Wahoo’s likely to be replaced by new Mexican restaurant

Now that Wahoo’s Fish Taco is slated to move to the new Ronald Tutor Campus Center, USC Hospitality is on the hunt for a restaurant to take its place in Café 84.

Hospitality announced last Monday that Wahoo’s, one of the most popular restaurants in Café 84, will move to the new campus center in August. Kris Klinger, director of USC Hospitality, said Wahoo’s will likely be replaced by a Mexican restaurant.

Wahoo · The popular restaurant Wahoo’s Fish Taco will be moving from Café 84 to the Ronald Tutor Campus Center when it opens in August. Its replacement will most likely be a Mexican restaurant. - Youli Zheng | Daily Trojan

“At this point, we’re still working with the new restaurant, and I can’t say for certain because we have no signed contract yet,” Klinger said. “But we’re careful to choose dining options that we feel will resonate well with the students. Student surveys showed first a need for a Greek option, which we gave them, and a Mexican option, which we’re working on now.”

Café 84 was remodeled at the beginning of the spring semester, when Daphne’s Greek Café and Wasabi Sushi were brought in to give students a wider variety of options and easier access to international cuisine.

Klinger could not say which restaurants in particular are being considered for Wahoo’s soon-to-be vacant spot, but he said Hospitality is aiming to introduce a Mexican option to Café 84. Mexican, Klinger said, was one of the most requested types of food.

Klinger said Hospitality chose to move Wahoo’s because of its popularity.

“It was agreed at the time [between USC Hospitality and the executives of Wahoo’s] that Wahoo’s should be relocated to the new campus center once it was finished. When [the campus center] opens, it will be a premier location on campus,” Klinger said. “Wahoo’s has always been very popular — Pete Carroll and the football team were always big fans of Wahoo’s — and we feel it should be in the most central location.”

Students said they are glad to see Wahoo’s move to the center of campus.

“It makes sense to put Wahoo’s in the new student center,” said Michele Malkasian, a junior majoring in communication. “There will probably be a lot of traffic going through there, so it will be more readily available to students. People will be there a lot more than Café 84.”

Chris Rayon, a freshman majoring in philosophy, agreed.

“Café 84 is pretty far away from a lot of the dorms,” he said. “It will be nice to have Wahoo’s in the middle of campus where we’re around it more often.”