Students have expressed disappointment over the temporary closures of De Neve dining hall and Rendezvous starting in the spring.
UCLA Housing and Hospitality Services plans to renovate the dining facilities to make food service more efficient for students. The planned renovations are part of a long-term plan for the Hill, which spaces out facilities renovations over a 20-year period, said Peter Angelis, assistant vice chancellor of UCLA Housing and Hospitality Services.
De Neve dining hall is predicted to cost $1.2 million to renovate and Rendezvous is set to cost $2.4 million, said Daryl Ansel, director of food and beverage for Housing and Hospitality Services.
De Neve dining hall is set to close during the spring and summer 2014 and to reopen in the fall of next year. Rendezvous is set to close in fall 2014 and predicted to reopen in summer 2015, Angelis said.
After learning that De Neve and Rendezvous will be closing, some students said they are disappointed.
Markus Notti, a first-year engineering student, said he visits Rendezvous regularly and does not think the lines are too long. He added that the service at the cafe seems to move faster than it does at other eateries on the Hill.
Notti said he thinks the dining hall closures could be beneficial to students, however, if UCLA makes the restaurants more efficient.
To give students a place to go when De Neve dining hall is closed, UCLA plans to recreate the De Neve dining hall menu in Hedrick and to move De Neve Late Night to Hedrick Test Kitchen, Angelis said.
When Rendezvous closes for repairs, Ansel said that Hedrick’s food selection will also be modified to replicate the Asian and Mexican menus.
Rendezvous is currently serving twice as many students as it is intended to, said Angelis. The quick-service restaurant is adequately equipped to serve 3,000 people a day, but right now it serves approximately 6,000 people, Angelis said.
Because of Rendezvous’ popularity, Angelis said that they are focusing on making service faster through the renovations.
He added that the Asian side of Rendezvous is crunched for space and that renovations would expand the space for the restaurants’ cooks to work.
In addition to expanding the Asian cuisine side of Rendezvous, Dining Services also plans to add an automated kiosk to order food and to reconfigure some of the restaurant’s seating, Ansel said.
Angelis said a top priority for him and his team is keeping housing affordable while improving the facilities and overall quality of the Hill.
“We don’t want to make residing on the Hill a financial burden,” Angelis said.
Housing costs increased 2 percent this year from last year to cover the cost of the Northwest Housing Infill Project, a construction project that includes De Neve Gardenia Way and Holly Ridge as well as Sproul Cove, Landing and Presidio.
Other dining options on the Hill have also recently undergone major renovations. In 2010, the quick-service restaurant Puzzles Café reopened as Café 1919. Rieber Dining Hall became Feast at Rieber in 2011 after renovations.
While the Office of Residential Life and UCLA Dining Services looks at updates and renovations, it is hard to know how students will react, Ansel said.
“It’s really a difficult thing to face because they are popular locations,” Ansel said. “I don’t think students will be thrilled about it.”
Some students said they thought that the renovations of the dining facilities are unnecessary.
Zoe Byl, a first-year undeclared student, said she was unhappy after hearing the news about the dining closures.
“I think that the lines will be longer in the other dining halls and that students will probably eat off campus more,” she said.
Melina Faden, a third-year psychology student, said she thinks that closing De Neve dining hall takes away a lot of the convenience from the students who live close by.
To reduce long lines and other dining inconveniences, Ansel said Dining Services waited to make sure Bruin Plate in Carnesale Common was fully open and functioning before beginning renovations.
Until Bruin Plate opened this fall, De Neve could hold the most people in it of any dining hall. Now, Bruin Plate matches De Neve’s capacity of up to 900 people.
“We have to look at timing. … We have to clear some hurdles to know when things are done and when to pull the trigger,” Angelis said.
UCLA is also considering expanding the Late Night menu while De Neve is being renovated and setting up a temporary “grab-and-go” station in De Neve Plaza so students can pick up a quick breakfast or lunch.