Students walking through Covel Plaza are not yet greeted by the smell of hot, savory paninis and bold Italian coffee wafting up the Rieber stairs, or the taste of warm artichokes and caramelized onions atop a homemade pizzette.
Instead, they see the still-incomplete Café 1919.
The long-anticipated, newly renovated restaurant on the Hill, which will replace Puzzles Cafe, will not open until the end of January at the earliest.
After three months of delays, UCLA Dining Services has scheduled a soft opening of the restaurant on Jan. 25, said Daryl Ansel, food and beverage director for UCLA Housing and Hospitality Services.
Select groups of student residents will be invited to participate in Café 1919’s “mock service” during the week of Jan. 25 to test the restaurant’s efficiency and training success, Ansel said. During this time, the restaurant will be open for breakfast and lunch, and only students with a ticket will be allowed in.
The restaurant was originally delayed from opening in November due to a problem with the duct system, Ansel said. In November, he said he hoped to have the problem fixed and begin employee training during the first week of January, and open the restaurant by Week 3.
The duct problem was fixed over winter break, and the necessary inspections were completed last week, he said.
Employee training began this week. Along with regular instructions on how to operate machinery and prepare food, language exercises in Italian are taught to all employees with the help of flash cards and audio lessons. The goal, Ansel said, is to enhance the Italian ambience of the eatery.
“We’re putting a lot of effort into training,” he said. “That’s why it’s taking so long.”
Ansel said the extra delays this month are a result of miscellaneous problems, including small construction setbacks and matters such as a box of pastries not being delivered on time from Italy.
“It’s very important that we open strong,” Ansel said. “After the mock service week, we’ll be evaluating our capabilities.”
Depending on the results of the evaluation, the restaurant will or will not be opened to everyone the following week, which would be the first week of February.
“I haven’t said a definitive date, and you won’t get me to say a definitive date,” Ansel said. “It is not possible or smart for me to give a set date.”
The opening will not be publicized; rather, Ansel said he will rely on word-of-mouth to attract students to the restaurant.
The renovation project initially cost $853,000, which comes from student housing and dining fees, said Pete Angelis, assistant vice chancellor for Housing and Hospitality services.
The add-on cost to repair the duct system was about $98,000, although the project still came in well under the construction budget of $1.3 million, Angelis said.
The construction contractor did not incur any penalties for the delays, he said. The contract stipulates compensation for the completion of construction, rather than the amount of time spent on labor.
The cost of construction would be higher if there were strict penalties in the contract, and this renovation is not a high enough priority to merit the added cost, Angelis added.
Students living on the Hill said they have become used to the sight of Café 1919’s construction, and were not surprised to find out about another delay.
“I’m not really surprised because every construction project on campus is postponed,” said Amy Alayar, a first-year neuroscience student. “But I can’t wait for it to open. I want the gelato,” Alayar added enthusiastically.
Alayar said the announcement of another delay at her floor meeting in Hedrick Hall was met with sighs, groans and frustration.
First-year mechanical engineering student Kedar Iyer said he was disappointed the first time he heard about the delay in October, but now has grown used to them.
“Is it ever going to open?” Iyer asked.