The Skeller in the basement of Old Chapel
The Rathskeller, which re-opens Tuesday, Sept. 27, at 5 p.m., will be a new experience for any student or employee who joined the campus after March of 2020, when it closed for the pandemic.
Best known as the Skeller, the popular hangout will be open 5 p.m. to midnight, Tuesday through Saturday in the basement of Old Chapel.
Todd Cutler, chef manager, joined the College just a few weeks before the closure. He is looking forward to reviving a menu that includes the renowned Skeller milkshakes, burgers, chicken tenders, salads and Philly cheese steaks.
In the past two years, Dining Services has had a few popup events to “keep the students familiar with the Skeller or to give them a sneak peak,” Cutler said. At the end of the recent Orientation Taste Walk (a gastronomic stroll through the city), the Rathskeller welcomed students back to campus with milk and cookies.
The Rathskeller, a cozy subterranean pub lined with arched brick walls, opened Dec. 2, 1949. It’s had a tough decade. Six years before the pandemic shutdown, a burst water main caused a flood that left it shuttered for a year. A $2 million restoration brought the Rathskeller back, along with a pop-art mural painted by a student and an eight-foot round table carved with students’ names from the early days.