There are many places to eat outside of the campus area, and a number of them deliver. Some of those places even deliver food that isn’t pizza or Chinese food, and one delivers until all hours of the night.
At Tino’s Spaghetti House & Pizza, located at 15th Avenue and Willamette Street, people can not only order entire Italian dinners over the phone, but the restaurant will actually bring the meals to their doors. Owner Harry Epstein said that Tino’s decided to deliver not only pizza but its entire menu because there really isn’t anyone else in town who delivers their own Italian food.
Tino’s offers a wide range of fettuccini and linguine dishes, Epstein said. Among other options, Epstein said, the restaurant delivers eggplant parmesan, spaghetti, ravioli, tortellini and manicotti. The delivery charge varies from very cheap to nothing at all. An order less than $10 requires a $1 charge; any order more than $10 has no delivery charge.
So when people get an Italian meal delivered, how much should they tip the delivery person?
“Some people are very generous, and some people don’t know there is such a thing as tipping,” Epstein said. He added that the average tip is about 10 percent. Tino’s delivers until 8:30 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and until 9:30 p.m. on the weekends.
For those who get 3 a.m. food cravings, perhaps after a long night of studying or a long night of partying, options are limited. One such option is The Pita Pit, which delivers until 2 a.m. Sundays, 3 a.m. Monday through Wednesday and 4 a.m. Thursday through Saturday.
Manager Mal Williams said, “Our food is a lot healthier than Taco Bell,” which he believes is the only other food business open very late. The most popular pitas include the chicken Caesar, the falafel and the gyros.
Located across from the downtown Eugene bus station, The Pita Pit is a franchise that originated in Ontario, Canada, and arrived in Eugene last December, Williams said. The reason the restaurant is open so late, Williams said, is because “the bulk of our business comes during the late hours.” After the bars close, the number of delivery requests frequently gets “crazy,” he said.
What kind of tips do delivery people get late at night? “Every night we’re offered an unusual tip,” Williams said, but he wouldn’t elaborate about just what those tips are.
For Thai food fans, Tasty Thai Kitchen is one take-out option. Located inside the Jiffy Market on 34th Avenue and Hilyard Street, Tasty Thai Kitchen offers a variety of Thai dishes for take-out from 4 to 9 p.m. daily.
Chef and owner Pismai Nissen said she started Tasty Thai Kitchen simply because she loves to cook. She opened the restaurant three years ago. Before that she catered from her home for several years. At first Nissen sold her Thai food at Jiffy Market only on the weekends, but she soon offered it three and then four days a week, and now Tasty Thai Kitchen operates every day. Nissen said the most popular dishes include pad Thai, panang curry and the veggie spring roll.