Quadrangle Club

The Quadrangle Club and Megan Smith, the event coordinator, were an amazing asset for our wedding celebration. Megan was receptive to all my questions and concerns. The food was delicious (I recommend the beef short rib). The wait and bar staff were phenomenal. The space is gorgeous. It has so much character and internal beauty that we did not need heaps and heaps of décor to make the space beautiful. All and all, the Quadrangle Club was the perfect venue for our wedding reception.

I stayed at the Quadrangle Club for 2 nights while visiting the U of Chicago for a review panel meeting. The place is dated but charming. My room was relatively large, the bed was quite comfortable. The bathroom was cramped and oddly constructed, such that it was impossible to reach the light switch upon entering. Shower was effective, and wifi was the speedy U of Chicago network (though rather hard to connect to). The bedrooms are on the third (top) floor of a venue that is used for meetings, dinners, student career networking, etc. The ground floor still has a room called the «Womens Lounge», which tells you something about the history of the place. The best feature is that the location is just excellent if you are visiting the U of Chicago, as it’s right on the campus. Easy walking distance to nice cafes and bookstores, too.

We had our 80-​person wedding at the Quadrangle Club this past weekend and I have to say it was the most perfect wedding I could have asked for! After struggling to find a venue at first, an engaged coworker and U of C graduate told me he was having his wedding at the Quad Club and said I should check it out. What we found was the most comprehensive, reasonable wedding package we had seen. It’s all on their website and Megan, the on-​site coordinator, was professional, knowledgable, and so so sweet. From the moment we walked in, we knew it was THE place. We rented the entire second floor of the venue and reserved all 17 guest rooms on the third floor for our family and friends to stay in. The Quad Club already has tables, chairs, linens, alcohol, and full-​service catering. Even better, they don’t have a restrictive vendor list so you can bring in your own cake, florist, DJ, etc. as long as they have the proper insurance.
The food was great! We had choices of braised short rib, chicken, or gnocchi and got several compliments on all the dishes. We chose the basic 3 hour open bar and our guests were plenty satisfied and toasted by the end of the night. The staff was super friendly and set up all the rooms exactly as requested. The venue is beautiful as is, but when I walked down the stairs for the ceremony, it had transformed into my personal dream wedding space like magic! The guest rooms are homey and spacious. I really can’t say enough good things about this place! It felt like we had our own personal mansion for the weekend. Our guests have repeatedly told us it was one of the best weddings they have ever attended and so much of that is thanks to Megan and the incredible Quadrangle staff!

How weird — I remember eating here in the winter of 1969 (turns out to be January 30^th, 1969, to be precise) with some U of C Physics professors while about four hundred members of the Students for a Democratic Society occupied the U of C administration building close by.

We had our wedding ceremony and reception here, and everything was fabulous! Megan, the event coordinator, was so amazing and helpful. I have a limited diet, as do a number of people who were guests at the wedding, and the Quad Club did an amazing job of accommodating our needs. The food was delicious, the atmosphere was gorgeous, the staff were lovely and helpful, and everything was fabulous. We also stayed at the Quad Club, as did a number of the guests, and the rooms were really nice. I would definitely recommend the food, the accommodations, and the venue in general!

The quad club only survives because of its proximity to the university. I come for dinner with several workshops and the food is bland, overcooked, and slow to arrive. Speakers routinely fail to eat their food and complaints are frequent. 1 star, there are much better options on 53^rd now and I think the competition will either ruin the quad club or force them to change.

I’ve had the pleasure of dining at the Quad Club on several occasions. Most recently, last night, for the wine dinner. I enjoyed a five course meal which was both presented beautiful as well as tasted delicious.
I see the previous negative reviews, which surprise me. It seems that there have been some positive changes to the club. Chef Anthony does an excellent job of putting together an amazing menu. The dishes always exceed my expectations. The staff is always extremely professional and attentive. The atmosphere is charming and fits the campus perfectly.
If you haven’t been to the Quad Club in recent months I highly recommend attending one of the special events they hold to re-​introduce yourself.

We had our wedding ceremony and reception at the Quadrangle Club last month, and it was a fantastic experience from the start of the planning process to the moment the last guest left the reception. We worked with Megan to plan the day, and she was so helpful with answering questions, scheduling tours and tastings, and being our day-​of point person for vendor arrivals. Multiple guests commented that the food was the best food they’d ever had at a wedding! The building itself is elegant and well-​preserved, and the campus grounds provided a beautiful backdrop for photos. Some of my family stayed in the guest rooms upstairs, which are extremely charming (but also definitely ‘vintage’ — which we all happened to like). For a beautiful, unique wedding venue, I can’t recommend the Quad Club strongly enough!

One star for staff — very nice. Was there for a banquet. Take 4 stars away for food. Had this awful beef thing — had fat everywhere — gross. A friend had this vegetarian dish. 10 people at the table. Not one person liked the food.

I’m staying here for one night, and have had a mixed experience. Since the building is so old, the amenities in the room look very rundown, the TV does not work, and finding/​using the electrical plugs in the room is a hassle

Been here twice with varying results. Both times atmosphere was sublime and waitstaff exceptionally courteous.
The first visit everything went as one would expect and I very much enjoyed all aspects of my Cobb Salad.
More recently though the staff badly misplayed my table’s orders to the point they would start to set down food or condiments in front of us, then quickly snatch it away. It was almost comical and our table decided it was a game. This time around I had the quiche which was somewhat bland and under salted.
Still a solid dining experience on campus however.

I held my wedding reception at the Quadrangle Club, and I was quite pleased. My husband sampled the food prior to the wedding as was not impressed. I was a bit nervous because I really wanted the venue since we were getting married at Bond Chapel. Fortunately, the food for the wedding was great! Our guest were more than pleased with it. Most importantly, we loved the service. Megan and Trelinda were absolute dolls. My family wanted to set up the tables for the reception, and the staff pitched right in and made the ballrooom into the most beautiful place I’d ever seen.
They allowed us to check into Quad Club and set up early. This was important because my wedding was scheduled on the same day as the Chicago Bears-​Minnesota Viking home game! Yikes! It allowed us to get ahead of the traffic and get set up.
The venue is beautiful and classic. I would recommend that they choose a wider variety of wines, and a better quality wine list.

If you search Quadrangle Club at the University of Chicago on a Google search you will most likely hit the article toting Chef Chris Turano, who has unfortunately left this establishment for greener pastures. My taste buds have enjoyed his work up until his departure in 2011. In 2012, there was a noticeable change in the kitchen. The quality of the food has declined as well as the flavors. I am surprised and dumb-​founded by the recent reviews because I have experienced both catered and normal service to be poor. At a catered departmental event, an entrée choice was delivered in the form of three flat falafels, 2 inches in diameter that were completely bland. The only edible part of the meal were two broccoli florets that actually saw some salt. Out of starvation you have to consume the brick that is a dinner roll, the 5-​leaf boxed salad with a generous lone cherry tomato, and the chocolate cake. Can’t tell you if the chocolate cake was actually good because anything tastes good when you’re starving.
Most recently, I accompanied an emeritus professor to lunch at the Quad Club hoping for better and receiving disappointment once again. I have learned to keep it simple because who can mess up simple, what food establishment is going to risk poor pasta? The Quad Club that is! Fettucine is pasta in sauce with some vegetables. What I receive is gluten mush because the pasta is overcooked, and terrible sauce. The oil had started to separate from the rest of the sauce. The vegetables again overcooked. At least I tasted something, but it was so forgettable that I can’t tell you what that flavor was.
For an establishment that conveys exclusivity and pretentiousness, please execute, because I too can lay down a white table cloth, pour an Arnold Palmer, and microwave a frozen dinner to achieve my experiences at The Quad Club.

We held a cocktail dinner party here for our 20 year high school reunion. The venue was terrific, the food was delish, the servers were appropriately friendly and helpful and Michelle was of great help. We had a few classmates stay at the hotel at the location and they had nothing but good things to say.
I would absolutely use the venue again in a heartbeat. The ONLY reason they don’t have 5 stars are because the restrooms are on the 1^st floor and the elevator usage is more for freight than guests.

We held our wedding, cocktail hour, and reception at the Quad Club on June 1, 2013, and had a wonderful experience. Michelle and Trelinda were great to work with, which was especially reassuring because I was organizing from our home in New York. We and our immediate families stayed in rooms on-​site as well, and they were wonderful. Catering was great, all the rooms and decoration were elegant and beautiful, coordination (with the help of our day-​of coordinator) was seamless, and the prices were very reasonable. Highly recommend.

My wedding reception was held here, and my husband and I have gotten reports that it was a wonderful night. So despite a few issues, in the end everything paid off.
The place is perfect for the low maintenance couple because they take care of quite a bit for you. They do the meal and bar, they do furniture and furniture coverings, they have a contractor that does the cake so you can take care of all of these aspects at the club. Just come in a couple of times, have some tastes and make some choices. We held our cocktail hour in the cozy library, our 150 person dinner in the main dining room, and the pool table lounge downstairs was open at no extra charge for the kids and teenagers who needed just a little space from their partying parents.
The small issues occurred in the planning phases — my sister, who was pretty much managing most of my wedding planning, had some scheduling and communication weirdness with the coordinator. It was all resolved in the end though. Then one face-​scruncher was the issue of chairs — they tell you upfront that chair covers and other cloth items cost extra. What they don’t tell you is that you’re pretty much gonna have to have chair covers and «extras» because the chairs are old and kind of ugly.
But. Okay, you pony up for the chair covers and you square everything away in advance. What matters is the guests enjoy themselves, and the apps were hearty, the meals were yummy, and the drinks were flowing. The cake was soft, sweet and tasty. Many of my guests left full and tipsy, so IMO a successful evening.

This private club is not just for faculty and staff of the University of Chicago. It is open to the Hyde Park community as well. They have three well-​maintained Har-​Tru clay tennis courts, and new outdoor furniture. There are a variety of tennis lessons for adults and children, and as I rank somewhere in-​between, I may write more about that soon!
The three-​story clubhouse is a welcoming place on the University of Chicago campus. The lounge is home to lively academic (and not so academic) conversations over drinks. Upstairs, is the main dining room and private meeting rooms.
Dining, the reason most of you will have contact here. Executive chef Chris Turano is a great addition, the food used to taste bland and uninspired in years past. Some of the vegetables are from the garden right next to the clubhouse, how’s that for fresh?
The library is a place nearby to read, relax, or have a private conversation, and I’ve taken a short nap or two sitting on the sofa. Further upstairs, there are 17 guest rooms that were recently renovated, but they still retain some of the «charm» they had previously.

I really like this place. So regal, yet there is something academic about it which I can’t put my finger on… I have gone here with my U of C colleagues for lunch and thought that the food is OK, and so is the service. I suspect this is set up more like a banquet style venue than an everyday restaurant. Beautiful place to host an event!

Ah, what a disappointment. The interior is really lovely. High ceilings, lovely layout. But the food is only very okay, the service awful. I was here to have lunch with a faculty member and didn’t have to pay for the meal. Definitely don’t come unless you aren’t picking up the tab either!

My husband and I were here for a wedding reception a couple of weekends ago — it was a lovely space (although I totally slipped on the tile in my high heels) and the food was great. It was also directly across the street from the church, which was very convenient since we were visiting Chicago without a car.
They served appetizers and wine in the library (I agree with Victor — a very cozy room!), and both were excellent. We didn’t know a lot of people there, and we’re kinda shy, so my husband & I ended up browsing the books rather than socializing, which was very entertaining. :-)
The main dinner was held in the banquet room, which was wood-​paneled and warm-​feeling. The service was great, and the dinner was delicious. The highlight for me was the steak — it’s not often that you go to a dinner for 50 people and get a piece of steak that’s still juicy and pink in the middle… normally everything is a little over-​cooked when you’re serving food to a large group.