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Food & Dining

Everybody has to eat. Luckily, New Haven offers lots of great choices, both off and on campus. 
 
Among foodies, the city is best known for its thin-crust, wood-fired New Haven-style pizza (locally known as “apizza,” pronounced “abeetz”), available at several old school and new school establishments in town. Beyond pizza, there’s an extraordinary array of award-winning restaurants in walking distance of campus and in popular grad student neighborhoods serving cuisine from around the world. If you prefer to cook your own meals, there are local supermarkets and gourmet groceries as well as farmers’ markets year-round. Are you in a hurry? Stop by one of the food trucks. If you’re looking for something comforting and simple, like a salad, soup, noodles or a sandwich, you’re only a short walk from a cafe, and there are dozens of coffee and tea shops, too. 

On-Campus Dining

  • Yale Hospitality offers a convenient Graduate Meal Plan to access on-campus café locations – including Commons and The Bow Wow at centrally-located Yale Schwarzman Center. Menu offerings focus on plant-based, organic, local and sustainable food with options for those who are vegetarian, vegan, halal, kosher, gluten-sensitive and more.
  • Tap & Go with Eli Bucks! These convenient dining points are loaded you’re your University ID card and eliminate the need to carry cash. Use your Eli Bucks at most Yale Hospitality retail and café locations, including:
    • Commons and The Bow Wow (Yale Schwarzman Center)
    • Ramen (Becton Hall)
    • Charley’s Place and McNay Café (Yale School of Management)
    • Steep Café (Yale Science Building)
    • Café Med (Yale School of Medicine)
    • Health Center Café (Yale Health)
    • West Campus
  • The McDougal Graduate Student Center, which is open year-round at 135 Prospect Street, offers free coffee, tea and chilled water - just remember to bring your own mug (BYOM) or water bottle to fill up whenever the Center is open. Many graduate students eat their lunches, brought from home or purchased from the food carts nearby, inside the air-conditioned McDougal Graduate Student Center or at one of its outdoor spaces. The Center coffee lounge has a microwave for your use.

Off-Campus Options

Food Shopping/Grocery Stores

  • Several larger grocery stores are available in the City of New Haven, including Super Stop & Shop, Elm City Market, Edge of the Woods Natural Market, family-owned Ferraro’s Market and CTown, with a wide variety of smaller neighborhood and global food markets. Check out lists at Visit New Haven and Living in New Haven guide.
  • The Yale Weekend Daytime Blue Line Shuttle goes to Super Stop & Shop on Whalley Avenue & Elm City Market on Chapel Street hourly.
  • Peapod by Stop & Shop offers home grocery delivery service on your schedule.
  • Surrounding towns and suburbs have grocery stores like ShopRite, Big Y, SavALot and Trader Joe’s, as well as Super Walmart, Target, BJs, and Costco. Get there by car, zipcar, ride-share or public transit bus.
  • CitySeed hosts seasonal farmer’s markets throughout New Haven where you can purchase local produce, baked goods, meat and dairy items, and more. 
  • Whether you’re an international student looking for a taste of home or a globally-minded do-it-yourself cook, check out the helpful guide to Grocery Shopping in New Haven with maps, compiled by the Office of International Students and Scholars (OISS) staff.

Dining

  • Info New Haven lists many places to grab a bite (or have it delivered) downtown.
  • The Shops at Yale (TSAY) are a collection of places to shop and dine near campus in the Broadway-York, Historic Chapel Street and Audubon-Whitney areas. Many TSAY retailers offer student discounts.
  • Food trucks and street food carts offer a wide variety of global foods at very reasonable prices. They gather at two locations on the Yale campus, but can also be found throughout the city using the StreetFoodNHV site. The main clusters are:
    • Near Science Hill at Ingalls Rink, on the corner of Sachem St. and Prospect St., across from the McDougal Grad Center
    • On the Medical School campus, on Cedar St.
    • Long Wharf on the Harbor
    • Downtown near the Green
  • New Haven Restaurant Week happens 2-3 times a year featuring 2 or 3 course set-price meals at the city’s best restaurants for lunch and dinner – great taste at a great value.
  • Yelp and Trip Advisor offer reviews of the many excellent restaurants in New Haven. 
  • Check out Visit New Haven for more food and drink options in the region, including shoreline seafood shacks, farm stands, brewpubs, and fine dining in the suburbs.