Allie Remis
Staff Writer

The closed sign on the door of the North Side Bistro is a common sight for Millersville students. Between the two main dining halls on Millersville’s campus, the Bistro has a wider and more freshly prepared variety of foods than the Upper Deck but is open only half as much. The Bistro never opens for breakfast and closes Friday after lunch for the weekend.
lyleThe North Side Bistro is only open for nine meals a week compared to the twenty one meals that the Upper Deck is open for. The Bistro serves lunch and dinner Monday through Thursday and only lunch on Fridays. It has four counters with made to order entrees and a salad bar. If open for breakfast, the salad bar could be replaced with a fresh fruit bar to make your own fruit salad and made to order waffle and omelet counters. They could set out breakfast meats at the deli counter for made to order breakfast sandwiches that would be fresher and have more options than at the Cove next door.
It’s commonly said that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. It starts up your metabolism and gives you energy for your long day of studying, hanging out on the quad, or however you choose to spend your day at Millersville. But for a resident of Gaige Hall, the Upper Deck is quite the hike for a breakfast on the weekends. Although the Cove is a closer option for weekday breakfasts, it doesn’t have quite the selection that the Upper Deck has or the Bistro could have. A fifteen minute walk to get to the Upper Deck is undesirable before an 8 a.m. class, especially for those of us that need our coffee first thing in the morning.
Another time that the Bistro is sorely missed is the week before school starts during marching band and fall sports camps. Right around noon during this week, all of the fall sports teams and the marching band get an hour break for lunch and the only place open to use their meal swipe is the Upper Deck. By 12:05 the line is out the door and it can take fifteen to twenty minutes just to get in and grab a table. Dinner time is always just as busy. The Bistro being open could alleviate the lines during these peak times when players have nowhere else to go.
Being closed on the weekend is another problem with the Bistro. There’s nothing like grabbing a friend and walking up to the Bistro on a Friday night and remembering that it’s closed for the weekend. During the weekend, the Cove is also closed which means you have to walk all the way over to Gordinier to use your meal swipe. For those of us still on the full meal plan we have two or three meals a day left for Saturday and Sunday depending on how you use your swipes for the rest of the week but the hike to Gordinier makes it almost not worth it.
Theoretically there’s nothing wrong with eating at the Upper Deck. The food is fine and the walk isn’t terrible if the weather is nice outside. But by dinnertime on Sunday, you’re tired of eating there. The Bistro being open more often would give you another choice for meals on the weekends and a closer option for a lot of students for a healthier and more varied breakfast. I love eating my meals at the Bistro; I just wish it was open for more of them.