Union Street Café, 102 W. Union St., is the only restaurant in town where a patron can walk in, sit down and get a meal, day or night. It is the nights that keep employee Mimi Bruce working from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. four times a week.
I like my midnights - wouldn't change them
she said. The day shift is not fast enough for me because I like to be on the go.
Maneuvering deftly around the restaurant - wearing the signature Union Street Café green shirt and white gym shoes - the grandmother of seven buses tables and works the cash register, as well as waiting tables.
Oh let me tell you I've carried out eight plates of food before at once
said the almost eight-year veteran.
Bruce began working at Union Street as a hostess, previously holding a housekeeping job in a hotel. After getting to know the clientele better, the Athens County resident decided to become a waitress.
This is my first waitress job
and it's been quite an experience
let me tell you
she said. This is the only place in town
that's why we get them all.
Bruce knows Union Street regular Tony Hoyt by name. The Ohio University senior said he is
attracted to the comfortable, relaxed atmosphere of the restaurant and comes in almost every night.
I can't study in my apartment because there are too many distractions
he said. Somehow I'm always able to zone out drunk people who come in.
Late night clientele include studying students, like Hoyt, locals coming in for an early breakfast and the bar rush, said Ron Hoffman, who works the third shift every weekend, usually as a cook. He said that while most people who come in are well behaved, there are exceptions.
Usually Friday and Saturday night are the most rowdy
he said. We've had food fights and had to shut the place down just to clean up. This one time a guy was sitting with his girlfriend and another girl thought he looked at her strangely so she walked up and smashed food in his face - then a brawl broke out. It was one of the most exciting times I've ever had.
Bruce said she enjoys waiting on her customers - treating some of them as if they were her own children. But she said the bar rush always is interesting.
Every night drunks come in
she said, laughing. I just never have understood it. I always thought work came before pleasure and most of these kids are in school.
Hoffman, who has worked at Union Street for more than seven years, said the most popular items he makes come off of the breakfast menu.
All the food is prepped to order
