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Restaurants
(by David)

• Amelia's Restaurant: 235 S Main Street.
  
  High-end Italian restaurant, I'm not sure how genuinely Italian it is, but once you step in there, you almost don't feel like you're in the US anymore, but in a classy European restaurant. The service is very classy (the waiters are "professional waiters", not students, something pretty unique in town). The food is excellent, and the prices decent.
   

• Bento Café: 3832 W Newberry Road, suite 1J.
  
  Japanese Restaurant. The food is great (especially the Udon and the Sushi) with a few specialties that you can't find anywhere else in town. Several times, I saw some of Japanese students living in Gainesville going there. I take it as a good sign. Definitely one of my favorite restaurant in town.
   

• Bistro 1245: 1245 W University Ave.
  
  The name sounds French, the interior decoration sounds French, but the similitude with France stops here. The food has nothing to do with French food, and is not exceptional (and quite overpriced... well, it's not very expensive, the quantities are ridiculously small) and the service is terrible. There are so many good places in Gainesville, why go there?
   

• Café Gardens: 1643 NW 1st Ave.
  
  I actually rarely went to Café Gardens for the food. It's not bad (the desserts are actually good) but it's not great either. The real reason why I went there (a lot) is the terrace, the best one in town; it's pretty big, surrounded by plants and far from any road, a great place to be (and a block away from campus). The staff is also usually very nice and friendly.
  

• China King: 3230 SW 35th Boulevard.
  
  I don't know, I really like these Chinese fast-food restaurants. They're really cheap, and the food is as good (sometimes even better) than many "real" restaurants in town.
  

• Chopstix Café: 3500 SW 13th St.
  
  Pan-Asian Restaurant. One of the most famous restaurant in town, because it's simply one of the best. The food is extremely varied and is also quite cheap and the restaurant is located in a very good setting (on the banks of the Biven's Arm lake, you can eat while watching alligators swimming and or a beautiful sunset. Another of my favorite restaurants.
   

• Emiliano's Café: 7 SE 1st Ave.
  
  Another famous restaurant in Gainesville. The Hispanic and Spanish cuisine is quite good, but really overpriced. This place wants to be a high-end restaurant, but really, they should learn how to do it, and it's not only about nice decoration and food that is too expensive. One of the most overrated restaurant in town.
  

• Farah's on the Avenue: 1120 W University Avenue.
  
  Mediterranean restaurant, the food is good and relatively cheap, the atmosphere very relaxing especially the veranda that is great with all the plants and all. There are also hookahs (I think this is the only place in Gainesville). Lately, it seems that the place is becoming more like a bar lounge so it might be different. If somebody wants to give me an update, feel free, this is the very idea of the way this site is supposed to work.
   

• Gyro Plus: 1011 W University Ave.
  
  Eastern-Mediterranean fast-food restaurant. Doesn't look like much, but the food is awesome.
  

• Harvest Thyme Café: 2 W University Avenue.
  
  Open only during daytime this place if definitely aimed at all the professional that work in the neighborhood. They serve mostly sandwiches and salads, and they're very original and healthy and fresh. A great place to have lunch.
   

• Kotobuki: 1702 W University Avenue.
  
  One of the Japanese restaurants of Gainesville. It has the advantage to be next to campus. The food is good without being great. The prices are a little high, but they always have lots of specials all the time. (useless information: believe it or not, but this is the place where I had sushi for the first time in my life).
  

• Leonardo's Pizza: 1245 W University Avenue.
  
  An institution of Gainesville. Not a "nice" place, but the cheapest (and among the best) pizzas in town are to found there. One cannot spend some time in Gainesville and not go there.
  

• Mac's Drive Thru: 129 NW 10th Avenue.
  
  This place is a drive-thru (no, really?), they serve hamburgers and the likes, and I think they're simply the best hamburgers in town. After that, you don't want to return to the more famous chain hamburger restaurants again...
   

• Mi Apa Latin Café: SW 34th Street.
  
  Cuban food. It's fast, cheap and really good. Just try it if you don't know it yet.
   

• Mr. Han's: 6944 NW 10th Place.
  
  The high-end Chinese restaurant of Gainesville. Quite cheap for lunch, it's a complete different story at night, but the food is quite authentic (and thus quite different from the usual Chinese restaurants you can find in town). The atmosphere is also quite unique for the town, very classy in a Chinese way I guess (hard to describe).
  

• Saigon Café: 816 W University Avenue.
  
  It's started as a uniquely Vietnamese restaurant, but a few years ago it got taken by the sushi craze that took over Gainesville (to the point that many people think it's a sushi place). And it's for the best. We have here one of the best restaurant in town. The Vietnamese food is excellent, and even if it has been "americanized" a little, it's still quite authentic. The sushi is the cheapest and one of the best in town too. I think it's the restaurant where I ate the most (or ordered food from, they also deliver) during my whole time in Gainesville, and today it's one of the place I miss the most.
   

• Sonny's BBQ: 3635 SW Archer Road, 9213 MW 39th Avenue and 2700 NE Waldo Road.
  
  Usually, I don't talk about chain restaurants on this site, but I can make an exception, because the original Sonny's is from Gainesville (it's the one on Waldo Road). Not the best place in the world, but if you want barbecue food, and can't have a barbecue at home, this is where you go.
  I'm crazy about the ribs and the okra from there
  

• Steamers: 1618 NW 1st Avenue.
  
  From the outside, you don't feel like eating there. Once you get in... even less... Big mistake, the food they cook there (mostly to go) is very good and very cheap. Another place where you must go for your Gainesville experience to be complete.
  

• Sushi Matsuri: 3418 SW Archer Road.
  
  Simply the best Japanese restaurant in town. And definitely the best sushi (not the cheapest, but who cares).
   

• The Swamp Restaurant: 1642 W University Avenue.
  
  One of the most famous place in town, I'll talk only about the "restaurant" aspect of it (go to the bar section for more information). I must admit that I'm not a big fan of the food. It's not bad, but it's definitely not great (except for the fish, I love their fish), it's also a little overpriced. And as to the atmosphere... well... it's the Swamp.... (well, actually it's very calm on week nights).
   

• The Top: 30 N Main St.
  
  The Top used to be mostly a bar that served food, but a few years ago, it double in surface and now half of it is a real restaurant. And that's for the best, I think they serve some of the bestand most original food in town. Just go there if you're not a fan yet.