Greenhouse Coffee Shop

70. 12-8 Greenhouse Coffee Shop 3 Brattle Street. Summary: Superb location, crowds to match, food nothing special, a bit expensive.

Location, location, location. Greenhouse Coffee Shop is the most central of all restaurants in Harvard Square - none are closer to the subway stop or the two newsstands. As a result, this restaurant gets a tremendous amount of folk who are hungry and need food NOW.

It was packed when I visited - the same day as the high school Model UN at Harvard was starting. Teams representing various countries crammed around tables on this very cold day, chatting about strategy, tactics, and (sometimes) normal high school stuff. One wouldn't say there was much atmosphere, but at least it was bustling.

The servers were very busy, but they kept up with the order volume.

The food was fair. There is a large menu with a lot of basic, home-style food on it. I had a chicken soup, a grilled chicken sandwich with fries, and an iced tea. The soup was OK, the sandwich dry, the fries had batter on them (which I hate). On a cold day it did the trick, but it certainly wasn't anything special.

Total price: $15, including tip. Too high for the food and atmosphere.