Il Castello Paris 5 sur Paris

Not the best university restaurant, not the worst either! But a steady decline in quality. Very crowded...

Good food but very long queues, especially at the vegetarian/pizza counter during peak hours, which forces people to cut in line.

"The only place where you can eat for the price of a coffee on a terrace while surrounded by the cream of scientific research and botanical flowerbeds." The definitive verdict: RU Cuvier is the privilege of students from Jussieu and the Sorbonne who have realized that eating in a concrete bunker doesn't have to be the norm. Located in the idyllic setting of the Jardin des Plantes, this student restaurant has a bit of a "hunting lodge" feel for hungry intellectuals. You don't come for the linen tablecloths, but for the incredible feeling of belonging to a student elite capable of finding a complete meal for under €4 just steps from the Panthéon. It's the strategic retreat when the university cafeteria resembles a war zone. The style of the place? It's "Crunchy" efficiency in a listed setting. The student press often cites it as one of the most pleasant student restaurants in the capital thanks to its surroundings. The atmosphere? A mix of exhausted PhD students staring at their yogurt as if it were a new bacterium, and first-year undergraduates discovering that mashed potatoes can have surprising textures. The staff is generally quick, because here, available brain time is precious. The highlights (because we're at the heart of the intellectual world): The Royal Location: We're in the Jardin des Plantes, ladies and gentlemen! Stepping out of the restaurant and encountering a camel or a three-hundred-year-old tree while digesting is priceless (well, almost priceless, at €3.30). The Relative Calm: Compared to other CROUS (student services) cafeterias, Cuvier maintains a human scale that avoids the feeling of eating in a train station. The Starter Buffet: Often cited as the highlight, it gives the illusion of "healthy eating" before succumbing to the main course, which is often more... rustic. The drawbacks (to tease the takeout container): Limited Space: Inside, you're sometimes packed in like sardines (sardines that are sometimes on the menu, by the way). Finding a table at 12:15 pm is a matter of applied game theory. The "Botanical Queue" Syndrome: When the weather is nice, the queue stretches out, and you end up knowing the Latin classification of all the surrounding plants before you even reach the tray. The Random Variety: Like any self-respecting student cafeteria, it's sometimes a culinary Russian roulette. One day it's a feast, the next it's a social experiment centered around cooking rice. 💡 Expert tip: Enjoy the terrace or take your meal to a bench in the Jardin des Plantes if the weather permits. Eating your fries with a view of the Gallery of Evolution is the perfect way to remind yourself that humankind still has a long way to go, especially when it comes to nutrition. Verdict: A must-try in the Latin Quarter for those on a budget but with discerning tastes. RU Cuvier proves that you can be a broke student and still have a billionaire's view of your burger.