Manager Justin Wu serves an iced coffee to one of Il Tramezzino’s first customers Monday. The restaurant’s opening was delayed for months because of issues with old resident Espresso Roma Café and the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.
Correction: In the original version of this article, the Los Angeles County of Public Health was misspelled.
After months of delays, Il Tramezzino finally opened its doors at the UCLA Anderson School of Management on Monday.
With conversations drowning out the soft hip-hop music, the long-awaited restaurant was packed by noon and had two lines stretching almost to the doors.
A huge black menu with colorful writing hung in panels behind the counter, and small wooden tables complemented bright yellow walls.
Through an opening in the wall came a view of the kitchen with stainless steel ovens and panini presses.
The new restaurant replaced Espresso Roma Café, an Italian cafe which has been closed since fall 2010.
While a large display of the New York Stock Exchange dominated the back room in Café Roma, the space is now filled with small tables to provide more seating space as well as a more open feel.
“It’s been such a long time coming, and it’s been frustrating around here because we were accustomed to having a restaurant like Café Roma here,” said business graduate student Dustin Tannenhaus.
The restaurant, which was supposed to open winter quarter, faced a variety of delays because of the old resident Espresso Roma Café and the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.
After Café Roma closed for business in the fall, it took the eatery longer than expected to vacate the premises because it needed to remove appliances. Il Tramezzino then faced delays obtaining approval from the Department of Public Health, although construction finished more than a month ago.
There were no problems with the restaurant’s structure, said manager Rick Walken, but all plans and designs for the space had to be resubmitted to the department because the restaurant had been closed for more than 90 days.
“We didn’t really know about this rule, so it caused delays as we had to re-file all this paperwork,” Walken said.
While the cafe was closed, students relied on a coffee cart in the courtyard and a variety of food trucks outside the entrance of Parking Lot 4.
People who tried the food at Il Tramezzino had mixed reactions to the price and quality. Some students said they were not getting enough food for their money.
“The food is not better than Café Roma’s but is more expensive,” said Anderson graduate student Hans Chang. “I generally preferred the food trucks because they were a better deal.”
Although some items on the new menu are more expensive, such as special paninis which cost about $7, there are also items which are comparable in price to Café Roma’s, such as soups and salads. Lower-priced items, such as cold sandwiches, were also added to the menu.
Il Tramezzino’s other locations in Los Angeles have higher prices for similar items, Walken said.
“Some of the items here, we’ve reduced the price by 20 or 30 percent,” he said.
With the return of the cafe and the additional seating, some students said they once again have a space where they can gather in a central spot at Anderson.
“Although it’s a bit more expensive, it’s good because we want someplace nice where we can bring prospective students or executives. We need a place we can be proud of,” business graduate student Maggie Watson said.
Students also said the central location is more convenient than the food trucks were.
“It’s good to have a place again where you can just have informal conversation over a sandwich,”
Tannenhaus said. “Before we had to walk all the way to Ackerman just to sit down.”
The restaurant will be open from Monday to Saturday for breakfast, lunch and dinner.