No worries. I wouldn't worry about it not being uni-owned - you still get access to the Student Network Service for Internet, local file access etc; there's the JCR with the normal JCR committee with SU reps and all that, so it's not like anyone is even out of the loop or anything
I was catered last year, yeah. Food times as I remember them Mon-Fri:
Breakfast: 7:30-10:00 - croissants, eggs, yoghurt, a few different types of melon, toast, cereal etc.
Lunch: 12:00-14:00 - there was always an excellent range of salad stuffs (like you'd get in Pizza Hut is best description!), chips orcurly fries, paninis, sandwiches/baps, and then they'd have something else like wraps, pizza, w.e. on.
Dinner: 17:30-19:00 - couple of different veg, couple of different potatoes, and choice of around 3 main meals. Pudding as well, and a soup of the day with a load of chunky breads available. So you can have a 4 course meal
Sat-Sun:
Brunch: 10:30-13:00 - full English, salad, cereals, and some alternative like paninis and whatnot.
Dinner: 17:00-18:00 - same as Mon-Fri.
You'd always have a free hot drinks machine, orange/blackcurrent, sliced breadwith butters, jams, sauces etc, yoghurts, salad, cereal available.
Worth noting that for lunch you don't have to go back to your halls - you ca either use any of the halls on the campus, or you can go to any other food outlet in libraries, schools/departments, cafes and whatnot, and this year students have a £4.90 allowance, which when I had a meal card was enough to get sandwiches, drink, crisps, couple of bits of fruit, and a couple of snacks e,.g. flapjack, shortcake, dried fruit, etc.
You really can get a lotfor your money, no doubt about that. Food would get mixed reviews - I liked it, but then I'm not fussy, and I simply appreciated the convenience when I was so busy with things! Some people would complain about the food, but would gladly finish with a clean plate after a 3 course meal then coffee. Definitely worth the money imo.
And yep, I was in halls last year; second year now