A restaurant geared specifically to attract BYU students opened Jan. 19. The Y Restaurant not only offers food, but also entertainment and an atmosphere that allows students to study if they would like.
The Y Restaurant serves Mexican, Italian and American food with 80 percent of the menu priced at $4.99. Some items are a little more and some a little less.
The family-run restaurant has no direct affiliation with BYU but wants to attract BYU students.
“Being so close to the school, we wanted to create an atmosphere for the students where they can come eat some good food, have entertainment and be able to do their homework while drinking a non-alcoholic margarita or eating a hamburger,” said part-owner David Kifuri.
The restaurant has two large screen TVs and pool, foosball and ping pong tables.
“If they want to watch a game or even watch their own movie, they can go ahead and do that,” Kifuri said.
The Y Restaurant also offers board games that students are welcome to play including Dominos and Monopoly. High-speed wireless Internet is available to anyone who wants to bring in his or her laptop.
“Originally we were going to have some computers available for students to use, but we understand that most BYU students already have computers, so we just have the Internet available here,” Kifuri said.
Part owner Leon Davidovich said Kifuri told him he was planning to open a restaurant and invited him to join. In the restaurant they have created three separate sections.
“We have three atmospheres. We have the non-alcoholic cantina, we have the restaurant side, and then we have the area for the games,” Davidovich said. “People can come and play, they can bring a girl to dinner for a date or they can come and hang out with their friends. I think it”s a very flexible atmosphere that we have.”
Camille Topham, a freshman from Roseville, Calif., said although she hasn”t eaten at the new restaurant, she thinks it”s something that she”ll go check out.
“It gives you something else to do because you run out of things,” Topham said.
Davidovich said flexibility is key to the restaurant and they just want to provide a service to meet the needs of BYU students.
The Y Restaurant is located at 764 E. 320 N. in Provo, above Clean Flicks and Thai Ruby.
