North Texas Daily (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 90, No. 6, Ed. 1 Wednesday, September 7, 2005 Page: 3 of 8
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NORTH T E X A S DA ILY
ntdailv.com
Student Life
Wednesday, September 7, 2005 Page 3
Tina's offers great food, prices
food finds
REVIEWS OF INDEPENDENT RESTAURANTS
Reporter's Rating:
Leslie Wimmer
Intern
Conveniently stashed
behind a 7-Eleven on 1125
E. University Drive, the big-
gest appeal of Tina's Italian
Ristorante is its prices.
With its B.Y.O.B. policy,
enormous appetizers, lunch
specials and entrées under
$10, Tina's offers deals stu-
dents definitely won't waste
their entire financial aid
checks on.
That is, if they've received
them yet.
Tina's has fewer than 10
tables, a smoking section,
and décor suggestive of an
Italian thrift store from the
'80s. However, the good food,
reasonable prices and friend-
ly staff help eradicate the
interior design flaws.
Appetizers are well-priced
and include fried calamari
with a side of marinara
sauce, a heaping plate of
garlic toast with tomatoes
and cheese for $2.50, and
more. Be prepared to carry
out some leftovers.
"[The fried calamari] is
why I started working here,"
server Sarah Wilson, Denton
sophomore, said. "My friends
and I would come by almost
every day for it."
With a very student-friend-
ly menu, Tina's is an excellent
place to take a date for an
unexpected great meal, or
just to hang out with some
friends during lunch.
Tina's offers lunch specials
for $3.95 until 3 p.m. every
day of the week. Entrees
include the typical Italian
spaghetti dishes, lasagna,
chicken and veal parmesan,
as well as shrimp scampi.
All entrées and specialties
include a side salad of either
Caesar or House with ranch
dressing and garlic rolls. I
was less impressed by the
side salads because of the
bland dressing.
Tina's dinner entrées are
more expensive. By sticking
to the entrée menu, it's easy
to stay under $10 a plate. If
you love veal or want to try
any specialties,count on them
being a few dollars extra.
The restaurant has a fair-
ly quiet atmosphere. The
background music however,
sounding like it came directly
from Spartacus, will provide
quite a few laughs.
The establishment is
located in a shopping center
behind a 7-Eleven and across
the street from the Texas
Woman's University golf
course, just a few miles from
the NT campus. It opened
two years ago, but with the
lingering construction on
University Drive, business
has since been dwindling.
I recommend Tina's Ital-
David Minton/NT Daily
Amy Fugett of Denton is one of the waitresses at Tina's Italian Ristorante on East University
Dr. "Food is a hobby of mine" said Tina's owner Raif Dika from Albania, who holds a degree
in Civil Engineering.
ian Ristorante for the prices.
The restaurant offers a great
meal for under $5 before 3
p.m., under $10 entrées for
dinner, friendly service and a
humorous atmosphere. I also
suggest giving the chicken
aristocrat a shot.
There is no need to make
reservations for Tina's, but
for directions or questions
call (940) 591-9212.
Web sites provide textbook options
Students have
more options than
NTs bookstores
Tara Nieuwesteeg
Intern
The cost of textbooks is gen-
erally accepted as one more
expense toward a priceless
education.
However, new textbook
businesses are catering to
students who would prefer
the textbook expense to be
not so expensive.
"I only got three books, and
it's $118," Corey Iones, Arling-
ton freshman, said after he vis-
ited the NT on-campus book-
store. "It's a bit of a scam."
SwitchTextbooks.com, an
online textbook-trading busi-
ness launched in May 2005,
boasts more than 1.7 million
book titles and networks stu-
dents at up to 4,000 schools
nationwide. The system oper-
ates on trade points that stu-
dents acquire and lose, depend-
ing on their transactions.
"You receive positive trade
points based on the value of
the text sent," said Patrick
Nagle, president and CEO of
SwitchTextbooks.com. "Trade
point value is determined by
supply and demand, condi-
tion and retail value."
Students can use the trade
points they've acquired to
purchase other textbooks they
might need.
According to their Web site,
http: //www.switchtextbooks.
com, it is free to join, but an
active membership costs
$19.95 per year.
SwitchTextbooks.com recent-
ly acquired RateMyProfessors.
com as a tool to jump-start the
network, according to Nagle.
SwapYourTextBooks.com
operates similarly, allowing
students to submit books for
credit and then use that credit
to get different books.
"All books are an even
exchange," said Brian Gilm-
ore, vice presi dent of the com-
pany and Fort Worth senior.
"You're not limited to a one-
to-one trade."
A six-month membership at
SwapYourTextBooks.com costs
$9.99, and allows students to
trade as many textbooks as
they want. The busi ness is set
up to accommodate students
all over the nation.
Denton-based RentText
allows students to place their
textbook order at http://www.
renttext.com, pay online and
pick up the books from the
store location, on 111N. Welch
St. After using the books for
the semester, students must
return the books to the store.
Students can also order
directly at the location.
"It costs about 50 per-
cent of buying the book,"
said David Manasco, one of
RentText's founding partners
and father of the creator,
Zach Manasco. "Someone
who comes in and rents four
books saves about $200."
RentText tried to set up a
booth during NT's freshman
orientation to let students know
about them, but the university
"wouldn't even consider the
application," said Manasco.
RentText has only been oper-
ating for about two months,
and carries mostly freshman-
level textbooks, but plans to
expand by spring. In the case
of dropping a class, students
have two weeks to get a full
refund on their books.
Their unofficial motto,
according to Manasco, is "Not
screwing students since 2005."
PRESERVE YOUR
PARTY PRANKS.
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North Texas Daily (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 90, No. 6, Ed. 1 Wednesday, September 7, 2005, newspaper, September 7, 2005; Denton, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth145244/m1/3/: accessed May 8, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.