The restaurant, patronized by the area's Japanese population, is divided into three parts roughly according to the kind of food served in each. The most exotic, and least crowded, section is the raw fish, or sushi, bar. Osaka's sushi is as good as any you are likely to find in the Northeast.

In the most popular section, Osaka offers teppan yaki, a preparation of bite-size pieces of tender beef broiled in front of you on an open stove. The third section, with standard restaurants and chairs, serves the traditional Western favorites--sukiyaki, teryaki and tempura. All full meals are accompanied by a delicious Japanese soup called miso, sunemono, a crab meat salad, and all the green tea you can drink. Of the liquors, the sake and plum wine are particularly worth trying.

Spaghetti Emporium

33 Dunster St.

Spaghetti Emporium offers many good things to the Cambridge diner: the food, according to popular consensus, probably is not one of them.

The decor is the most attractive thing. While waiting for your order, wander around and look at the bizarre stained glass windows of Bobby Orr, Germaine Greer and other public heros. The tableau "How Spaghetti Grows" on the hall leading to the bathroom is worth its own trip to the john.

The spaghetti, although considered unimaginative by most, is occassionally bright and spicy. All meals include salad, dessert and coffee. A carafe of wine (the table red is excellent) brings the tab for an average meal for two to about $8. The Happy Hour--two drinks for the price of one--lasts from 4-10 nightly.

Grendel's Den

1 Winthrop Square

Interesting restaurants and reasonable prices are a rarity around Harvard, but both can be found in Grendel's Den.

Grendel's serves a European fare, either in their small dining room or outside on the patio. For lunch, the restaurant offers a buffet with two choices--"soup and salad" for $1.50 or "the works" for $2.25. The dinner menu includes shish-ke-bob variations and an eggplant dish, and the desserts are worth more than the price. A pleasant place where a meal costs under $5.

Hong Kong

1236 Mass Ave

The Hong Kong has gone through an interesting metamorphosis: two years ago its food was generally lukewarm, usually greasy, and always mediocre. With its building renovation last year, however, came a renovation in food, and for a quick, relatively cheap Chinese meal, Hong Kong is now a good deal.

Lunch is recommended: low prices, more than you can eat, wide selection, reasonably fast service. Prices are higher at dinner, as is the caliber of the food in many cases, but it remains a pretty good buy.