All college students know that dining halls aren’t always the most appealing places to eat. The second option is cooking for yourself, which isn’t always appealing either. Coming from personal experience, ordering take-out and grabbing a bite locally is a must when working around a college schedule.
Luckily for SUNY Cortland students, we have a variety of tasteful restaurants in the area. The restaurants range from fast food to delicious Italian restaurants. Most of these restaurants are located on Cortland Main Street, but not all of them are. Although Cortland is a smaller college town compared to the surrounding towns such as Binghamton , Ithaca, and Syracuse we still have a numerous amount of options when it comes to eating out at a restaurant.
Personally, my top favorite restaurants to eat at in Cortland are Brix, Mangia, Wild Ginger, Pontillos, and Hairy Tonys. Would say I eat at two of these each week and I am always very happy with the outcome of my meals and service. Brix is a pizzeria restaurant that serves all types of foods. You can either stop for a quick hot slice, or you can sit down. Pontillos is very similar to Brixs in the menu and pizza way, but their setting is very different
Mangia is a very simple, yet nice Italian restaurant. They have all the Italian foods you could think of and more. One of my favorite things about Mangia is that you can actually purchase the pasta they serve.
Wild Ginger is a sushi/ hibachi restaurant. They have normal generic tables, or you can sit down and enjoy a hibachi show. Their sushi is very fresh and they have a variety of assortments. Lastly, Hairy Tonys. It’s a smaller restaurant, but their food does not disappoint, being a large variety that mainly consists of bar types of food.
You always have your generic fast food restaurants and drive-throughs for when you want something quick and cheap. Cortland has a large selection of these; McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Taco Bell, Moes, Burger King, A&W, etc. These options are still good, and there are many of them, but sometimes you just want a more fulfilling meal.
If you want to stay in for the night, Cortland and the surrounding areas have a surplus of eateries on delivery services like Doordash, Uber Eats, Grubhub, etc. Since we are in a smaller town, many people contribute to and also use Doordash as a way to make money. I know many college students that do it in their free time when they are bored. All of the restaurants mentioned above are listed on one or more of the delivery services.
Even the town next door, Homer, has a large selection and variety of fast food and sit-down restaurants that are very good. For example, two restaurants in Homer that I enjoy are The Exchange and Dashers. Exchange has many options all across breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Something very different about the Exchange is that it has its bakery attached to the restaurant itself.
Cortland, despite its small size, has an impressive selection of delightful sit-down restaurants catering to a diverse range of preferences. The abundance of dining options is helpful for students on campus, with Main Street conveniently located just a 15-minute walk away. This accessibility is extremely helpful for those without access to a car, offering a feasible and enjoyable meal other to the dining hall. For students seeking a break from campus meals or simply craving a change, the local dining scene becomes a welcome exploration of flavors, making the most of the town’s culinary offerings.