Darnall Hall "Restaurant"

[HoyaInsomniac]

Oh yeah, they do. Roll your own sushi, stir fry, pasta, they got it all. Maybe it's Marriott's quest to combat obesity in America. If no one likes the food, they won't eat it.

[Deleted]

They should throw a Flat Top grill in Darnall. The one near American closed, leaving the closest one... Ballston? That place rocks, and you'd get people in the 'hood there in droves.

[hoyasaxa2008]

Not really fair to blame GUSA for that. If I remember correctly, the University unilaterally decided to close Darnall after attendance went down a lot and it started to lose money. (Can this University really afford to lose more money?) Georgetown used to have both New South and Darnall cafeterias, but now that Leo's is twice the size of both of those combined, there simply wasn't enough demand to fill the expense. Both were chronically under-attended.

Plus, I think that campus meal options have gotten a lot better, at least since I got here. GUSA got dining services to bring Subway, KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell to campus two years ago, instituted Grab 'n Go, has increased the quality of the actual food at Leo's, and has been working on reopening the Dining Hall.

It is my understanding, by the way, to answer your original question, that the reason that the building of Darnall Cafeteria has slowed down was that the University's bond rating fell, forcing a debt restructuring program involving complicated bond issuance that essentially halted or greatly slowed all new major contracting. THAT is the reason it has slowed down. Still, I think GUSA should work hard to make sure that the new restaurant -- whatever it is -- is on the meal plan, which is what I am told they are working on now.

Pays a little to do your research . Keeps you from sounding like an idiot.

[kchoya]

Nope, I still blame GUSA. It's a Georgetown tradition.

[HoyaNyr320]

hoyasaxa2008 said:

Not really fair to blame GUSA for that. If I remember correctly, the University unilaterally decided to close Darnall after attendance went down a lot and it started to lose money. (Can this University really afford to lose more money?) Georgetown used to have both New South and Darnall cafeterias, but now that Leo's is twice the size of both of those combined, there simply wasn't enough demand to fill the expense. Both were chronically under-attended.

Plus, I think that campus meal options have gotten a lot better, at least since I got here. GUSA got dining services to bring Subway, KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell to campus two years ago, instituted Grab 'n Go, has increased the quality of the actual food at Leo's, and has been working on reopening the Dining Hall.

It is my understanding, by the way, to answer your original question, that the reason that the building of Darnall Cafeteria has slowed down was that the University's bond rating fell, forcing a debt restructuring program involving complicated bond issuance that essentially halted or greatly slowed all new major contracting. THAT is the reason it has slowed down. Still, I think GUSA should work hard to make sure that the new restaurant -- whatever it is -- is on the meal plan, which is what I am told they are working on now.

Pays a little to do your research . Keeps you from sounding like an idiot.

While I agree with you that the University deserves the majoirty of the blame for this decision, GUSA championed the idea of putting a restaurant in Darnall as their own and was involved with the negotiations (sorry if that isn't sufficient research for you). I also disagree that Darnall's attendance was going down. lunch was always crowded and I often had trouble finding a table (this was the year before Darnall was closed). With one quarter of the freshman living in Darnall and meal plans made a requirement through sophomore year, it is a disgrace that there is only one place that accepts meals from the required meal plan and that this one place is not even centrally located. If I was a parent of a freshman living in Darnall, I would be furious! The university should have kept Darnall open until they had a definite contract with a restaurant. Also, why on earth would the bond rating slow down a contract negotiation with a restaurant? Unless something is terribly wrong, it is the restaurant looking to pay the University money and not the other way around. I would also assume the buyers would be in charge of construction costs too, but maybe that's a bad assumption when considering a contract involving Georgetown administration.

[Nevada Hoya]

reformation said:

Cornell has the best food of any college I've been to--maybe we could learn something from them

Not in my day, reformation. Or maybe I was eating at the wrong places in Ithaca and Collegetown.