Inn at Harvard Square

1201 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
(617) 491-2222

Official Website

Yelp Reviews (Hana's is amazing!)

Google Map

The Inn at Harvard Square is Harvard's own hotel. A place for conferences, visiting parents and the businessmen who are trying to charm the brainiacs over the road. Whilst Harvard can boast having some of the finest minds and finest buildings in the world, it's hotel is far from a luxury masterpiece and instead has a more utilitarian feel to it. It certainly doesn't come across as a romantic hotel or a high-end destination so it actually came as quite a surprise to see "Tea in the Atrium" loudly proclaimed at the top of the dining section of their website. But that's enough for us, our booking was made and we were there on a summer Saturday afternoon.

Tea is served in the atrium - the light-filled four-storey neo-renaissance (think Venice) centerpiece of the hotel. At the ground level this pretty atrium contains the lounge and the dining tables for lunch, dinner and tea. Some art work and statues are also present but the walls on the levels above are somewhat bare. There is no music in the atrium, leaving it to only echo the sounds of the lounge's TV.

Tea is served everyday for 20 dollars per head. It consists of a small selection of the usual teas (and coffee is offered too - NO!!) with some typical tea sandwiches, scones, jam, lemon curd, fresh berries and gourmet cookies.

Tom...
It was pretty obvious once we were seated here that we were the first people to have ever asked for afternoon tea. We were even awkwardly asked if they could take some photos of us for their own website. Their camera battery was dead though. Little did they know that we were secret critics and wouldn't be giving them a favorable review.

The tea selection was nothing special - a little mudane, but the china cups that the tea was served in were gorgeous and refills were always coming. The atrium is potentially a great place to have tea, but as we were the only people there it really had no atmosphere at all and quickly the classical decorations began to look trite and embarassing.

I really wasn't impressed with the food selection. Dull sandwiches on bread that had been left out too long and large portions of cookies that had probably been bought round the corner at the last minute. Cookies! Coffee! This should be afternoon tea, not Starbucks. With the lack of any other tea-takers on a saturday, the staff asking if they can take a photo and the poor food offerings I think it may well have been their first ever attempt at serving afternoon tea (despite advertising it on their website). It was not a good first time for me.

Hana...
Being the Boston Teacup, we were truly excited to find another site that serve afternoon tea. From the descriptions on their website, this place sounds like it has potential. However, it was anything but. What they call "gourmet cookies" were actually chocolate chip cookies, and we were offered way too many of them. It was perphaps to cover up for the missing cakes that would usually come with afternoon tea event.

The service was very poor and unprofessional from the beginning. Once arrived and announced we were there for afternoon tea, we were told to seat ourselves, despite being not busy at all. Where? Which table? It was confusing. Furthermore, the food was brought out right away, obviously being prepared well in advanced. It was the same wishy-washy service when it comes to asking for our tea selection, without giving us a menu. In the end, so while we were having afternoon tea, our server was watching TV, going out for a smoke, chatting with other staff, and never really cared to come back and check on us. We all had a relaxing summer day.