Does anyone know of options for meals at the convention center beyond the Pre Purchased Lunches offered by the venue?
Anyone know if we can bring in food?
Thanks!
David
oinkoinkboom
In the past, the George R. Brown Convention Center has not allowed outside food in. I wouldn’t expect that to change, unfortunately. They’ll probably have food stands set up inside selling burgers/hot dogs/etc. As an alternative, your team may consider picnicking on Discovery Green across the street. I’m working on compiling local knowledge about Houston and I’m hoping to post later this week.
They typically do not let outside food in. In the past at regionals there has been a cafeteria type area that has edible, but a bit overpriced food in George R Brown. There is also food court a few blocks away that has an entrance near the intersection of Austin and Lamar.
It can get a little busy during a regional so I bet it will be way busy at champs.
They have not allowed outside food in GRBCC and they have had food nazis stationed at the doors the last two years at Lone Star. We have prearranged Chik-fil-A and Subway platters picked up at the afore-mentioned food court and eaten in the Discovery Green out front. That might be a little harder to work with almost 10X the people on site for Champs.
We are doling out cash for lunch and letting the kids take care of themselves for this trip. For 12 bucks you can do a lot better than a stale ham sandwich, a bag of chips and a bottle of water, even at convention center prices. This also allows them to supplement with their own money if they wish.
There’s supposed to be food trucks on Discovery Green during the Welcome Party on Thursday. I’m not sure if they’re planning to stick around for most of the event, though. There’s been a good food truck presence during the weekend for Comicpalooza, and we should be in the same attendance ballpark, so I’m hoping there’s a number of food trucks on discovery green at least during lunch.
Since the GRB has recently been remodeled, there are many restaurants lining the convention center, but I don’t think they’ll let food in, per usual. Discovery Green has a little restaurant with some burgers, salads, and snacks for cheap if you need something but can’t afford food in the GRB.
It might be best to order pizza and have it delivered to a particular street corner on Discovery Green. At Discovery Green, The Lake House is probably Okay but will be mobbed. The Grove is fairly expensive.
Of the new restaurants at GRB, other than McAlisters Deli and Bud’s Pitmaster BBQ, the others are likely to be outside the price range that most team members would want to consider, some well outside. If one is willing to walk a few blocks, there is a Phoenicia store that sells inexpensive and really good Mediterranean style sandwiches where MKT Bar is shown on the map linked below.
There is also a Pizza Hut and a highly rated but small Vietnamese (Huynh) restaurant on St. Emanuel, between Walker and McKinney on the east side of the elevated highway (Hwy 59). That area can be a bit rough so take appropriate precautions such as go in a group with adults.
Yes, the Phoenicia is wonderful and pretty cheap! I am downtown a lot for my internship (my school is also a quick train ride away 
) and my building is very close to the Phoenicia and Discovery Green. Pizza is a good option too, but with 400 teams there, I think that a lot of people would get the same idea for food.
That is why I suggested ordering and having it delivered. It makes use of restaurants too far to walk to. Those in the immediate area will be swamped. A lot of teams were using Discovery Green for lunch when the Lone Star Regional was held there with 50 ~ 60 teams. There will be many times that many FRC teams attending Champs + FTC + FLL + Jr FLL. The trade shows I attended at GRB served food to the attendees so people only went to the surrounding restaurants to meet up afterward.
Great tips! I’ll likely ordered boxed meals from restaurants in the area that offer them. Thanks everyone!
Cheers!
David
oinkoinkboom
In St Louis, we always ate lunch at our trailer to solve the “no outside food” issue. On a nice day, this was awesome. It gave us all a nice break from the craziness and brought the drive team back with the rest of the team. (At Champs, the drive team rarely saw anyone in the stands because, by the time the drive team could walk to the stands, they’d be queuing again. That walk is terrible.)