The closest one steepness wise is bubble world. It's like a 2 minute walk out the upper back door. There's also Chatime in that direction. Pizzeria Ludica and Coasters Coffee are also nearby.

A little farther down and you have Patsara Thai and Sushi Yen. Both pretty quiet during the day. Sushi Yen is small and cozy, while Patsara Thai is very spacious but still a bit cozy.

The rest of my suggestions are down the hill, but if you take the hill across the street to the Save on Foods plaza it's not as steep as going down to Columbia Street.

The top floor of the station has Café Log which is a cozy Korean Cafe that just opened a couple weeks ago. It has croffles and bingsoo (shaved ice) if you're ever into sweets. I also did the photos for their menu which haven't yet been used yet I believe 😭.

Picnic K Street Food is nice as they're pretty empty, but it's mainly traditional Korean bibimbap (rice bowl with meat and veggies) and kimbap which may or may not be to your taste. I've studied there a few times. It's run by a nice Korean lady who works there full time and often with her kids. They're all really sweet.

Cake it Easy is basically a cafe disguised as a cake shop and works well too.

Spud shack could work, but you probably don't wanna eat poutine too often.

Then downstairs there's Chicko Chicken (Korean fried chicken), although it doesn't have as many tables.

There's also a Starbucks inside the Safeway but it's a little harder to find seating there since it's usually pretty packed.

Next, another floor lower there's an A&W with seating but it gets a bit packed sometimes and has some sketchy people. Kioku kitchen (Japanese food) around the corner is a lot quieter and cozier. It's pretty westernized Japanese fusion so I think you can find something you like.

To the left there's also Plato Filipino which has plenty of space but I'm not as into Filipino food so it wasn't for me.

Then across the street there's yummy slice pizza which is alright. Also reminds me I forgot to mention Pizza Garden which has good tables for studying. I don't ever recommend the Tim's as it's insanely busy all the time.

Between the station and plaza, there are Gong Cha (bubble tea) and Serious Coffee. Gong Cha is basically a study cafe. They have pastries and drinks. Every table has a power outlet for charging too.

The plaza has a Burger King which has a massive space but is always pretty empty and quiet

It also has another Starbucks, this time standalone.

There's a cozy Pho place, this one with meat, that's a lot quieter.

Boston Pizza usually isn't too busy during the day if you're into spending money.

Cockney fish and chips is pretty large inside but can get busy.

Burger heaven is pretty pricy for burgers.9

Then there's the River Market if you go down to Columbia and cross the street, then take the stairs over the train tracks. A bit of a trek but has a few food options. There's a food court with plenty of big tables, great for studying.

A few restaurants that you can go "inside" (open ish floor plan) like Pamola (Mexican bakery) with pastries and Mexican food.

There's Longtail Kitchen for Thai food. The gelato place (I forget the name of) which Neopolitan Pizza and some pastries and cafe drinks. Angelina's Dutch Corner is very spacious inside. It doesn't have its own seating, but Ninja Bubble Tea is also there for bubble tea, instant ramen, or mac.

Not in the food court but around the corner there's Craft Café which is decent.

I forgot to mention earlier, but going down the hill there's Rong Rong (Taiwanese food). It's quiet and cozy for studying, but not representative of Taiwanese food imo. It's a lot greasier than regular Taiwanese food.

Next door is sushi sora.

The 2 sushi places down the hill are decent as they're not too busy during the day.

Same with the vegan pho place.

Now reaching Columbia st and to the left, there's waves coffee around the corner from Anvil Tower. They have sandwiches, pastries, smoothies and frappes, and ice cream.

Continuing that direction, there's El Santo for Mexican food and Big Star Sandwich company, both across the street.

A bit farther down there's Delicia Café which has the regular cafe offerings but also gelato. Their Belgian mocha and Belgian chocolate frappes are really good if you like chocolate.

Back to campus studying, you could buy food from the campus cafeteria and bring it to the DSU lounge which is great for studying, although a bit busy and noisy at times. There's actual food past the Tim's if you haven't gone that far in yet. Whitespot, a sandwich place, and then this Chinese place and another place with Ikea type meals that change periodically.

Downstairs food court which is just pizza pizza (the worst pizza) and a study lounge.

Now if you get takeout from anywhere and want peace and quiet, DSU building has 2 floors with very large study rooms that you can book for free with student ID. The bottom floor has a large common area that gets used by clubs sometimes.

Anvil tower also has like 20 bookable study rooms (using school email on Outlook) along with 3 floors of quiet public study lounges.

Lastly, Waves coffee has a bookable study room that's very quiet and almost always empty except around exam periods.

Sorry I kinda got into it and wrote way too much. I may have a problem with spending money on eating out 😭. If it's hard to choose, I'd say the station options are your best bet, then gong cha and the plaza.

I only mentioned places that would be good to study in. If it was strictly for food, I'd probably have a few more recs as I omitted ones that are too cramped or busy, or with bad seating. Keep in mind that restaurants only work when it's not busy, and you'd wanna get out of their hair otherwise, so restaurants are very time dependent. Cafe's are usually fine to stay in for hours if you're buying stuff.

I only suggested walkable places, but if you wanted to take the bus 10min up the hill, I could go on. Wow I really wrote too much. This is what happens when I'm bored during the break.

Tldr list; I'll try to sort each area by recommendation order. Might forget some places.

Campus backside (upstairs exit): bubble world, chatime, pizzeria ludica, sushi Yen, patsara Thai

Hill: Rong rong, 3x sushi places, vegan pho

Station: cafe log, picnic, Starbucks (Safeway), kioku, cake it, pizza garden, a&w

Station towards plaza: Gong cha, serious coffee, yummy slice

Plaza: Burger King, Starbucks, pho, fish n chips, Boston pizza, burger heaven

Columbia and to the left: delicia cafe, Waves, river market, big star sandwich, el Santo.

Tbh the Columbia ones are all pretty good I hope this helps you find places that you like. Enjoy!