University students Kris Erickson and Sloan Dawson said they love going out to eat so much, they’ve created a student group centered on eating at Twin Cities restaurants.

The new group, the Raging Restaurateurs Club, had its first restaurant visit Saturday night. The group has approximately 30 members.

The co-founders said they came up with the idea for the club when talking about their own restaurant experiences.

“We all would go out to a cool restaurant individually and later tell each other about it,” Erickson said. “(We) realized that there are lots of awesome places in the cities with a diverse selection of food and it would be fun to make a club out of it.”

Students have no excuse to not go out and try new foods, Dawson said.

“We thought it would be cool to have a group, either official or unofficial, that would allow students to go out and explore new venues within the city, and the group is there to give them that outlet,” he said.

The group started with the co-founders, who invited friends to join the group, who then got more people involved.

Dawson said they are looking to expand the group, which is available to anyone who is interested. He said it is not yet a registered student group.

“Once we get more events going and explore possible partnerships, then maybe we can give it a formal student group status,” Dawson said.

The group’s first restaurant visit Saturday night was at True Thai Restaurant.

During its meal, the group was surrounded by cultural paintings, designed walls and servers who wore kimonos, Erickson said. Those aspects, he said, made it feel “official, like we were actually there.”

He said it added to the experience.

But when Erickson first entered the restaurant, it wasn’t what he had expected, he said.

“I expected it to be darker and more intimate, but it was a lot brighter and more open,” he said. “It worked out well, because the wait staff was nice and cheery and the food was more happy and energetic than it was soothing.”

When compared to other nice restaurants, Erickson said, True Thai Restaurant is priced more moderately.

Most group members had pad Thai, which are simple egg noodles, Erickson said. The group ate desserts of mango and sticky rice.

Dawson said the ambiance was nice, the service was good and the food was great.

“Everyone had a really good time,” Dawson said. “Everyone that was there is definitely coming back (to the group).”

The group members said they also try to review the restaurants they visit. They said they agreed this was a very good Thai restaurant.

“As far as Thai goes, it’s the best Thai I’ve ever had in the Twin Cities,” Erickson said.

The group has five more restaurant visits planned for the semester, Dawson said.

Although group members originally wanted to go out weekly, they decided to go every other Sunday because of financial reasons, Erickson said.

For their next visit, they plan to go to Solera in downtown Minneapolis, they said.