BYO owners dish on Penn students

It’s no secret that Penn students have an insatiable appetite for events that include drinking. But in the world of Penn social life where almost anything can (and probably will) be pregamed, there is no better example than the time honored tradition of the Bring Your Own.

Yes the BYO, where college students venture out into the city, sometimes bringing their drunken antics with them. For the staff at some of Penn’s most popular BYOs, a group of Penn students is a welcome sight.

Manager John Lewis from Iztaccihuatl. John is no stranger to the Penn social life. “They come here to get drunk and wild,” he said of his restaurant.

Iztaccihuatl is perhaps the prime example of when a restaurant and the Penn students who go there are in complete sync. Lewis describes his restaurant as a “hall party with food that’s BYO.”

After years at Iztaccihuatl, Lewis has developed a strong rapport with Penn students. Even when they get rowdy, “Penn students are the most respectful,” he said.

The only issues that Lewis ever had with Penn students is that sometimes they break things.

“One week I went through three toilet seats,” he said.

One restaurant where you hopefully won’t find Penn students breaking toilet seats is La Viola. La Viola is another one of Penn students’ favorite BYO locations, although dining there is a very different experience than dining at Izaccihuatl.

The manager of La Viola, who would not allow his waitstaff to be interviewed for this article, had kind words for Penn students, saying, “The students are respectful. They sing and like to have fun.”

Respect was not mentioned at another popular BYO restaurant, Banana Leaf, where the waitstaff said, “Groups with only boys can get kind of rude.” They added that larger groups were often brought to back areas because they could get pretty loud.

The staff also said that groups of Penn students are easily identifiable.

“You can always tell when it’s [Penn] students,” one staff member said.

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