For a small city Lüneburg eats well, with the student population keeping prices moderate and a good range from traditional Northern German to international. The eating areas are the Stintmarkt waterfront in summer, Schröderstraße and Heiligengeiststraße for year-round restaurants, and the streets just north of Am Sande for cafés and lighter food.
For traditional Lower Saxon cooking, Mälzer Brau- und Tafelhaus on Heiligengeiststraße is the long-established choice — a brewpub with its own copper kettles, doing decent Schweinehaxe, Labskaus, and house-brewed Pils. Krone Bier- und Eventhaus on the corner of Heiligengeiststraße is a similar formula but slightly cheaper and rowdier. Anno 1517 in a leaning gabled house on Am Sande does proper sit-down regional cooking.
For a treat, Restaurant Röhms Deli on Bardowicker Straße does inventive modern food using regional ingredients, with a good wine list. The Stintmarkt has a strip of cheap and cheerful options for warm evenings — the Pons and El Cubo are reliable, and the Schallander brewpub does its own beer overlooking the river.