After shooing loved ones out of your dorm and throwing a blanket over your new twin XL mattress, your next big task as a first-year is finding somewhere to eat, and more importantly, someone to eat with.
Members of Queen’s Hospitality Team and The Journal’s hungriest editor are here to serve the inside scoop on what’s hot-to-go at campus’s bustling, “all-you-care-to-eat” dining halls, and how to navigate this new social scene.
As an appetizer, curious gourmands should consult the Food at Queen’s University page to explore different meal plan options. There are three dining halls at Queen’s: Leonard and Ban Righ Dining Halls on the main campus, and Jean Royce Dining Hall on West Campus.
Having lived on-campus as a first-year student, I recommend the “Weekly 19 Dining Hall Meals” Plan for its convenience and community. Don’t rely too heavily on off-campus food: University can be tough, but eating soggy fries in your dorm alone is tougher! Consider dining with friends, roommates, and even lab partners.
In fact, some of the best meals I’ve ever had have been quiet, groggy, greasy breakfasts with friends after a long weekend, corroborating each other’s’ hazy memories from the night before. When it comes to breakfast, nobody beats Leonard Dining Hall (Lenny), the largest on campus. Lenny features a dizzying array of soups, salads, breakfast options—mercifully served late on Sundays.
I give Lenny is a 9/10, because I’m an easy grader, and if I look back on it, the food poisoning I got that one time first-year was probably unrelated. Campus Executive Chef, Colin Johnson, agrees that Lenny is also his favourite spot to eat. “I enjoy the all-you-care-to-eat variety and that it allows me [to] observe the students to see what foods they are enjoying”, Johnson wrote in a statement to The Journal. Johnson has been working at Queen’s University since ’93, beginning as a Sous Chef at Lenny and stepping up as the Campus Executive
Chef in 2008.
“I think [you] would be surprised by the sheer volume of food it takes to feed 4,800 residence students every day,” he said. “For example, we served 619, 745 eggs across campus food locations last year, and purchased approximately 45,000 pounds of bananas.”
The other on-campus dining hall, Ban Righ, has gorgeous windows and sweeping wooden tables staight from the pages of Harry Potter. While Lenny is often packed with people trying to get the whole hall to sing “Happy Birthday” to their friends at nine in the morning on a Saturday, Ban Righ is typically a comfortable, quiet place to eat. However, Ban Righ’s food
gets a lower ranking from me: 7 out of 10. I’m a Lenny loyalist. I lived on main campus first year, but I found Jean Royce Dining Hall a great spot to eat after early-morning first year lectures at Duncan MacArthur Hall on West.
The offerings are like the other two halls, but less diners mean a better chance of snagging hash browns before they run out. Also, it’s a great place to avoid people you don’t want to run into on main campus—another first-year rite of passage.
Also, it’s a great place to avoid people you don’t want to run into on main campus—another first-year rite of passage.
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Besides the delicious food, a bonus dining hall feature I love is the option to bring non-student guests. “I encourage students to use any guest passes included with their meal plan in the dining halls, where friends and family can [get] an All-You-Care-To-Eat meal for just $5,” Theresa Couto, registered dietician and wellness and sustainability manager at Queen’s, said in a statement to The Journal.
Queen’s dining halls—in my experience—are a ton of fun. “Keep an eye out for monthly fining hall events and pop-ups!” Couto says, which often include prizes. In 2023, I won a Tim Hortons-themed pool float in a raffle, which is now one of my most cherished possessions.
Once you’ve conquered the dining halls with friends, you can experience one of my favourite Queen’s experiences: dining alone for the first time, surrounded by the bubbling voices of a community where you’re finally comfortable.
Whether alone or with friends, the dining halls of Queen’s University are important places to experience community and nourishment—where everyone has a seat at the table.
Tags
First Year in Focus, Food on Campus
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