Most upperclassmen rant on about the formerly, well-known Lakeside Diner. Lakeside Diner was known for its ceiling-high stack of chicken fingers, made-your-way omelets, and messy patty melts, before it was transformed into Maea this fall. Bama Dining discovered that the student body wanted a classy, sit-down restaurant through a survey conducted by Market Match (The Crimson White, Kennedy). The planning for this new “fancy” restaurant began mid-spring semester of 2009; the actual remodeling of Lakeside Diner to Maea, began the week after school ended in May, and finished the first week of August.
While Maea may be a classier setting with classier meals, it has not replaced the beloved benefits of the Lakeside Diner. Students say that it seemed like every night Lakeside was full of hungry students until closing at two in the morning. One disadvantage of Maea is it only stays open until ten at night, being the latest on eatery on-campus. Another weakness of Maea is its lack of accepting meal plans. To students, especially freshmen due to the requirement of purchasing a meal plan, using meal plan credits feels easier to spend rather than dining dollars, or bama cash.
Most students with a meal plan close out their year accounts with many leftover meal credits. Leftover meal credits on a meal plan are non-refundable, and cannot be rolled over to another year. This means that BAMA Dining still profits off of the meals bought, that have not been used. By taking out Lakeside Diner, they eliminated every meal credit that could potentially be spent after 9:00 p.m.; since Maea does not accept meal plan credits, like Lakeside Dining did, and you must pay for your meal using dining dollars or bama cash, Bama Dining is financially benefitting more than what they were with the previous restaurant. While this might not have been Bama Dining’s direct intention, it is a very convenient coincidence.
Students are beginning to question why the diner, of all the other dining locations, was closed down. Timothy Hooper, a sophomore, says, “I can’t help but question the success of its replacement. Nearly every night that I visited the diner, a line stretched to the entrance of the building, while there were [still] plenty of places to eat on the strip late at night. To eat on the strip, however, students would have to use their dining dollars or BAMA cash.”
Matt Mackey, marketing manager for Bama Dining explained to The Crimson White that with the new dormitories being located behind Lakeside, Bama Dining knew Lakeside Diner could not keep up with capacity any longer and that was why they decided to move the late night downstairs to Lakeside Dining, which clearly has a significantly larger amount of space. (The Crimson White, Kennedy)
The Lakeside Diner was somewhere stressful students could run in without the worry of having on-hand money, while getting more than enough in a meal. Some students are making their statement by boycotting Maea, and joining a Facebook group entitled “Boycott Maea”. In Maea’s defense, people should refer back to the old saying “don’t judge a book by its cover”, and try Maea so they can have their own opinion. While Maea may not be a failure, it is evident that the Lakeside Diner was not best choice to be replaced.
Works Cited
Kennedy, Cate. “Students unsatisfied with new resturant” The Crimson White 27 August 2009:
n. pag. Web. 7 September 2009.
While Maea may be a classier setting with classier meals, it has not replaced the beloved benefits of the Lakeside Diner. Students say that it seemed like every night Lakeside was full of hungry students until closing at two in the morning. One disadvantage of Maea is it only stays open until ten at night, being the latest on eatery on-campus. Another weakness of Maea is its lack of accepting meal plans. To students, especially freshmen due to the requirement of purchasing a meal plan, using meal plan credits feels easier to spend rather than dining dollars, or bama cash.
Most students with a meal plan close out their year accounts with many leftover meal credits. Leftover meal credits on a meal plan are non-refundable, and cannot be rolled over to another year. This means that BAMA Dining still profits off of the meals bought, that have not been used. By taking out Lakeside Diner, they eliminated every meal credit that could potentially be spent after 9:00 p.m.; since Maea does not accept meal plan credits, like Lakeside Dining did, and you must pay for your meal using dining dollars or bama cash, Bama Dining is financially benefitting more than what they were with the previous restaurant. While this might not have been Bama Dining’s direct intention, it is a very convenient coincidence.
Students are beginning to question why the diner, of all the other dining locations, was closed down. Timothy Hooper, a sophomore, says, “I can’t help but question the success of its replacement. Nearly every night that I visited the diner, a line stretched to the entrance of the building, while there were [still] plenty of places to eat on the strip late at night. To eat on the strip, however, students would have to use their dining dollars or BAMA cash.”
Matt Mackey, marketing manager for Bama Dining explained to The Crimson White that with the new dormitories being located behind Lakeside, Bama Dining knew Lakeside Diner could not keep up with capacity any longer and that was why they decided to move the late night downstairs to Lakeside Dining, which clearly has a significantly larger amount of space. (The Crimson White, Kennedy)
The Lakeside Diner was somewhere stressful students could run in without the worry of having on-hand money, while getting more than enough in a meal. Some students are making their statement by boycotting Maea, and joining a Facebook group entitled “Boycott Maea”. In Maea’s defense, people should refer back to the old saying “don’t judge a book by its cover”, and try Maea so they can have their own opinion. While Maea may not be a failure, it is evident that the Lakeside Diner was not best choice to be replaced.
Works Cited
Kennedy, Cate. “Students unsatisfied with new resturant” The Crimson White 27 August 2009:
n. pag. Web. 7 September 2009.
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