If you live on campus, the $30 a week you pay for board entitles you to 21 meals. But from the looks of it, not too many Harvard students actually take advantage of this privilege. Maybe students don't think the food is that good, or maybe they are always finding a reason to go out and celebrate. Or, unlikely as it sounds, maybe students find the eating spots in and around the Square so enticing they just can't stay away.

For whatever reason, the restaurants in the Square get more and more crowded even though their numbers keep increasing. So we hardly feel guilty of undermining Harvard's Food Services by presenting this guide to the best and the worst eating spots we've discovered in the area. The lists are not complete and you may disagree with some of our assessments. But at least we've given you a little food for thought, so to speak.

House Grills

House grills are not of much interest to anyone but the people who live in the Houses. But almost every House has one; they're convenient, they're cheap, and they almost all have some specialty that is pretty good.

The grills generally offer sandwiches, frappes, ice cream, hamburgers, and munchies--though their offerings vary from House to House. More than one grill will sell you beer. Some carry yogurt and some minor health foods.

Practically nobody has been poisoned by the food served up on a House grill. Each House Committee offers a grill franchise to House entrepreneurs, and whoever wins the franchise runs the thing for the next year or so. As a result the service varies, the cooking varies, and the hours vary--though it is safe to say that House grills are generally open late in the evenings and tend to close when the local entrepreneur decides to go to a basketball game.

Cronin's

114 Mt. Auburn St.

Cronin's Restaurant is, according to its menu, "situated in historic Harvard Square on Mt. Auburn, the Poets Walk, where Longfellow, Lowell, Eliot, and Thoreau inspired a young America to excel in the arts, and glorify its beauties as it winds its way along the Picturesque Charles to Hell's Half-Acre."

In fact, Cronin's sits in neon splendor on the other side of the tracks from the pretentious row of watering holes and cookshacks that stand cheek-and-jowl on the north side of the street. About two years ago, the waitresses struck Cronin's and the restaurant that had always fashioned itself a hang-out for the good old college boys found itself deserted by a politically-conscious student body that sympathized with the workers. The waitresses have since returned, but the students haven't, even though Cronin's remains perhaps the best restaurant around for a good and cheap Square meal.

Everything at Cronin's, including the prices, is out of date. The large dining room is a forest of high wooden booths with seats upholstered in aging red leather and lamp-lit wooden tables. The menu is a tattered coincidence of paper clips and mimeographed leaves, and nothing in it costs more than four dollars. The hot meat sandwiches are the only items that could be considered expensive, but such classic fare as liver-and-onions (quite fine) runs for under two bucks. You can eat a full meal, drink a bottle of beer from the bar next door, and leave a handsome tip for three dollars. In short, Cronin's is an unassuming place. A juke box in the corner leaves you subject to the abuses of other people's tastes, but this is no place to be an elitist. A chief virtue of the establishment, perhaps unfortunately for the management, is its emptiness. If you ever want to have a conversation ove a late meal, don't forget to check out Cronin's. Open till 1 a.m. Friday and Saturday, midnight the rest of the week.

Chez Michel

1105 Mass Ave

After only a few months of doing business in the Square, Chez Michel has expanded in size and readied itself to serve the hoards of hungry Harvardians who wonder why the area cannot support a restaurant that offers reasonably tasty meals at reasonably decent prices. The new eatery, which specializes in light luncheon-type meals, isn't exactly what the doctor ordered, but considering the paucity of good and moderately priced feeding places, Chez Michel is hardly bad.

The only thing that's French about the restaurant, located across the intersection of Arrow St. and Mass Ave, is its name. The menu is supposedly international in orientation, but Michel's fare is pretty standard for the Square. Salads and omelettes share the spotlight with burgers and sandwiches--all adequately prepared, but none spectacular. Portions are relatively small, but some dishes are accompanied by a salad and French bread, so if you order right you can eat your fill.