With the Championship event coming up and teams traveling from around the world to make it there I think it’s time we addressed the most important topic (besides robots of course 
), FOOD. For the sake of all teams involved I think it would be cool to get a list of the best places to eat for the money in St. Louis. If you know of any places that are cheap or have great food (preferably both) drop 'em here!
White Castle. You’ll either love it or hate it, no in between. 
Moderate walk from the dome: https://goo.gl/maps/XgJS7qR7uYz
Pappy’s, Bogart’s, Ted Drewes.
Fitz’s Bottling Company
I’d definitely recommend the Culinaria. It’s basically a decked-out grocery store about three-four blocks from the America’s Center and is a great place to pick up lunch or snacks while in St. Louis!
Smoki O’s Bar-B-Que is awesome. We got our lunch there all three days last year. Prices were reasonable and the food was great.
Pi Pizza! Pretty close to America’s Center and can pretty much handle any dietary restrictions. I’ve eaten there with a group that had a vegan, someone who was lactose intolerant, and someone who couldn’t eat gluten and everyone was able to enjoy their pizza!
I just saw that Prime 1000 closed in early 2015. That’s sad. My wife and I ate there in 2014. It was so good…first time I had bone marrow.
+1. Culinaria is hands-down the best place to eat, especially considering the high price of food in the America’s Center and the Dome.
They have both a Quick Service/Takeout area with Sandwiches, Wraps, Salads, Burgers, Quesdillas and Pizza, as well as a regular Grocery store area.
Here is their menu: http://www.culinariaschnucks.com/prepared_foods.asp
Because its become such a popular spot, try to go during “off” hours (before/after the official Lunch and Dinner breaks) if possible to avoid long lines.
What have been teams’ experiences with pre-ordering lunches versus just getting food “on the fly”? What about dinners? I am thinking we might want to make reservations as there will be 22 people coming for my team.
Our team never pre-orders lunch, we usually just let everyone find and purchase their own. From my understanding, the pre-ordered lunch usually includes a sandwich, drink, and a few snacks.
In terms of Dinner, we usually have one night where we go to a sit-down restauarant as a team, usually Golden Corral (We’re Canadian, so it’s only something we can experience while we’re in the US).
Our goal is to bring down the up-front cost of attending Championships for the students and to give them more options. Because everyone is responsible for their own food for most of the trip, one of our Mentors is responsible for checking up on everyone to make sure they’ve eaten.
From what I’ve heard in the past, the pre order lunches usually are anywhere from bad to mediocre. Not sure if that has changed in recent years. I know one year it was so bad that people were getting food poisoning.
Being from STL i´ll tell ya, two of the better barbecue places are Pappy´s and
Vernon´s. Fitz´s is a really good resturaunt also! You have to try the root beer. If you have a little extra time there are a variety of really good Mexican, Irish, Italian etc. resturaunts on Cherokee street and the south side of St. Louis
I think the meals served to the Volunteers are pretty good, the price is right and I’m sure they can accommodate more people if you sign up now!
Cheapest place to eat …
Champ’s Volunteer Cafeteria - FREE!
Volunteer to work at Champs, and you can get free Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner. For students, Field Reset, safety glasses, etc. are typical event jobs. The great thing about Field Reset is you get to watch the competition from the Field. And, if your Field Reset Team is the “best”, then you will get to be Field Reset for Einstein.
For the Mechanical Mentors, Robot Inspector is a great gig.
http://www.firstchampionship.org/volunteer
https://my.usfirst.org/FIRSTPortal/Login/VIMS_Login.aspx
Love it or hate it? Sounds about right, I go to St. Louis about twice a year to visit family and every time my dad pretty much requires we go to White castle. I can stomach the chicken rings but that’s about it.
:I stayed at an AirBnB about 10 mins drive form St. Louis and was walking distance from Hodaks Restaurant. I’ve had some great chicken in my life but oh boy do they crank it up to a new level. In addition to the chicken, their mashed potato and gravy was glorious. mouth waters
Will definitely try to go back next year as well. Highly recommend.