Barbakan and Citadela student restaurants

Barbakan is the name of a big student restaurant in Zadar where every student that studies here went to eat at least once in his/her life, and where most of the students are eating every day. In Croatian nobody calls it by its name, Barbakan, they just call it the big menza - "Velika menza" or "DHM". The reason for that is the fast food student restaurant by the name Citadela, but which everybody calls the little menza - "Mala menza". Thus, if you find yourself in Zadar studying or just looking for a place to take a quick bite, this is the place.

First thing to know is that in those two restaurants prices are cheap if you have the student card, called "ixica" (X-card), because using that card the government covers 50 or 75 % of the price, depends on what meal you take. If you don't have the card, prices are pretty much the same as in other, regular restaurants, maybe a bit cheaper.

Next to know is that you will probably be waiting in line for food for some time. It depends what time you get there, but in 90 % of cases you will have to wait for 10, 20, 30 minutes.

You are waiting in line because this is kind of a self-service restaurant, meaning that once you get to the showcase, you will take your platter, look at what is offered, and the nice ladies behind the showcase will ask you what you want to eat. Then you will choose: "I want this, this and this, please", they will put it on your plate and you will put it on your platter. Later on, as the line moves, you can take cutlery, bread, salad, fruit, desert (usually cake and pudding, rarely something else; ice cream in summertime), juice or water, and then you will get to the cash register.

The lady there will look at your platter, type in what you're having, slip the card and tell you how much you owe here. You will pay and continue with your platter. There is a table with goblets of water and plastic cups so you can take water for free. In that part of the restaurant, where is the showcase and the cash registers, are several tables for four or more people. As you pass them and the hungry people waiting in the line and staring at the food on your platter, you get to the big room where you first entered when opening the door of the restaurant, and where the line of waiting people probably continues, possibly up to the half of the length of the room.

There are many tables, for four people, 8 people, 12 people, depends how students put them together. Oh yes, you have the absolute freedom of moving the tables and putting them together if you're in a big crowd for lunch. At the end of the room you turn left and there are some more tables; the place is built in an upside-down letter L.

I prefer that last part of the room because there is not so many people, you get more peace when you eat. Through the windows you can look at the yard and people eating there when it's warm enough outside. When I say yard, I mean a big open space with long wooden tables, benches and huge sunshades.

(This is an old photo, but later they put wooden tables and benches instead of small tables and white plastic chairs).

It's great to eat outside when it's warm. The tables are set alongside the windows of the restaurant, in two rows, and there is an extra row on the opposite wall.

On the other side are the toilets, where, surprisingly, you can always find paper, paper towels and soap.

The ladies working in that menza are very nice, always ready for a joke, to talk, some of them even smile. I have one favorite lady there, with black hair and who looks, but does not necessarily be, the youngest of them all. The amount of food they put on your plate is quite big; so if you chose soup, two side dishes, meat, bread, salad and a desert, the chances are you won't be able to finish it all. If you're a guy, then you probably will. And the prices were cheaper until this year, since the government was financing 75 % of all the food, and now they are financing that much only for seven the most ordered meals, that is, types of meat. But still, I like the food there and it's still cheaper than going to restaurants so I eat there often. But thank God these new prices only appeared on my last year of studies.

Now, this is the big restaurant, where you get cooked and somewhat healthy food. The other one, Citadela, is actually a fast food restaurant. There you can get pizza, french fries, fried squids, "ćevapi" - fried finger-like minced meat, sandwiches, fried chicken and some stuff like croissants, bakes, coffee, tea, milk products etc. The restaurant is much smaller but the waiting line too. However, the service is not very fast there so it can happen, quite often, that although the waiting line is short, you will wait for quite some time. You say what you want, take it and take a seat, or you take it to go. If you don't tell them it's to go before you order, they can get annoyed sometimes; other times they ask you themselves.

I don't think it's necessary to talk about the quality of the food since it's fast food, you can't expect it to be healthy anyway. It's not the best fast-food restaurant, for sure, but you can get there some stuff like bakes and milk products that no other fast-food restaurant offers. I like this place, when you're hungry and you don't have time for a proper long lunch or you're in a hurry because you're late for class, it comes handy. The ladies and a man working there can be nice, other times not so much. The man is okay, he usually jokes, although many students don't understand when he's joking or they don't get his humor; the curly-black-hair woman is nice but very slow, gets confused if you order more than one thing, and always messes something up; the other black-hair woman is fast and efficient, no time for small-talks; the blond lady probably never smiled in her life and she hates her job and all the students that come to eat there. You learn how to ignore it with time.

In front of Citadela there are tables and chairs, so when it's warm, you can eat outside. On one hand, you can eat outside and look at the distant sea; on the other, you can enjoy in the sound and smell of passing cars because the "terrace" is right next to the road. But you get used to that as well. Before, this terrace was not open, it was closed and in glass, offering a great atmosphere during the winter or rainy days when you could sit there, be dry and warm, eating or drinking coffee, watching people pass by. In the middle of it was a big tree, which later on they cut down, demolished the terrace and made it open.

Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of Citadela to put here, but you can't miss it. It's right next to the University, and there is a huge tree there, which is also known as the meeting point when you're going to eat in menza. I think I never saw this place empty, there was always at least one person waiting for someone. Next to the tree is also the so-called "zidić", the wall, where students like to get together and drink a bit before going out.