By the end of next month, Buffalo’s Café on Lanier Drive will be converted to GATA’s Sports Bar and Grill, with the entire restaurant and menu undergoing changes.

“Buffalo’s name wasn’t growing, it was stagnating. This change is going to help people see the restaurant in a different light. It’s going to be much more sports oriented,” general manager Michael Hall said.

This change has been in the works since last summer, Hall said.

“We are renovating it so that it doesn’t smell, look or feel like a Buffalo’s,” he said.

Another goal is to make the new restaurant the place to go for live entertainment, Hall said.

“We’re looking at new themes we can play around with,” he said.

Some students agree with the change in atmosphere.

“I like sports bars. I think it’s a good idea, changing it to fit the customers,” undeclared junior Ian Greer said.

Other students think that the change will bring unwanted distraction.

“I go there for classes. If they make it into a sports bar, I wouldn’t go there as much. It would be too loud,” said graduate history major Darryl Gentry.

Everything is being changed in order to make Buffalo’s an entirely new restaurant.

“We’re going to enclose the deck — paint the walls a different color. We’re adding a lot more TV’s and making the booths smaller so you can more easily see the TV’s,” Hall said. “And football — there will be football jerseys, footballs and helmets all over the walls. Anything we can get our hands on memorabilia-wise will be put up on the wall.”

The menu is also going to be completely changed.

“Right now it’s a southwestern menu, but we’re changing it into a sports oriented menu. It will have fewer items, but a lot of them will be customer favorites,” Hall said. “We’re also taking some things from Buffalo’s menu and making it our own. Our fries will be different from Buffalo’s fries, and our sides and desserts will be totally different.”

The menu will feature many more options to allow greater meal customization.

“Mostly, the appetizers and sides are what the customization pertains to. If you want onion rings on your burger, we’ll do that for you,” Hall said.

GATA’s will be featuring a larger list of specials geared  toward college students as well, Jeff Steward said, also a general manager of Buffalo’s.

“We have an after-school special that will be two sliders and a beer for five dollars — and what we call our Triple-Option, where you can choose three appetizers to sample,” Stewart said. “It’ll be the ultimate sports bar.”

Students agree that the close proximity of GATA’s makes it an ideal place for a GSU oriented restaurant.

“I don’t go there often, but based on the surroundings it seems like a good business decision,” freshman justice studies major Delano Rodrigues said.

Buffalo’s will not close during the transition but there will be big changes taking place in the next three weeks, Hall said.

Along with the major changes to Buffalo’s, a new restaurant is going to be built on the other side of the parking lot, Hall said.

“We’re going to build Van Gogh’s Pizzeria and Microbrewery. It will serve pizza and we’ll be brewing four types of beer on location. Buffalo’s deck will be extended to meet a new deck at Van Gogh’s,” Hall said.

“You can go to out Facebook page, GATA Nation, or our Twitter page, GATA_Nation, to see updates and upcoming bands,” Stewart said.