Enjoy great foods from around the world
Enjoy great foods from around the world at fantastic prices at Essence Dining Room, operated by students on the Kingston campus. Enjoy three-course lunch or five-course dinner menus. Open to students, staff and the general public. This culinary teaching environment benefits our students immensely by giving them a real-life experience at Essence Dining Room, which showcases the talents of our Culinary programs.
We are utilizing a new Reservation Request system through Touch Bistro. All reservation requests will be waitlisted. You will receive an email informing you that you have been waitlisted. If your reservation is approved, you will receive a second email informing you of your confirmed reservation. Please note there is a chance you will not receive a reservation confirmation due to the high volume of requests. If there is a cancellation, we may reach out to waitlisted patrons to see if they are interested in taking the space. At this time, we will only be releasing January 29th and 30th lunch reservations. Once that round of reservations is completed, and processed, we will open the system for the remainder of the lunches and dinners. We will not be taking any reservations via phone or email. All requests must be made through the Essence Touch Bistro system. Please click the link below to request a reservation.Reservation Requests
Lunch Menu
Essence is open for lunch from Monday through Thursday. You can choose between three service times: 11:45 am, 12:00 pm and 12:15 pm.
Essence To Go Sale: Thursday, February 22nd @ 2:30 pm - 3:00 pm
Location: Essence Dining Room
*Payment by cards only. Bring your own bags.
Essence To Go Sale: Thursday, April 18th @ 2:30 pm - 3:00 pm
Location: Essence Dining Room
*Payment by cards only. Bring your own bags.
Dinner Menu
Essence is open for dinner once a month from Tuesday through Thursday. You can choose between three service times: 5:45 pm, 6:00 pm and 6:15 pm.
Important Information:
- We advise our guests that the published menus are subject to change depending on the availability and quality of products available to the school.
- As this is a marked, academic exercise for the students and apprentices, we regret that we cannot offer any menu substitutions or alterations for any allergies that customers may have.
- All gratuities are distributed to the students at the end of the term.
- Payment Methods: Interac, Visa, and Mastercard. We only accept card payments no cash is accepted.
We look forward to your patronage and hope to see you soon!
Contact Information
Please note we will not be accepting any reservations via email. Please use the touch bistro booking system if you would like to request a reservation.
Essence is located on St. Lawrence College's Kingston campus at 100 Portsmouth Avenue. From King Street and Country Club Drive enter the second driveway. Paid parking is available in P3 and P4. Enter the College at E12. Map to Essence.