New campus buildings tend to draw a varied mixture of interest, admiration and criticism from Washington University students, a pattern that once again revealed itself after the sleek new Parkside Cafe opened as part of the broader East End campus construction on August 13. Coinciding with the transformation, campus eateries Holmes Lounge and Etta’s Cafe were shuttered. Employees from both dining locations, who were particularly beloved by students, were transferred to the new facility.

Grace Bruton | Student Life

Parkside Cafe, now open on the East End, serves carvery, St. Louis specialities, coffee and baked
goods. The cafe is located in Schnuck Pavilion, which also houses the new Office of Sustainability.

Parkside Cafe is housed in Schnuck Pavilion along with the new Office of Sustainability. Local ingredients are used to make the menu items, which include salmon burgers, vegan ‘beyond’ burgers, tomato and mozzarella salad and St. Louis specialties like toasted ravioli. In addition, the new cafe features a carvery station reminiscent of Holmes Lounge and offers coffee and baked goods similar to Whispers Cafe in Olin Library.

Students commented on the charm and elegance of the new cafe, which has glass walls extending from the floor to the roof.

“It is beautiful,” senior Raelyn Browning said. “The table seating is nice. I like how much natural light there is.”

Parkside features seating for 146 people inside Schnuck Pavilion as well as 100 additional patio seats outside, which looks out over the fountains, sculptures and freshly landscaped garden plots of the East End.

“I do like it; it seems like it feeds a lot more people at once,” junior Aaron Schonfeld said. “It’s very new and nice.”

Cold prepacks and cafe options are available from 7 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., and the grill is open from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Lunch orders can be made both in person and using the Tapingo app on the multiple kiosks installed in the cafe.

Students noted a long wait for hot orders due to the volume of students in the area.

“They only serve lunch from 11[a.m.] to 2 [p.m.], so everyone put their orders in at the same time,” Browning said. “There was a 45-minute wait. I ordered at 12:20 [p.m.] and was still waiting at 1[p.m.] and had to go to class and just abandoned my food.”

Etta’s, the central cafe and only dining option in The Sam Fox School, has been replaced by digitized, grab-and-go style kiosks.

“Part of what was so great about Etta’s was the people working there,” junior Natalie Snyder said. “It was a social environment, and the little beating heart of Sam Fox.”

Holmes, on the other hand, remains a dark husk of its former self. Sophomore Claire Magnuson, who called Parkside “a glorified Whispers,” mourned the loss of the carvery and cafe.

“Why did we make a bougie new Holmes when we could have just kept Holmes?” Magnuson said. “It serves the same purpose but slightly farther down campus; it doesn’t help anyone, and people miss Holmes.”