Eating out

Restaurants, Cafés, etc. Petersburg is loaded with places to eat: some good, some not so good, some expensive, some a great value. Ask your fellow students where they like to go and talk to them about their experiences. Below is a brief overview of most typical places to eat.

Try traditional Russian blini served fast-food style at one of the city's Teremok or Chainaya Lozhka facilities. For delicious home style pies, you can't beat Stolle's, which has lots of locations across St. Petersburg. Freshly baked, don't worry about it if the kind you want is not currently available: barring dietary restrictions, everything on offer is sure to satisfy.
Coffee: Coffee House and Shokolodnitsa are St. Petersburg ever-present chains; both offer decent coffee and food. There are other chains as well not to mention stand-alone cafés: too many to list here, they will make your coffee exploration even more exciting.
For an ideal place to have a good time and a good Russian meal simultaneously, try Na Zdorovye! Traditional live music is sometimes featured during dinner.
Ethnic Experiences: you will find much more than just Russian food in St. Petersburg!
Lots of Georgian food places are highly recommended and can please the most ardent vegetarians and die-hard carnivores. Just look out for Georgian food and lots of places will pop up on your smart phones. Try Zoon.ru for a great search engine of restaurants in St. Petersburg and you can filter for anything you want - Chinese, Indian, Uzbek etc.
Summer Dining: There are many small, decently-priced cafes offering street tables where you can stay as long as you wish with whatever you have ordered just around the main SMTU building.
Pizza: There are several popular brands of pizza places like Mama Roma, Pizza Hut, and Pizza 22 cm. With more pizza topping options than you'll likely ever find at home you can order something you've never had before while still reaping the benefits of enjoying a student comfort-food favorite. Good vegan pizza is available. Home delivery is also a possible option.
Cheap!: Check out Students Abroad for lots of recommendations from past St. Petersburg students! Very popular with students for its cheap dessert is Pyshki (Donuts) at Bolshaya Konushenaya, 25 which offers 12 ruble fried donuts and 18 ruble cups of coffee. It's a historical building in itself, operating in the same space with the same interior and pyshki-making process as it did more than 50 years ago. There are other pyshki locations in the city center, just ask and look around!
Troitsky Most is a vegetarian chain that offers affordable food that is so imaginative and delicious that vegetarians and non-vegetarians alike would do well to make it a regular eating place. The Green Room Café, part of Loft Project Etazh, offers inexpensive vegan and vegetarian dishes from organic and, when possible, locally-sourced produce. Rada and K offers vegan soups, salads, desserts, and some Indian-inspired dishes. Georgian ethnic food (see above) will also offer many meatless meals. You might also check out HappyCow, a site that runs a world-wide ratings site for vegetarian restaurants.