Melchett, like you, I enjoyed my life in the Mess as a Junior Officer and wish we could recreate that cameraderie - a cross between membership of a Lodge (apparently) and Animal House!
A couple of years back I visited a colleague who was undertaaking a fellowship at an Oxbridge College. He took college digs - excellent 2-room suite with its own bathroom and toilet - and serviced daily. Meals were taken in the Great Hall - albeit with a swipe card - but served - proper crockery, silverware and expected (and enforced) standards of dress and behaviour. The food was excellent and Formal Hall (which I attended as a guest) was as every bit impressive (and as fun) as a Dining In night of days of yore. The costs? The same (at the time) of a liver-in in a typical RAF (not Army) mess. Facilites and accommodation were well maintained and modern. The college in question had considered out-sourcing catering, but apparently anticipated that the loss of tradition and quality would not be worth the effort.
How can we get this wrong? All the concerns raised by other posters were considered over the last 8 years that CRL has been developed and now implemented. They were all dismissed.