Carvings, the newest dining venue on campus, will open by the end of this week in the first floor of Potomac House, according to the restaurant’s owner Paul Park.

Officials had previously said the dining venue in GW’s newest residence hall would open early last semester.

“As with most construction projects in D.C., it is difficult to estimate the timeframe that will be needed for official permitting. The project experienced delays in the early stages as a result of permitting,” said Nancy Haaga, director of Campus Support Services, in an e-mail, of the reason Carvings did not open at the start of this semester as planned.

Haaga added that “The owner has been working diligently to obtain the required inspections and certificates to open this venue and we expect that the venue will open in early February 2007.”

The University accepted Park’s proposal to construct Carvings about one year ago.

“We don’t expect any more delays. We just got the Certificate of Occupancy, and the health inspection will be conducted on Monday,” Park said.

If all continues to go well, Park expects to be open and running by Friday. “It did take a long time to get it open … but it was out of our hands,” Park said.

The venue will have a carving station and will also serve grilled items as well as items from a hot food bar.

Park said he expects Carvings to be popular among freshmen living on F Street, an area of campus where food options used to be limited.

“That was one of the things the University had told us,” Park said. “That the freshmen dorms didn’t have any eating establishments near them.”

Freshman Christina Carvino, a resident of Thurston Hall, said “I would definitely go there for lunch when you just want to pick something up. That would be great.”

Arielle Krieger, a resident of Potomac House, said she also thinks freshmen will enjoy the venue. “I think people will definitely go there once it opens. It’s across the street from Thurston, and in Potomac, so I think people will definitely take advantage of it.”