Университетская столовая закрывается рано, хотя в столовой готовят простой, но сытный обед.

In Russian, it is very common to use an adjective where English would often use a noun modifier.

• университет = university
• университетский / университетская / университетское = university, university-related

So университетская столовая literally means university cafeteria or university canteen.

The adjective университетская agrees with столовая because столовая is:

• feminine
• singular
• nominative

That is why the ending is -ая.

The first столовая is the subject of the sentence, so it is in the nominative case:

• Университетская столовая = the university cafeteria

The second one comes after the preposition в meaning in, so it takes the prepositional case:

• в столовой = in the cafeteria

So:

• столовая = nominative singular
• в столовой = prepositional singular

This is a very common pattern in Russian:

• школа → в школе
• комната → в комнате
• столовая → в столовой

Закрывается is the reflexive form of закрывать.

Here it means something like:

• closes
• is closing
• gets closed

With places, shops, institutions, doors, etc., Russian often uses the reflexive verb to express that something closes as a general fact, without focusing on who does the action.

So:

• столовая закрывается рано = the cafeteria closes early

If you said закрывает, you would normally expect a direct object:

• Она закрывает дверь = She is closing the door

But in your sentence, the cafeteria itself is what closes, so закрывается is the natural choice.

Grammatically, it is present tense of an imperfective verb. In this sentence, it expresses a habitual/general fact:

• The cafeteria closes early
  not
• The cafeteria is closing right now

Russian present tense often works like English simple present when talking about routines, schedules, or regular behavior.

So закрывается рано means:

• it closes early
• it tends to close early
• it is not open late

This is a very common Russian construction. The 3rd person plural can be used with an indefinite or unnamed subject, similar to English:

• they prepare
• they make
• people make
• it is prepared

So:

• в столовой готовят обед = they prepare lunch in the cafeteria / lunch is prepared in the cafeteria

Russian often does this when the exact people are not important. The focus is on the activity, not on who does it.

Other examples:

• Здесь говорят по-русски. = They speak Russian here. / Russian is spoken here.
• В магазине продают хлеб. = They sell bread in the store.

They agree with обед.

Обед is:

• masculine
• singular
• inanimate

In this sentence, обед is the direct object of готовят, so it is in the accusative case. But for masculine inanimate nouns, the accusative looks the same as the nominative.

That is why you get:

• простой обед
• сытный обед

and not some different-looking ending.

So:

• nominative: простой, но сытный обед
• accusative (inanimate): простой, но сытный обед

They look identical here.

No. Сытный does not mean tasty.

It means:

• filling
• substantial
• satisfying in terms of hunger

So простой, но сытный обед means:

• a simple but filling lunch

A meal can be:

• вкусный = tasty
• сытный = filling

Sometimes it can be both, but the words are not the same.

They do two different jobs.

• хотя = although
• но = but

In this sentence:

• Университетская столовая закрывается рано = main clause
• хотя в столовой готовят простой, но сытный обед = subordinate clause introduced by хотя

Inside that subordinate clause, there is another contrast:

• простой, но сытный обед = a simple but filling lunch

So the sentence has two layers of contrast:

1. The cafeteria closes early, although...
2. ...the lunch is simple, but filling

That is why both words appear.

They are there for two different reasons.

1. Comma before хотя
   Хотя introduces a subordinate clause, so Russian puts a comma before it:

• ..., хотя ...

2. Comma before но
   Here но connects two coordinated adjectives:
   • простой, но сытный обед

This is like English:

• simple, but filling

So both commas are normal and expected.

Рано is an adverb meaning early.

It modifies the verb закрывается:

• закрывается рано = closes early

It does not change form here. Russian adverbs are usually invariable.

Compare:

• поздно = late
• быстро = quickly
• медленно = slowly
• рано = early

Usually, yes: обед is the main daytime meal, so lunch is often the best translation.

However, depending on culture and context, it can sometimes be understood more broadly as a substantial meal eaten during the day. In modern learner-friendly translation, lunch is normally safest here.

So in this sentence:

• готовят ... обед = they prepare a lunch / midday meal

The word order is natural and neutral.

• Университетская столовая закрывается рано, хотя в столовой готовят простой, но сытный обед.

Russian word order is more flexible than English, but changing it usually changes emphasis rather than basic meaning.

For example, you could move things around for focus, but the original version sounds normal and straightforward.

The sentence starts with the topic:

• the university cafeteria

Then gives the main fact:

• closes early

Then adds a contrasting detail:

• although they prepare a simple but filling lunch there

So the order is both grammatically standard and stylistically natural.