Since the closure of Sobelman’s last year, Marquette has been lacking a good sit-down restaurant spot. The university needs to do more to fill the spot that has been left behind.
Sobelman’s was a community spot here on campus with frequent customers stopping in for lunch. Students would bring in their parents for a quick meal or hunker down in a booth to watch a game for several hours. In some ways, it was the heart of campus, offering a warm environment with good food well into the night.
Unfortunately, the restaurant struggled to make a comeback after the pandemic and with the owners getting older, it was getting more difficult for them to maintain this location.
Marquette has shown that they know how to bring in good restaurants with Gray Jett Cafe and the recent opening of Gordo’s Bubble Waffles. I’ve heard raving reviews about the shakes and waffles from Gordo’s, and the Gray Jett Cafe has options for students who are vegan or vegetarian.
However, the problem with these places is there is not an option for dinner. Gordo’s is a great dessert spot, but there are no options for a full meal. Gray Jett Cafe closes at 4 p.m. every day, well before any college student is even thinking about dinner.
While we do have options like Jimmy John’s and Qdoba, those are fast food spots. Sometimes I just want to sit down at a restaurant with my friends, get a delicious meal and make some great memories.
To those who say I can do that at the Annex, that’s true. I can do that at the Annex, but the university should seek to bring in local restaurants that are independent from them.
Additionally, a new dinner spot would offer a great new job opportunity for students. As we can see from Gray Jett Cafe and Maki-Yaki, students are willing to work in food service to support themselves and a new restaurant would be the perfect option. Sobelman’s used to hire Marquette students, so this new restaurant could serve the same purpose. Whether this helps sustain a student financially or just offers a new way to get some expendable income, it would be in our best interest to bring in something new.
The Sobelman’s at Marquette building is just sitting on campus, unused and unloved. It is a waste of space to not put something there. The building is still set up to sustain a restaurant and its facilities, it’s just ridiculous to not utilize what we have.
Milwaukee is home to 666 restaurants, and it’s absurd to think that none of them want to expand to our campus. A university is an ideal place for a restaurant because there is a constant stream of hungry college students around, not to mention the faculty, staff, alumni and visiting parents.
It also would be remiss to not mention the two on-campus bars, Murphy’s and Caffrey’s. It’s common practice to eat dinner before hitting the bars and this new restaurant would put itself in the perfect spot to provide that meal.
The building’s location is square in between both bars and situated near the heart of residential life on campus. Nearby you have The Commons, Humphrey Hall, Frenn apartments, Campus Town East and Campus Town West along with all the off-campus housing that’s only a street or two away.
Marquette should be actively seeking a new restaurant to fill Sobelman’s spot. It’s what the student body deserves, not to mention just how great it would be to support another small business on our campus.
This story was written by Izzy Fonfara Drewel. She can be reached at [email protected].
