Rhett’s West, a popular late-night burger joint connected to Claflin Hall in West Campus, is in the process of being relocated inside the West Campus dining hall.
Rhett’s old location will become a new student lounge, according to Paul Riel, the associate vice president of Auxiliary Services at Boston University. The new location in the dining hall is intended to provide more convenience to those living in West Campus, Riel said, as the new restaurant will be connected to both Rich and Sleeper Hall.
Rhett’s West is now going to be part of West Campus’ new Late Nite Café, similar to the one in Warren Towers.
Riel said the relocation allows the university to provide not only convenience but a larger variety of options for the students as well. Students will now have more food choices on the late night menu because the employees have access to more cooking facilities, he said.
“It allows us to offer larger menu options to students,” Riel said. “We’ve been really exploring ways in which we can utilize the dining halls at night so students can access them more for studying and socialization.”
The West Campus dining hall closes at 9 p.m., but with the late night restaurant being relocated, it will now be open as a space where students can stay as late as 1 a.m. and choose to study or hang out with friends.
“Being able to give students a place to go to study and socialize and in bigger locations … it makes sense that the dining hall could kind of have a dual purpose,” Riel said.
Angelica Samonte, a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences, believes that placing Rhett’s West into the dining hall might make it a less attractive socializing spot.
“I feel like they should still keep Rhett’s the original way it was,” Samonte said. “Just combining it with the cafeteria might have a different meaning to it.”
Matthew Pietruszkiewicz, a freshman in the Questrom School of Business, thinks that turning the original Rhett’s West into a study space is good for students.
“I’m a freshman, so I don’t really have that much experience with Rhett’s still, but I think a study area would be a pretty good idea,” Pietruszkiewicz said.
