Freebirds: Food to Suit a Student’s Needs

By Selby Jansky

As someone who has many friends and family members that are either lactose intolerant, allergic to wheat, diabetic, or some combination of the three, any restaurant that provides me with easy access to nutritional information is a great time saver for me. And, as a college student, it is also kind of essential that I eat at a restaurant that falls within my budget.

Thankfully, Freebirds World Burrito on East Abram Street covers all of my bases.

I mention the newer of the Freebirds restaurants in Arlington because that location is the one geared most towards the University of Texas at Arlington’s student population. This Freebirds not only gives a 10 percent discount for students who show their school ID at the register but is also set up in a way that makes UTA students feel welcome, even going so far as to name their free wifi UTAFreebirds.

If that wasn't enough of a clincher for me, I also got to experience some truly amazing service firsthand. The employees walked me through the ordering process, gave me suggestions and answered all of my questions about nutritional facts and which foods contained things that would affect my friends’ allergies. It didn't hurt that the employees were willing to check up on me as I finished my meal to make sure that my experience there was satisfactory.

One employee also made sure to mention that I should visit the website where the menu is posted, and there is a link for ordering your food straight from the website for those students who don’t have time to stop in for a meal.

The atmosphere of the restaurant is also very welcoming for the student crowd. UTA student Sonia Brozowski pointed out that the little visual puns scattered around the restaurant, such as a photo of Vanilla Ice taped to the front of the ice dispenser, helped her warm up to the restaurant on her first visit. She and the friend dining with her also seemed to enjoy using the foil that had wrapped their meals to add to the collection of small sculptures covering the ledges around the dining room, leaving behind them a meticulously sculpted moose to sit next to a large heart near one of the entrances to the restaurant.