Excellent, but half-hearted, meal (5)
I believe the answer is:
super
'excellent' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'half-hearted meal' is the wordplay.
'half' becomes 'supe' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'hearted' means to look at the middle letters.
'meal' becomes 'curry'.
The middle of 'curry' is 'r'.
'supe'+'r'='SUPER'
'but' is the link.
(Other definitions for super that I've seen before include "Prefix meaning above or informally great" , "Exceptional" , "Informally terrific, splendid" , "Peerless" , "Excellent - small-part actor" .)