Harkness Commons

This is a great place to get lunch! There are many options, so there’s something for everyone. The staff are friendly. The menu changes enough that it’s ok to eat here almost every day, if you can afford to.
There are always plentiful vegan choices: On any random day, you can generally get a) veggie burger, b) an elaborate salad from the salad bar, c) pasta, AND d) a rotating vegan entrée, which could be a yummy tempeh dish, a flavorful beans dish, an exotic vegetable dish, etc. I also noticed today that the pitchers of milk put out in the morning for people to put in their coffee include soymilk! :-)

What is it with Hark that everything, literally everything they make tastes the same? Is it some seasoning that magically finds its way into fish, meat or chicken dish prepared by the staff? Add to that lackluster menu, boring salad bar, and occasionally undercooked fish and you have a recipe for a typical subpar campus cafeteria. If it was not for the proximity and the large space, I am not sure how Hark would survive.

What are these students complaining about?
Not to sound like an old geezer, but when I went to Harvard Law School back in the good old days, Harkness Commons was an eyesore. Depressing and drab, it was the complete opposite of what it is today.
Kids today. They don’t know how good they have it.

After loads of construction, the Hark has reopened and is pretty much awesome.
Pros:
— upstairs food area way bigger
— seemingly more food options
— food is taste-​o-​rific!
— different food types are more spread out [meaning lines are more dispersed]
— some seriously amazing housemade cupcakes [this may also be a con]
Cons:
— I find the weekend offerings to be less than great (almost all fried)
— No increase in actual seating
— prices can get a bit steep
— little candies (like Reese’s minicups) are charged per candy, instead of by weight (meaning you end up paying a lot more from them)

HarkBox (1^st floor) and Harkness Dining (2^nd floor) offer some of the best food on/​near campus.
#1. selection: excellent brownies (rich and not oily like the oversized batches sold at the Science Center), salad bar, hot food bar, drinks;
#2. price: $ 1.60 for pastries is about 50% less than what you’d pay at the Science Center and $ 0.44/oz. is less than the $ 7.49-$ 7.99/lb. you’d pay at Broadway Marketplace/​Market in the Square;
#3. service: the cashiers and servers actually smile at you and engage in pleasant conversation, they clean up the display cases, they stock things, (i.e. they’re more awesome than the ones at CGIS/​Science Center);
#4. environment: lots of tables/​chairs, real utensils available (if you choose to bypass the plastic cutlery), outdoor seating when the weather gets nice
Hard-​pressed to find a better option near Harvard Yard. No credit cards… only cash or CrimsonCash.

Here’s what Harkness is good for: running over and grabbing soup and a doughnut when you have places to be and things to do.
It’s slightly expensive and the food is decent, but not great. Located in the middle of Harvard Law School and near the Engineering and CS schools, it’s understandably the «to-​go» place when you want to have lunch with co-​workers. However, I would highly recommend walking the extra half mile to lunch in any number of wonderful Harvard Square restaurants, and get better food for the same price, if time isn’t as much of an issue.
Go after 11am for the 90 cent breakfast pastry special. And I will be the first to admit that their mushroom bisque is *excellent* and something you really have to try. Check out their menu online, and if they have the mushroom bisque, go check it out. If not, skip it and go to the Square!
Also, it’s cash-​only. There’s a Bank of America ATM on the first floor of the building though.