It’s 1am on a Friday night. The parties, as usual, have been shut down by about now. Buuuut, you’re not really looking forward to going back to your dorm. I mean, it’s Friday night after all. So what is there to do? Lucky for you, the Bandersnatch opened last Monday, September 15, and since then, it has been popping! The Bandersnatch is a quirky coffee shop located on East Quad and has been loved by all Denisonians since it opened in 1987. With its quotes, graffiti, and random objects on the walls, tattered yet charismatic furniture, and a mixture of super-cool yet sort of hipster “wish you were them” employees who make milkshakes for you until 2am, the “snatch” certainly has a personality of its own, much different from anything else you’d find in cute ‘ol Granville, Ohio.
Having opened on the 15th, the Bandersnatch has demonstrated an extraordinary amount of popularity every night since then. With its hours going from 9pm to 2am, Monday through Sunday, people see it as the perfect place to hangout up here on our own little hill.
The Bandersnatch is the epitome of what every college student hopes for—food, friends, and entertainment. At the “snatch”, food possibilities are endless, with 27 different toppings for your milkshake, or 11 different food options, deciding tends to be a very difficult task. But not only are there millions of possible combinations, the food is also ridiculously well priced with everything ranging from $1 to $4, and last but not least (cliché, sorry), the food is DELICIOUS. If you’re not in the mood for food, you can always just use the Bandersnatch as a place to meet a potential cutie, hang out with friends, do homework, or as explained by Denison student Janyce Caraballo, “seeing spoken word, or watching different performances is one of my favorite things to do at the Bandersnatch, especially on the weekends”.
The only thing that people have found disappointing is the lack of order felt at the Bandersnatch. As explained by Janyce, “I hate that because the food is so good, I’ll still sit for what feels like a 40 hour wait to get my order. Also, it kind of annoys me how when you’re trying to hear someone performing it’s difficult because there’s blenders going off and stuff. Regardless of all of that though, I still adore the Bandersnatch.”
But not to worry, as time goes by, the first week excitement will begin to drizzle and things will cool down. Also, what would the Bandersnatch be without the notoriously long line where as freshmen we all met so many new people while we looked in awe in the strange room we were in? Ultimately, though, the wait is totally worth it when you finally hear your name get called with an apples-to-apples card and you get your hands on your food. Like a snagel— the Bandersnatch’s most popular food option. It’s a bagel covered in cream cheese and brown sugar. If you have yet to try one, we certainly recommend you head over there ASAP. Everyone’s first experience with a snagel is one worth remembering. As stated very clearly by Greta Garland, another student at Denison, “my favorite thing to eat there are the snagels. They’re yum yum in my tum tum as well as a party in ma’ mouth”.
So I’ll leave you guys with this excerpt from Lewis Carroll’s poem “Jabberwocky” which basically defines the atmosphere experienced at the Bandersnatch (and gave it a name too!)
“Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!”
… Different, strange, and absolutely genius.