For many college students, eating food tends to be a balance between eating healthier or eating cheaper.

The local restaurant Bueno Y Sano, with locations in Springfield, West Springfield, Amherst and Northampton, clearly aims to make that decision a lot easier for many college students.

Bueno Y Sano doesn’t have the roots of a lot of the other Mexican restaurants do, such as a Chipotle or Taco Bell. More recently founded in 1993 and not fully opened until 1995, the company is more local to the New England area and was founded by UMass students. The restaurant’s goal is to make a healthier meal at a decent price without having to go to a typical restaurant.

How healthy your meal is depends on what you get, obviously.

There are some things there that are less healthy, such as chips or a quesadilla. But for the most part, the range is close to unlimited. You can get burritos, bowls, tacos and quesadillas for starters. What you put in is where it starts to get interesting. There are many things that places like Taco Bell and Chipotle simply don’t have. Some of the outstanding options include grilled shrimp, grilled fish, tofu, and even mushrooms.

The average meal at Bueno Y Sano, with meal and soft drinks? Less than $15. Not bad, especially for students.

Another thing that gives Bueno Y Sano the one-up on other restaurants is the range of sauces and after-toppings you can put on it all.

For the people who love spicy salsa, they will add extra peppers if needed. If not, and you like just a very bland salsa, they can do that too. Other types of salsas are also available for those who don’t have the time to sit around and wait.

One of the benefits as well is they will make your food the size you wish. Mainly this applies for burritos, but regardless you can get a smaller portion if you’re not too hungry, or grande size it to fill the void in your stomach completely. It’s also nice in case you don’t want to bring any leftovers home that you can eat everything you order.

Their main claim to fame is that the name Bueno Y Sano translates to “good and healthy,” so one would expect that the food there would be for the most part natural. That promise is upheld very well to the standards of everyone with unprocessed meats and other vegetables that you would put on either a burrito or a bowl.

On top of the whole experience, all your food is practically made in front of your eyes if you sit at the bar. You can watch everything from the grilling of the shrimp, to the finishing wrapping of your burrito. The end result is a rather simple meal that doesn’t cost too much, but will definitely leave you craving to come back another time.

For those wanting to check out this restaurant, here are the locations in this area:

Springfield – 880 Sumner Avenue

West Springfield – 935 Riverdale Street

Amherst – 1 Boltwood Walk

Northampton – 134 Main Street