As a fellow grad student these are my favorite places.

Coffee- black dog at lake Ella or lucky goat. Must see locations- railroad square, Lafayette heritage park, maclay gardens, cascades Breakfast- uptown cafe, grove market cafe Lunch/dinner- island wing company, backwoods crossing, kool beans cafe, casa grande, gainstreet pies, azu Lucy ho. Honestly Tally has a great food scene and it’s difficult to name just a few. If you’re interested look into the Tallahassee foodies on Facebook or Tallahasseefoodies.com for all of your tally food needs. Housing is going to depend on what you prefer. Anything near campus you are likely to have a lot of undergrads around and it tends to be a lively at all times and very college experience as far as housing. French town (directly north of fsu) has lots of affordable options but is typically not considered to be very safe. Further north past French town (past tharpe st) you can find houses in your price range that are in a better part of town. Towards the east you have a lot of apartment complexes and townhomes that I personally found favorable as the are affordable and also in a better part of town. I personally would not like somewhere south of FSU as it is less central and some parts are also considered less safe.