Exeter catered halls - is the food decent?

[Justlurkingmostly]

Just that really - does anyone have DC at Exeter in one of the catered halls and how’s the food? DD2 going to the open day on Friday and would like to look at some of the halls and would probably prefer catered if the food is decent. She’s not massively picky but don’t want to pay extra for catered for her to live on toast and pasta which she could easily and probably more cheaply make for herself!

Further, if you know the uni is there a halls you’d recommend that is the combination of catered + en suite + no need to move out for Xmas/easter? Suspect it will be pricey if so, but can’t seem to find one that has all 3. This would be for Streatham campus btw.

Am aware it’s v much a lottery but at least she can attempt to rank preferences and cross fingers.

thank you!

@Justlurkingmostly
Can’t answer your question as we are going as well.
If DC hasn’t already passed it on then only dining hall you can visit is Lopes Hall, used by Lopes Hall and Pennsylvania accommodation of the ones you can also visit.
They have current menus online. Looks varied.

I can’t confirm the food at Exeter but dd was at another university in catered, those who had been at boarding school thought the food was ok, the non boarding school youngsters were less impressed, it seemed that the catered halls were very highly weighted towards ex boarding school students, perhaps they ranked them higher? I hated the food in my catered halls too, but that was 30 years ago.

DS used to eat at Holland with his girlfriend - he's not especially fussy and valued volume over fine cuisine, but seemed pretty happy not to have to cook:

Menu e.g.
www.exeter.ac.uk/v8media/universityofexeter/campusservices/cafes-shops/menus/Term_3_Week_1_Menu.pdf

Daughter's boyfriend is in catered and is looking forward to being in self-catered next year. Food quantity isn't great (he often buys ready meals as the meals don't fill him up) and he doesn't really like being tied to meal times (ie, if you have sports practice or late lectures you miss dinner). Daughter is self-catered and worked out she's spent a lot less money on food than the £2k-plus difference between self-catered and catered, and she's learnt how to cook and fend for herself a bit more. With all the catered halls you have to vacate your room during holidays but you don't necessarily have to move your stuff out. There's likely to be quite a bit of disruption/building noise around Holland Hall and Mardon next year due to new halls being built, and they're getting rid of Birks catered halls completely so there will be fewer catered options. There is also the option to buy meal cards if you're self-catered but want to have some meals in the catered blocks.

DS was in Penny C catered with ensuite last year. The food was fine. He especially liked the brunch on the weekends! As you only pay for term times (32 weeks) rather than the 40 weeks with self catered accommodation, there really was very little difference in price between the two.
It was a good way to break him into student life and he felt getting to grips with lectures, living away from home, laundry, finding his way around, a hot meal at the end the day that he could sit down with his friends and enjoy, was one thing less to worry about. It was very social and a great way to meet other people too.

Catered halls won’t be full of people from boarding schools.
One thing to be aware of Exeters catered halls have 32 weeks contract so even with catering are often cheaper than en-suite self catered. It is rare these days to get uni accommodation for term time only and a big money saving. Sometimes families think it will be a pain, but actually try don’t always have to actually empty the room, and you’re often looking at saving 2 months rent and a couple of £k.
Catered is often excellent for meeting a wider range of people and catered halls often have more socially going on within them. A terribly fussy water might not like it but most would be fine.
That said, no unis are really building new catered halls. It’s all self catered flats. Hard to tell if that’s because that’s what demand is for, or if demand is there as people like the shiny new en-suites etc. catering usually costs the uni a lot so that’s why they don’t tend to build catered facilities as they used to. My DC used catered accommodation and liked it - not Exeter. Said it seemed to work best in unis where there was lots of catered accom or where collegiate system was used - eating together was very much all part of the experience, not an annoyance. It often does cost most but not at Exeter.

Is is better value to get fee or an en-suite if it’s a similar price?

My DS was in Holland. V expensive, dripping with ex-boarders and food magnificent.

Tbf, there isn’t necessarily anything wrong per se with boarders ….

I loved Sunday pie night in catered halls!

Ive heard the catered halls are very private school heavy

I’m not really sure why this keeps being mentioned as if it’s a big issue (it wasn’t, in my DS’s experience).

Could be a simple wealth correlation - families who can afford private school can also afford more expensive halls?

It’s not as if the catered halls at Exeter are like the formal college settings at Oxbridge for example - no gowns or formality, and not a set time. It’s more of an open cafeteria system where residents have a paid for in advance meal ticket (which others can buy on an ad hoc basis).