Harvard Gardens

Harvard Gardens is a neighborhood bar and kitchen on Cambridge Street in Beacon Hill, directly across from Mass General Hospital. It opened in 1930 and holds one of the first liquor licenses Boston issued after Prohibition, which gives the room an old-time speakeasy feel. The crowd mixes hospital and area workers with Beacon Hill residents, drawn by a friendly, unpretentious atmosphere, leather banquettes and a long bar.

The kitchen runs from lunch to late night with pub classics such as burgers, haddock fish and chips with sweet slaw, a sandwich with sauerkraut, Swiss and thousand island, and a white pizza with caramelized onions, goat cheese and arugula. At night the dining room glows with candlelight, and the bar pours a good selection of beers, wines, whiskeys and inventive cocktails for a relaxed evening out.

What to Know

• Private events for birthdays, send-offs, rehearsal dinners and office happy hours are booked through Boston’s Best Events.
• Off-site catering can be ordered through ezCater.
• The bar hosts official Colorado football watch parties with the CU Boston Alumni Chapter.
• Sunday brunch is in the works.