Grand Café can have it all.

Atmosphere

Our first impression was really delightful, the sun was shining, the tables were filled and as soon as we stepped inside, we felt like we were home. It had a good variety of seats and tables from bar stools to sofas, everyone could make themselves comfortable. Some tables even had a wonderful view of the workshop-like kitchen.

The menu

The menu has wide variety of dishes inspired from the Italian kitchen, you can have a simple sandwich, a fresh soup, a burger with fries, all kind of pastas and homemade pizzas. The food quality standard is high: pasta is well cooked, the burgers are nice medium grilled and the fries are crispy. They also make their food from fresh and biological products which is a nice bonus. It also has a decent variety of beers and wine, so just having  a nice drink there isn’t bad either. The price for these simples dishes however is a bit high for a student with an average of 7.50 euro a dish and 2.50 euro for a drink.

Our verdict

The Erasmus Paviljoen connects students and teachers with each other, it has a good atmosphere and great location. It serves high quality food for a bit expencise price but the beer price come close to that of most other cafés. We rate the Erasmus paviljoen 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Eetcafé Condordia

Eetcafé Concordia is located on the Oostzeedijk and only five minutes by bike from the university. It is of course our home for every After Exam Drink, where you can meet your fellow FAECTORians, good results were celebrated and sorrows are tried to be forgotten.

“Quality and good atmosphere are things we’re passionate about here at Concordia. Dan and I met at our former employer where our plans for an own place grew bigger by the day.” – Lloyd Schox Co-owner of Eetcafe Concordia

Atmosphere

Our first impression was really nice, when you step inside you immediately see the two pool tables and dart boards. We also noticed that they have a couple of televisions with sports being broadcasted. It had a good variety of seats and tables, you can have a diner for two here or you can go with a big group of friends, everything is possible at Condordia. It also has a somewhat student-ish atmosphere, a place where you can to meet new people.

The menu

The menu has a small variety of dishes, they mainly serve meat types of dishes like burgers, spareribs, stakes and chicken wings. But luckily for the vegetarians out there they do serve vegetarian burgers. They also offer some great daily dishes for example on Thursday you can have all you can eat Spareribs for 12,50 euro or on Tuesday a hamburger with fries and salad for 6 euros. The food quality is good, if you like meat and fries you will like this place, however for a healthy diner you are not in the right place.

The drinks on the other hand are amazing, they come in a huge variety with all sort of beers, wine and other liquor you can ask for the craziest drinks and they will make it for you. The price is decent, the average price for a dish is 9,50 euros and a beer is 2,50 euro.

Our verdict

Eetcafe Concordia left us a generally good impression, the food quality was good, proportions were more than enough. However, it maybe a bit on the expensive side for student, but if you go on a daily dish day, you will save some money and have nice meal. And of course, at a FAECTOR drink, the price for drinks are ridiculously low. We rate Eetcafe Concordia 4.5 out of 5 starts.

Grand Café de Dijk

Café de Dijk is located at the end of the Oostzeedijk right next to the tram stop Oostplein, it is located the furthers from the university of all three. It’s a place where people can have lunch, diner and a nice drink afterwards all at one place.

Atmosphere

Our first impression was good, the Grand Café has a luxurious appearance, it has a round bar right in the middle and it immediately attracts you to have a drink. It was a comfortable place it be in the beginning at least. After some time the café was filled people, which seems in first place to a good sign, however the average age was nicely said slightly above the student age. The atmosphere immediately changed, people were starring at us, it was not the nicest place to stay.

The menu

The menu had the biggest variety of dishes, they serve almost all kinds of fish, meat and pasta dishes. Which was a huge plus point, the menu would satisfy anyone who would come here. However, the food quality unfortunately was pretty poor, steaks were dry, pasta was cold, it seems to be that there were too many costumers for the kitchen the handle. Maybe if we would come on a less busy night, the food quality would be better. The dishes were on the expensive side, you clearly paid the for the luxurious appearance. The drinks were average priced and they had a good variety of liquor.

Our verdict

Grand Café de Dijk in general is an excellent place to eat, it has a good atmosphere and a reasonable price. Unfortunately, this is only true when you are older than forty, it is clearly not a student café and nor are they aiming for it. So we rate Grand Café de Dijk a 2.5 out of 5 stars.

Our recommendation

This was a great experience, eating three evenings in a row at three different restaurants. The food quality in general was really nice, we enjoyed evenings some more than others. We picked our recommendation based on the price/quality rate and the atmosphere, so winner of the FAECTOR Student recommendation: Eat & Drink is drum ruffle…….. Eetcafé Concordia! Eetcafé Concordia served by far the best food quality, it wasn't the cheapest of all three, but had the nicest atmosphere. Moverover for just over ten euros you could have a delicious dinner with a cold beer. Oh, and of course they sometimes sell beer for 50 cents.

About this article

Written by:
  • Michel Pham
| Published on: May 10, 2017