For more than 25 years, this family-owned soul food cafeteria has been an AUC favorite, both for students and faculty and staff hungry for quick and affordable breakfast, lunch and dinner fare. Dishes include French toast, pork ribs plates with two sides (and a muffin), and a variety of sides like potato salad, chunky mac and cheese, and zesty turnip greens.

Recently opened on the quieter side of Fair Street, Soulbox is billed as a “Southern Afro-Soul” restaurant slinging plates of fried chicken, mac and cheese, collards, and cornbread. There’s also saucy baby back pork ribs, oxtails over saffron rice, fried or grilled pork chops, baked turkey, and other comforting dishes to help students power through the academic year.

Local Green opened on the edge of Vine City in 2018. Owned by Atlanta hip hop industry veteran Zachary “Big Zak” Wallace, the food truck-turned-restaurant offers vegan, vegetarian, and pescatarian dishes. Try the Rappers Delight salmon Philly sandwich or 3 Stack cauliflower tacos (named for ATL’s own Andre 3000) with sides like Brussels sprouts slaw and air-fried Cajun fries.

Located across the street from the Mall West End, this Caribbean vegetarian-vegan cafeteria has served the community for more than 25 years, offering hot meals like curry vegetables with noodles, jerk “unduck” or “unfish” cakes, and raw dishes like spicy kale paired with drinks such as a glowing-red sorrel.

Just a couple of blocks west of Morehouse and Spelman in West End, Bakaris focuses on pizzas topped with fresh vegetables, vegan-based proteins, and non-dairy cheese. Try the Hawaiian pizza topped with vegan sausage and red onions or order the Killah kale salad or the Wakanda Impossible burger paired with freshly made pineapple-ginger juice.

This ghost kitchen setup houses dozens of food options under one roof, making it a quick takeout and delivery spot for nearby students attending schools in the AUC. Place an order at Creole Soul for jambalaya and red beans and rice or order loaded baked potatoes from Load My Spud, seafood boils from the Juicy Crab, chicken wings from Crazy Ass Wings, or fish, chicken, and birria tacos from Taqueria Acapulco ATL. For dessert, there’s fried hand pies from Southern Peach Sisters.

Located across from “Club Woody” library, the Hill Social is a two-story loungestaurant owned by Morehouse graduate Charles Hill. Here, folks can enjoy burgers, wings, tacos, and brunch with beer, cocktails, and hookah. A mural on the side of the building facing Parsons Street represents the core schools of the AUC.

This Vine City-based pizza service began as an underground kitchen started by Matthew “Phew” Foster in 2020. Foster purchased a portable pizza oven during the pandemic lockdown and craftily used social media and text messaging to collect orders and schedule pickups outside his apartment. The star on Foster’s menu is the lemon pepper wet pizza topped with mozzarella, butter sauce, and chopped chicken garnished with two lemon pepper wings. Another signature pizza from Foster includes one topped with oxtails and ricotta. Find Phew’s Pies popping up weekly at breweries around Atlanta, including Steady Hand Beer on Ellsworth Industrial.

A great option for Caribbean food close to campus is Dat Fire Jerk Chicken on Northside Drive. Owned by chef and Clark Atlanta University alum Jay John, Dat Fire offers affordably priced plates and tacos of jerk chicken and pork, along with other dishes like fried escovitch swai, colorful vegetable and curry plates, and a selection of patties. You can’t miss this friendly jerk joint driving down Northside with its building painted the colors of the Jamaican flag.

The original restaurant location and its historic motor lodge are no longer open on Fair Street, but the legacy of the Paschal brothers and their famous soul food (and fried chicken) are alive and well on Northside Drive. Still in comfortable walking distance of the core AUC schools, students and their families, as well as residents of the West End, Vine City, and Castleberry Hill communities, continue to pack the expansive dining room for barbecue baked chicken, fried green tomatoes, and vegetable plates of rice and gravy, black-eyed peas, green beans, mac and cheese, and cornbread. There’s also a location at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, and it serves breakfast, including a crispy fried chicken biscuit.

When rap outfit Nappy Roots decided to take the group’s beer-brewing hobby to the next level, it was Atlanta’s prominent Russell family who created space for them at one of the family’s Northside Drive properties. Located just down the street from Paschal’s, Atlantucky Brewing is where Nappy Roots members Fish Scales and Skinny Deville now make craft beer and host community events, art shows, and musical performances in the taproom. Stop in for a fresh and frothy jalapeno kolsch or the sturdy ATLKY Mud imperial stout and maybe grab some food from one of the Black-owned pop-ups featured in the kitchen or a live performance by Nappy Roots and other Atlanta musicians. Don’t miss Nappy Hour on Thursdays and Fridays, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., where you’ll find food and beer specials.

Both a sushi restaurant and burger joint, Bottle Rocket’s mix of cuisines helps attract a diverse crowd in Castleberry Hill of neighborhood residents and visitors headed to games or concerts at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. But the restaurant has always made its support clear for the AUC, often hosting reunion events during Homecoming week. The Korean barbecue black Angus house burger is a standard at Bottle Rocket, as are sushi rolls like the shrimp tempura Pink Lady, the humongous Big Ass egg roll, and Japanese fried chicken karaage or JFC.

This intimate Black-owned coffee shop is a great place to load up on caffeine while studying for an exam or casually meeting up with classmates and friends. Here you’ll find standard coffee beverages on the menu, along with specialty drinks like the Portuguese in Love espresso latte made with honey, caramel, and vanilla, named for the classic Teena Marie song. Grab a BEC in the morning paired with a cortado, followed a grilled cheese or chicken pesto sandwich with a lavender and chill latte in the afternoon.

Located just east of downtown Atlanta around the corner from Sweet Auburn Curb Market, counter-service restaurant Mangos Caribbean is where to head for oxtails, curry goat, jerk chicken and brown stew chicken. Pescatarians also love the red snapper and kingfish prepared several ways, including escovitch and butter-sauced. Don’t skip dessert at Mangos, like rum raisin cheesecake or the bread pudding.

Despite being nowhere near the AUC, Wings on Wheat does include a connection to the schools. It’s modeled after the small kitchen inside Stegall’s Grocery, which for years was located directly across from Woodruff Library in the AUC. Stegall’s most popular dish with students was Wings on Wheat (whole wings with wheat bread) because it was affordable and easy to share. Wings on Wheat the restaurant is carrying on the dish and Stegall’s legacy on the menu, which also includes fried fish platters (whiting and tilapia) and sides like seasoned fried corn.