Harvard Club of New York City

This is a wonderful place for lunch with friends!
Such old-​world elegance in the various club rooms, the great dining hall, the Grill, and the lounges. (a mini-​Downton Abbey on West 44^th Street;)
Each time I’ve been here, the food has been great. The pop-​over breads are delicious and then the appetizers and entrees are more than ample.
It’s so wonderful to be able to enjoy great conversation and food in such an elegant and comfortable ambience.

Sunday brunch is just like breakfast at Grandma’s– if your grandmother is the Duchess of Devonshire. In 1898. Piles of clams, shrimp, rare steak, salmon, pastries, eggs Benedict, French toast, etc., etc. Impeccable service.
The rooftop restaurant is excellent as well. Can’t get a Mersault by the glass anywhere else.

This is a review for events and catering, not the private restaurant or bar.
I’ve been in charge of hosting a few events here. Event staff on the floor is generally on their game and helpful, event admin was… ok. Not bad, not great. But Ok. Meeting spaces are old school yet updated with dark wood and modern amenities. Personally, for what I was planning for it was pretty perfect.
After hosting multiple events I can safely say the food is pretty bland for their banquet situations. I felt exceptionally bad for the vegetarians dining with us. So that’s one star off the top.
And while it’s not cheap in general, I’ve found it to be (sadly) competitive by event space pricing. When you are playing $ 80 a head for some chicken, it would be nice if it could be something you actually wanted to eat.
Second star is lost due to the internet situation. As mentioned in other posts, the $ 750 fee only lets ten or so people online. I guess if you have Harvard or corporate money that isn’t a big deal.
Would I book a business event here again? Yes. It is a totally OK place to make something happen. Probably not great for weddings, but if you’re Harvard… why would you have your wedding here?

I was an a very nice event… the atmosphere was great but the buffet was presented in such a way I couldn’t tell what I was eating. I couldn’t quite decipher the taste of some items – which made me upset because I don’t eat red meat or seafood. Speaking of which, the prefix meal options were a seafood dish and a red meat — I asked the waiter if there was a vegetarian option and he said yes. I said – great! Everyone got their meals — everyone with a little bit of vegetables on the side… When they took my plate an hour later, I asked if what they meant by «yes we have vegetarian» is that I’ll only get the few pieces of broccoli. The waitress apologized, even though I already told one waiter and one waitress that I was waiting for a vegetarian dish.
I would have eaten the filet mignon over eating no dinner!
BOO, Harvard Club.

The Harvard Club of New York City appears more lively than the other ones — The Yale Club is a bit quiet for me, food and service at the Cornell Club is a bit «meh,» but the Harvard Club really gets things right.
Food: the selection is superb! All events that I’ve ever attended were well-​catered. There is a lot of attention paid to detail — the presentation is almost always perfect, the temperature is just right, even though the food may be sitting open at a buffet table, and the buffet area is always quite clean.
Service: servers are responsive here, and many of them can be fun! Such helpful people work here!
Décor: let’s just say it’s very, very Harvard inside — so fitting for its name.
It’s always a pleasure to be here and I’ll be back!

Classic Harvard décor, delicious food, and a fantastic alcohol selection. The Harvard club is definitely worth visiting, particularly when you’re missing your alma mater.

Try the new rooftop bar. It’s a little overpriced compared to nicer rooftop bars in the city since the view isn’t that great, but Monday nights there are discounted drinks for young alumni. It’s also not too crowded, which is a plus in the city.

Best Lobster Cobb Salad I’ve ever had. Actually, the only Lobster Cobb Salad I’ve ever had. But I can’t wait to go back and have another!

an experience you have to have! I absolutely loved it here. it’s exactly as you would expect with the name the Harvard club! exceptional service!!!

Nice swanky upscale establishment. Great place to bring a lady. Great food and good entertainment.

Popovers all day long. But the staff is pretty outrageously stodgy and old fashioned so beware.

The Harvard Club is one of those New York institutions that you just need to experience at some point. It’d been years since I was last in the space, and I went for a gala benefitting a wonderful not-​for-​profit. Harvard Club events are meticulously planned, organized, and executed. From registration, to coat-​check, to all around service, my experience was absolutely terrific.
What’s more, the space is absolutely lovely: grand, traditional, formal in every sense of the word. It’s the perfect venue for so many different types of events. And, well, they’ve great dining options! It almost makes me wish Stanford had its own club in New York… some day!
Until then, I’ll have to keep crashing at this sweet spot – it’s very, very nice!

Quite nice in terms of the venue, staff and service. The food service was lovely. Perfect for lectures and special events.

Great service in both the restaurant and the gym. I was a summer member here to use their gym which has great equipment and very spacious. They have complimentary water like a normal gym but their water had orange slices and slices of cucumber in the water. How more Harvard can you get? The locker rooms are also very nice. The women’s locker room has leather seats and couches in front of the tv, phone chargers, very nice showers, steam and sauna and the fluffiest towels. The staff at the gym is very knowledgeable and squash specialist.

You have to be a member to get in, but I had a special circumstance. I took fool advantage. Its amazing, I fully understand why, its members only. the Décor is off the chain.
the service was major league type of stuff.
The giant stuffed elephant head, made you know this was exclusive.
grilled octopus was heaven. its what made it all so special.
did i mention it had a giant stuffed elephant head hanging?

an EXCLUSIVE club in NYC, you’ve gotta know someone or be a contributing alumni of Harvard
GREAT FOOD but for such an exclusive & «classy» club w/​its dark wood décor the service was VERY amateur… our waitress was reading the daily specials off a ripped piece of paper. & service was plain awkward.
–complimentary bread basket: go for the POPOVERS! Mmm buttery
–lobster bisque: nice starter
–grilled octopus: this was nice w/​a lemony touch, very filling
–rhubarb tart with vanilla ice cream: chewy crust, not bad but not the best tart i’ve had
sorry I don’t have pictures, but i wanted to keep the dinner professional & there’s no cell phone usage in the dining area!
NOTE: there’s also a bar here w/​bar snacks like pretzels on the side

Our team organized a gala event last Tuesday at HCNY and wow. The entire experience was a very good and orchestrated with impressive precision. Thomas, the catering coordinator was courteous and helpful every step of the way. Some hick-​ups of course but for a 300+ person event, the entire night was very smoothly run.
Sadly I never got to try the lamb hor d’oervres (and I hear they’re fantastic) but everything else I tried was tasty and well prepared. Our guests were happy and, therefore, so am I.

Beyond underwhelmed by my experience here. Went to look at an event space for a prestigious client and was floored by how rude the man in charge of events was. He acted as though he was doing me a favor by showing me the space instead of treating me like a potential customer.
He said we’d have to pay $ 750 to use their wifi — and the strange part is that he wasn’t even kidding. Oh, and when I mentioned that other venues don’t charge for wifi his response was, «People are just happy to have their events here — we don’t need to be competitive with our pricing.» I almost vomited, but opted to just walk out instead… and straight to The Yale Club (they were wonderful).
Very disappointed and obviously not using the space for the event.

Eh… this place rubbed me the wrong way. I came here for an alumni event for my school (not Harvard). At the event, it was not a cash bar, but one of those set ups where you have to buy drink tickets to get your drinks. I bought a handful so I wouldn’t have to wait in line for more tickets. Towards the end of the event, they removed the alcohol without warning or last call, leaving a bunch of us with tickets in our hands. No more beer, no refunds on tickets, no apology, do not pass go, do not collect $ 200 dollars. I mean, really. Just give me what I paid for or give me my money back.

Came here for a Food Network Festival event — great hospitality and amenities.
Lots of wood paneling everywhere, carvings all over the walls, large portraits hanging on them, and busts of safari animals. Yup, must be a club. Great space to hang out and lounge about.
The executive chef was real nice to talk to, and he presented some great pastries to try out (amongst the other tables present at the event).