Cloisters

What every students yearns in their first year– a meal made for them.
Cloisters is situated in the student union and so it’s main customers are students. It therefore creates its menu around this grouping so expect to see lasagne, chilli con corne as well as panini’s and veggie options.
They do special deals each day but these are usually not very exciting so your best just going for what you fancy unless you’re trying to save some pennies.
The food is expensive in terms of a café within the students union (especially when compared to the food served in Bunatee Bar) so you aren’t always getting a great deal for your money. However it’s handy to get to between classes and it fills a hole.

Cloisters puts me in the mind of school dinners. Its quite nostalgic to take a tray and go along the conveyor style restaurant picking out what looks most appealing from in front of your eyes. In this sense you definitely know it’s not an average restaurant and it is geared towards the students who fill their days chilling around the SU, waiting until its close enough to night time to start drinking. The food itself is ok. They do try an be adventurous in their dishes which is nice considering the usual grease these type of restaurants churn out.

Ah, I have many a fond memory of Cloisters when I was in first year at Queen’s. Every Monday would be spent staring at the range of dishes in this canteen style restaurant, and then queueing in the world’s longest line, attempting to find a seat (near impossible), and then putting the trays and plates away after…“This is a self-​cleaning restaurant” after all.
Since my first year at Queen’s, Cloisters has changed dramatically. It has a number of separate dining options, including Rush (juice and smoothie bar), New York Deli, Costa Coffee, sandwich bars etc… very la-​de-​da! It still maintains that canteen style feel (yes, I know diner doesn’t actually refer to that sort of thing, but it was the closest label I could find), and you would definitely know you were in a student restaurant, but it has been greatly improved. Yep, Cloisters has definitely gone up in the world since its humble beginnings, and is now a much more affordable and varied eaterie option for all Queen’s students. I don’t think the same can be said for the queues mind you, but what more can you expect?
If only I was still one…