The Graduate

More recently known as The Graduate, the interior has been totally reformed, and now has more of an elegant swanky look to the place.
It is a lot more welcoming, and the staff look ten times more presentable.

It is a bar slash restaurant that serves perfectly good grub. Its airy, clean and an all round pleasant place to be. Catering for our light lunches with friends, and heavy drinking later on. This is a great location to get the party started.

No complaints so far

Bon appetite!

Me and my friends decided to grab some breakfast before going on to leeds festival this year, after a bit of searching for a place that did all day breakfasts we settled on varsity, the bar was quite busy but not all packed so we thought it would be a decent choice, how wrong we were, we ordered our food, as we waited for drinks another couple ordered who were told it would be a 30 minute delay as 100 people had ordered, was only about 30 people in the entire pub so we were sceptical as to the truth of this and also surprised she hadn’t told us so hoped that we would get our food soon, about an hour and 2 pints of coke had past so I decided to pop to the toilet, the toilet was in an absolute state and made the festival toilets look ok, as I got back to the table the food had finally arrived, happiness was short lived though when I was told they had no bacon. the plate was also missing tomatoes and was without doubt the worst plate of food I had been given ever! enough was enough to be honest, the lack of bacon pushed me over the edge  I decided to complain to the manager, I refused to eat it and asked for a refund, my 2 friends ate half theirs before giving up. To be fair to the manager who had just walked in he gave us refunds to all 3 and apologised, its fair to say I wont go their again, I wasn’t expecting great food from a pub but this was beyond a joke, worst catering experience I have ever had to be honest and also caused us to miss a band that we had hoped to see.

The thing about Varsity is that it's, well, Varsity; pretty decent food at entirely reasonable prices, coupled with a dismal and overpriced beer selection, no personality or charm whatsoever. I know that one of the strengths of chain bars is supposed to be that you know what to expect when you go in, but seriously, if you've been in a Varsity anywhere in the country and liked it, you'll probably like this one. It's by no means a BAD place, just really average; personally I'll be drinking a more interesting and cheaper pint virtually anywhere else in the city, and be spared the tedious radio twaddle they play to boot, but your mileage may vary.

the varsity is a good place for food, especially at lunctime. its good value anyway and on top of that there is a loyalty card now too to save even more money. its very trendy with a cool interior, its not a student type bar it is more popular with professionals. the menu is extensive, standard pub food rather than gastro. the atmosphere is relaxed and the music is good, indie rather than dance/pop. the drinks are reasonabley priced for york and the beer garden is really good in the summer. it can get busy at weekends so if you want a table outside get there early.

I have been visiting this place for about 5 years and it is always a place I like to go on a lunchtime.They always have a great selection of food and drinks and have just launched their new V Card where you can get 25 % of your selected drinks and it cost £2 and also included a booklet with some special offers.There is plenty of room both upstairs and downstairs and there is also a beer garden for when the weather is nice.They have offers on selected food and drink from time to time so while having a good time you can also save a bit of money too which I think is a great added bonus.The music is great too a mix of indie, rock and dance that lets you chill out and relax.