Two new restaurants are coming to the CONSOL Energy Center.

“TGI Friday’s is going to be the first here and Qdoba, they’re in,” Tom McMillan, vice president of communications for the Penguins said. “We’re very close to a third and we’re in preliminary discussions for the fourth.”

The restaurants are not coming in just to satisfy game night crowds or to be a quick source for Dan Bylsma’s pre-game burrito. CONSOL plans to be busy.

“People like to go out and eat and they like entertainment and I think they’ll get it here,” Vondella Asbearry, of Oakland, said.

The Fifth Avenue side of CONSOL may be only a block away from the old Civic Arena, but McMillan says it’s a world closer to a large base of customers.

“With the hotel which will be a second hotel and the arena and Duquesne kind of coming down the hill there’s more of a mass of people here,” McMillan said.

Folks at the Souper Bowl down the street can’t wait for the CONSOL magnet to be turned on.

“We’d like to have other bars down here so maybe have some kind of competition and we’re welcome to the traffic flow of bringing more businesses down here,” Carly Sypherd said.