Nestled in the back of the ground floor of the famed Cathedral of Learning lies the Cathedral Café. Cathy, as the Cathedral is affectionately called, is known for her beauty and grace, a beacon of scholarship and study in the middle of the University of Pittsburgh’s urban campus. The Cathedral Café is none of those things. The outward beauty of Cathy reflected in so many places throughout its dozens of floors is nowhere to be found in the dimly lit and always too hot café that makes its home on her bottom floor. The graceful exterior of the most wonderful academic building in the world does not translate to the food court so many Pitt students, faculty, and staff frequent every weekday.
Cathedral Café is open Monday through Thursday from 10:30 am to 6 pm and Friday 10:30 am to 6 pm. Operated by Sodexo, Cathedral Café is one of the main food courts on campus. It features five main stations— Chick-fil-A, Tsunami Sushi, Bistro Salads, Old World Deli, and Hometown Favorites— as well as two coolers of grab and go salads and kosher, vegetarian, and microwaveable meal options. Next to these coolers sits a counter with a Pepsi machine and soup and crackers. Completing the culinary wonder that is the Cathedral Café are large coolers with Pepsi products and Gatorade next to the infamous checkout registers that are notoriously famous for causing massive lines and wasting the time of people in a rush to get to where they need to be in a timely manner.
Cathedral Café reminds me of a person that tries but comes up just a bit short. The food is not bad. In fact, some of it is delicious (winking at you Chick-fil-A, even though you always have a long line). However, the overall experience could be better. More lighting would make it a much more pleasant place to be. Finding a temperature that does not make you sweat in the dead of winter upon walking through the smudged glass doors and onto the 1990s-era tile floor near the food stations would make me want to spend more time sitting there. Having more registers open to take customers’ cash, credit, Dining Dollars, or Panther Funds during the peak of lunch time would certainly make the payment portion of the experience more efficient. There is absolutely no reason why anyone should be in line for more than five minutes.
I think that Cathedral Café has a lot of potential. I am a frequent patron and want it to succeed. It could be the place on campus people want to eat at and not just the convenient option it is seen as by many as today. Hopefully Pitt Dining will make improvements in the future because Cathy truly deserves the best.
