{"id":214352,"date":"2026-04-01T10:32:41","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T10:32:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/214352\/"},"modified":"2026-04-01T10:32:41","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T10:32:41","slug":"usf-students-are-hungry-for-new-dining-options-at-pinnacle-hall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/214352\/","title":{"rendered":"USF students are hungry for new dining options at Pinnacle Hall"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/a>Before their closure, Pinnacle Hall\u2019s BurgerFi and Starbucks were some of the best parts of living on campus. ORACLE GRAPHIC\/COLE ABRUZZESE<\/p>\n

When I moved into Endeavor Hall in fall 2025, the thing I was perhaps most excited about was the BurgerFi and Starbucks locations in the neighboring Pinnacle Hall.<\/p>\n

The promised convenience of having these dining options right outside my door \u2014 including BurgerFi, a childhood favorite of mine \u2014 seemed too good to be true. In a sense, it was.<\/p>\n

Upon moving in, I was crushed to discover that both locations had closed over the previous summer.<\/p>\n

The restaurants closed as a result<\/a> of USF switching dining providers from Aramark \u2014 who independently leased and managed both locations \u2014 to Chartwells earlier that June.<\/p>\n

Both dining spaces remain unused, but USF spokesperson Althea Johnson said the school\u2019s development partners are \u201ccontinuing to work on options\u201d for what could move into the location.<\/p>\n

So, while waiting for the school to figure out those options, I\u2019ve been thinking about what I\u2019d like to see added to the location.<\/p>\n

The old Pinnacle Hall restaurants \u2014 BurgerFi and Starbucks \u2014 are sorely missed, but there\u2019s thankfully no shortage of options to take their place.<\/p>\n

My personal choice for a replacement restaurant is Sus Hi Eatstation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Sus Hi is a smaller franchise with about half a dozen locations throughout Florida, including one by the University Mall on E. Fowler Ave, according to its website<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The restaurant serves a variety of Japanese food such as Hand Rolls, Chicken Tempura Bowls and \u2014 if you\u2019re willing to look past the concept \u2014 Sushi Burritos.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Related: USF students weigh in after a semester with new dining provider<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

I love Sus Hi for the quality of its food, but the main reason I think it\u2019d be a great choice for a new on-campus restaurant is because of its hours.<\/p>\n

The restaurant stays open notably late \u2014 until 2 a.m. from Wednesday to Sunday \u2014 according to its website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Many of USF\u2019s dining locations have been criticized for closing unreasonably early<\/a>, so adding more late-night options would help address those complaints.<\/p>\n

And a late-night option seems particularly well-suited for Pinnacle Hall, as it and the surrounding Village residence halls are always bustling with students until well past midnight.<\/p>\n

The convenience of grabbing a quick midnight snack after the rest of campus has closed makes Sus Hi one of my top picks for the next on-campus restaurant.<\/p>\n

Other dream picks are the aptly titled Chicken Salad Chick<\/a> \u2014 which has actually been at USF before at the Marshall Student Center\u2019s Bay Features \u2014 and burger chain Five Guys<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Both of these restaurants currently have locations in the University Collection<\/a> shopping center near campus.<\/p>\n

But I know I\u2019m not the only one who\u2019s mourning the Pinnacle Hall restaurants, so I also asked other USF students what they\u2019d like to see added.<\/p>\n

Makenzie Estabrook is a junior marketing major who currently works as a resident assistant in Pinnacle Hall and has lived on campus since coming to USF.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Although this is Estabrook\u2019s first year living specifically in Pinnacle Hall, she said she\u2019s frequented its two restaurants \u201cpretty often\u201d in previous semesters and has missed them since their closures.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s mildly disappointing living in Pinnacle but not having what is arguably the building\u2019s best feature,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Estabrook said she would like to see Dunkin\u2019<\/a> as a more \u201caffordable\u201d coffee option compared to Starbucks, and the burger chain Shake Shack<\/a> as a potential replacement for BurgerFi.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Yasir Hussain, a sophomore computer engineering major, said he appreciated the Pinnacle Hall restaurants for providing a change of scenery from the other on-campus dining locations.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was good to have restaurants that weren\u2019t concentrated at the Marshall Student Center,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Related: USF\u2019s Muslim students find on-campus dining options for Ramadan<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hussain said he would like to see an international restaurant move into Pinnacle Hall.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause of how many international students we have at USF, something that serves international cuisine would be a good addition,\u201d Hussain said.<\/p>\n

With the recent addition of the Halal Sababa Bites Food Truck<\/a> at Sessums Mall, there\u2019s definitely demand for more international food options on campus.<\/p>\n

And there\u2019s a ton of fantastic international restaurants in the Temple Terrace area that would make great additions to on-campus dining \u2014 such as Vietnamese from Pho Quyen<\/a> and Mexican from Don Juan\u2019s Grill<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But, really, any of the suggested ideas would be great and feel right at home with the old Pinnacle Hall restaurants.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think they [were] such a great resource for Village students, especially as this is a massive area for residential life and specifically freshmen with dining dollars,\u201d Estabrook said.<\/p>\n

So, no matter what ends up moving in, I\u2019m just hoping Village residents will soon have access to that convenience again.<\/p>\n

There is one exception, though \u2014 let\u2019s just pray it doesn\u2019t become a third Subway. That\u2019s really the last thing we need.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Before their closure, Pinnacle Hall\u2019s BurgerFi and Starbucks were some of the best parts of living on campus.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":214353,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[135,137,136],"class_list":["post-214352","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214352","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=214352"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214352\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/214353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=214352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=214352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=214352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}