Lots of students don't give this place a second glance while walking to and from classes, but yes, it is a real restaurant and yes, anyone can eat there! I came here with a campus group for dinner today--admittedly, I would not go alone (and on my own tab). I ordered the black pepper linguini. The best aspects of the dish were the savory duck meat and the noodles, which tasted very fresh and had an authentic texture, as if they were possibly made from scratch and not from a factory. The only bad part of the dish was that it was a little too oily, and the portions were too small! I finished my entree and felt satiated, but not comfortably full. Strangely, a few minutes after finishing my plate my mouth began to feel really peppery, but not in an overwhelming way. Thankfully, we also ordered dessert. I got the strawberry gelato in a chocolate cup. The waiter actually presented the gelato in regular bowls, but promptly brought the chocolate cups out when he witnessed our puzzled faces and asked us if anything was missing. The gelato was extremely, almost overpoweringly sweet and made the chocolate cup taste dull in comparison, but it was fun to eat! The flan with caramel sauce also looked really good. Again, I wouldn't regularly go here for dinner on my own since the average tab is at least $23-25 including dessert. But the lunch and breakfast menu seem more reasonably priced, and perhaps I will stop by when I'm in the area and don't feel like running off campus for food. read more

My wife and I got married here in October and Michelle Viscarra is the BEST! Everything was beautiful and perfect. Better than I could have imagined. Most people don't have high expectations foe wedding food and it was perfect. I will always recommend Michelle and this venue. read more

For an institutional location I imagined much better level of food and service. It seems stuck in the 80's or something. The salad bar has a wide range of stuff and now that they've portion controlled the chicken wings, they don't run out as much. When I'm super busy and haven't brought lunch I dash over but its never really that satisfying an experience. read more

Our daughter's wedding was here last month. Everything from the food to the ambiance to the service was flawless. Amy, the event coordinator and Felix, the manager, made everything go smoothly. All the guests commented on the perfect evening. I can highly recommend this as a fabulous venue for any special occasion. read more

It's very pretty. I'm not sure if you can just eat here though unless you're staff/faculty or invited.

Been here often for lunch and drinks. It's an old building and you can feel the history of the University if you walk around the halls. Heard the hotel sucks but I've never stayed here. Good for groups! read more

We had our 2010 wedding here. Was beautiful. Perfect mix of outdoors/indoors venue casual/upscale. My husband graduated from Cal and our church is just a few blocks from the campus where we had our ceremony, so many of us walked over. Kenna was the go to person for our wedding there and was so knowledgeable and easy to work with. She is level headed and does it all the time so is good at helping make decisions. She let us preview another couples wedding early in their day and we had a wonderful tasting. It was tough getting everyone (about 145 people) to fit and see our head table up by the fire place who were stuck in the back room :( and you have to end everything at 10pm and be quiet because of hotel guests. Kenna coupled with the venue itself made this place a definite 5! Plus, we were married in the summer, so no one really walked by our reception. read more

I have stayed here on several occasions and look forward to coming back. :)

I stay at the faculty club every time I go to UC Berkeley for work. After a while you become familiar with the rooms and request the best ones. The Tower Room is the best, if you can get it. This is a wonderful old building that has had many insensitive remodels over the years - and some wings are just downright tawdry. The Maybeck section of the building is a wonderful, creaky and aged structure. The staff is for the large part very good - as long as you don't confuse the Berkeley manner with arrogance, which it definitely is not. read more

I had an event here about three weeks ago and I have to say it's been one of the best experiences ever!!! Christyl who is the special events manager was very patient and made it a stress free proccess for me. The venue is beautiful with such a historic feel... I would recommend this place to any one ... the staff is extremely friendly !!!! read more

Cannot really complain. I stayed here years ago for an interview and it really puts you in the right mood. Lunch buffet is probably the best value in Berkeley although some of the salads are a bit 'adventurous'. bar and atmosphere in bar is great and the view over the glade is terrific. I should go more often. read more

Good place, not too much expensive. I give only 3 stars because it's old and not realy an hotel. What was amazing was the staff: thank you Randy (not sur of the writting, sorry about that) for the help with my room, thank you Christian for the good choice of beer, thank you all for your kindness read more

The most horrific places I've ever seen. I spent a night there and I couldn't sleep because everything was covered with a think layer of dust. There were spider webs everywhere. The "continental breakfast" consisted of muffins and coffee. There were flies everywhere including the muffins. Disgusting!! read more

Excellent service and food. Had the lunch special at the sit down dining hall. Buffet lunch line has good options too. If you're dining at the bar be sure to try the crab cakes. They are delicious. read more

As a visiting professor, attending a conference, I took advantage of the location and the nice website. The reality is far different. The scholar's room is in a different building from the shower. Have YOU ever experienced walking past a restaurant in your towel to get to your room? Also, the showers are co-ed, so you have to somehow get dressed before a woman (I'm a man) accuses you of exposing yourself. No mosquito protection on the windows and no internal a/c. Never again. I left after the first night and paid more for the Bancroft Hotel, not quite as convenient but only an 5 min walk across campus. read more

No stars. I can not recommend the Berkeley Faculty Club. I have travelled extensively over many years and this is certainly at or near the bottom of places I have stayed. My daughter and I came to Berkeley to attend a concert at the Greek Theatre. We stayed in room 221. It was like being in a horror movie. When we got in the room it was dark and all the windows were wide open. The windows open out like French doors. There are no screens. I pulled the windows shut and tried to latch them closed. The latches were poor quality and not secure. On one window the latch was broken. Not only would the window not shut all the way but anyone could have walked right in. I called the desk and he came and tried to close it. He agreed that it was broken. He said they knew it had been that way for a while. I said you gave us the worst room here. He said it was one of the better ones. He offered to try to tie it closed but didn't seem very positive. I said it wasn't safe. He said they never have trouble. I made it clear I wasn't comfortable but there was no solution. The adjoining building had a door that opened to a flat walking surface that went directly to our window. It was 10:30 at night by now. There was no offer to change rooms. I mentioned the room was very dark. It is all dark old wood. There were a few small lamps that provided little light. When we got to the room only one was plugged in. We had to feel around trying to find plugs and plug them in before we could turn them on. With all three on it was still very dark. There was no security lock or latch on the door. The shower, as someone else mentioned in a review, was like being hit with a fire hose. It went from hot to cold and was not easy to regulate. Also, when we showered or when someone else in the hotel used water there was a horrible loud groaning sound. Rather like a huge cruise ship was heading toward our room. The bed cover looked like it was 50 years old. It looked stained and dirty. My daughter was very hesitant to use the bed but the carpet certainly would have been worse. The bed had sheets and one very thin blanket. With the window open, the room was very cold. We shivered and froze all night. Certainly an extremely miserable night. When checking out the desk clerk asked about our stay. I explained the window, freezing all night, and not sleeping. A man (the manager?) happened back to the counter area while we were talking. He said he would go look at the window. He also said he would give us a discount if we came back. As if that would happen. I noticed in another review the people were not charged for one night because of the problems they had. We had no such offer. I do not recommend staying here. read more

I should have read the reviews. Although none addressed my issue they were not favorable. My advice is STAY AWAY IF YOU EXPECT TO SLEEP AT NIGHT. I was attending a workshop and friends booked me in at the Faculty Club thinking it would be more my style than the local hotels. Beautiful place. but what they didn't know was that the mattresses felt like they were filled with river rocks. Housekeeping assured me that moving to another room would not help as all the beds were equally bad and everyone complained to them. I would have moved to another hotel but it was a stormy weekend and I was too exhausted to coordinate a transfer. My stay in Berkely was ruined. By the way, I am a world traveler and this was the WORST experience I have ever had. The only people attending the front desk were rotating sweet young students. They sympathized but could not help. I have since spoken to management but they were not very responsive. Again...STAY AWAY... PS. Today 3/2. I was called by The Faculty Club Management. I was offered a discount on my bill as a token of good will. Of course, I accepted. However, I do hope this experience is prompting them to take a look at their accommodations. read more

Love this cute little wooden lodging and restaurant straight smack bang in the middle of campus. I walk by Faculty House every morning at 8am to go to class and it's always well maintained. One of my professors treated us to the Lunch Line Buffet once and it was really nice! read more

Very rude on the phone. I called about a reservation and the person was so rude on the phone that I cancelled my reservations. And I'll never be going to the Faculty Club. Terrible example of customer service. read more

THIS PLACE RUINED MY WEDDING EXPERIENCE!!! BEWARE of the wedding coordinator and the manager of the venue. I was a UC Berkeley grad and wanted to get married on the campus where my husband and I shared so many fond memories. While I will say that the venue is a beautiful place and will remain dear to my heart, the wedding service was very DISAPPOINTING! 1) We asked for a cap on the amount of wine to be served but somehow this was not conveyed to the bartender. At the end of the night, we paid almost $2,000 extra in alcohol than we had budgeted. At the end of the day, it was the wedding coordinator's word over mine; it seems that she can do no wrong. 2) Through out the entire wedding planning process, my husband and I were under the complete assumption that the price of meals included the salad. For example, it says on the menu $25 per plate for chicken; we thought that this price included the cost of the salad since NO WHERE on the menu is there a price for salads. (Maybe they added it to the menu after our wedding) The main reason for this misunderstanding is because the wedding coordinator never enlightened us about it and DID NOT EVEN INCLUDE THE PRICE OF SALADS IN THE FINAL ESTIMATE! HER BAD not OURS! This cost us an additional $625 on a bill that was handed over to us at the end of the wedding day after we had paid the balance of our account. RIDICULOUS if you ask me. 3) This awful bill put such a damper on my wedding night as I was SO confused as to why we were charged so much money when we thought we had already paid our bill. THE NEXT DAY, we had to go BACK to the Faculty Club to discuss the issue and we were told there was nothing they could do. We had to wait till the following Monday to speak with the wedding coordinator and or the manager. 4) our compensation for ALL of this- a free dinner for 4 at the Faculty Club. Wow, that was generous! The manager was not empathetic at all to my situation and was adamant his wedding coordinator had made no mistakes. He could not even slightly empathize with the fact that this situation put SO much stress and sadness on my wedding night and the following days until I could see him on Monday. I was so disappointed in him and the coordinator. All in all, the wedding coordinator was not malicious ( I hope) but very absent-minded about very critical information. The fact that the Faculty Club wedding staff could not even admit to their mistakes is VERY ALARMING. Furthermore, the manager of the place is NOT on the customer's side. I hope this review will help spare another bride of the pain I went through. read more

My husband and I chose to get married at The Faculty Club because we met while we were sophomores at Cal. Similar to Kimberly G.'s review, we booked the venue in July 2008 and we found out that construction was taking place at The Faculty Club 2 weeks prior to our wedding date (August 15th). As you can imagine, this came as a shock to us since we hadn't heard about anything until 2 weeks prior. However, I believe The Faculty Club (TFC) did a great job (to the best of their abilities) to accommodate the weddings/events that were taking place during the period of the constructions. Although TFC should have notified their clients sooner, TFC knew that there would be construction going on, but didn't know the exact dates of when it would occur and was the reason why they said they didn't tell their clients. At first I was also very frustrated, but TFC rented fences, plants, etc. to cover up the construction. And we thought the fences looked really nice and actually made the ceremony on the glade more private. We of course had to make a few adjustments such as posting up various signs and balloons to guide the guests around the construction to TFC, but it all turned out fine. TFC was very helpful in the planning process and did a wonderful job the day of the event. They were great about being flexible with the vendor deliveries/pick-ups and took care of the smaller tasks we asked of them (i.e., lighting the candles, helping with storage, providing a resting place for my elderly grandmother). The food also turned out to be better than the dishes we had during our tasting. We had our reception at the Great Hall, and although it seems dark at first, with the proper ribbons/lighting/candles the place can look fantastic. I had wonderful friends and family who helped me with the decorations during the day of the wedding. Everyone had a great time and really thought TFC was a great venue, especially for us since it had a special meaning. read more

My husband and I got married here last month, and picking the Faculty Club as our venue was one of the best wedding decisions we made. We loved being able to have our ceremony outdoors, cocktails on the patio and dinner inside, all at the same location. All the spaces looked beautiful, and we were able to dress things up with bistro lights and uplighting. We were particularly impressed with Erica as a coordinator: she's helpful, has great suggestions and keeps everything organized beforehand and on the big day. I was initially worried that we couldn't bring in our own caterer, but we ended up being very happy with the food quality. Bonus was that we could do our first look photos nearby at the UC Berkeley Faculty Garden! read more

Beautiful amazing place, definitely 5 star. Very nice, exquisite, luxurious, and cozy.

Meredith Paulley and her team did an excellent job at our wedding. We were so impressed by how she coordinated our wedding. It couldn't have run more smoothly. 2 weeks before the wedding, she came on board and took over for the previous wedding coordinator, a very lofty task condensed into a short period of time. We had spent the previous months planning with the prior coordinator, so Meredith was put in a position where she had to catch up big time. She reassured us that the wedding would run smoothly- and she did not disappoint us at all! She coordinated all aspects of the wedding - from stringing bistro lights in the Great Hall, coordinating the meals, the timeline, shuttling guests to and from the parking lot herself, etc. She kept us up to date with quick email correspondence as well. We were really impressed by her! The faculty club was a great venue for our wedding. We had the ceremony outside on the faculty glade, cocktail reception on the deck, and the dinner reception in the Great Hall. We were very pleased with how it turned out. The food was wonderful, and the staff was great! Thanks to Meredith and her team! Two thumbs up :) read more

We held my daughter's wedding here last night and got so many compliments about the beauty of the setting, the delicious food, and the graciousness of the staff who worked the event. We had rooms here along with several other family members and friends. If you are looking for a luxury hotel with modern amenities then this is not the place for you. However, if you appreciate the history of the place and the architecture along with an incredibly wonderful staff you will love it. It's on the campus of UC Berkeley and so you get to meet lots of interesting people who are visiting from all over the world. We planned the wedding ourselves and successfully used Yelp to find all of our amazing local vendors. It was perfect! Thanks Faculty Club. read more

I'm reviewing the Faculty Club as a wedding venue. We have our wedding at the Faculty Club on Sept 8, 2013. It proves to be a wonder experience. The whole setting was just beautiful. We had an outdoor ceremony on the Glade, indoor lunch reception in the Great Hall, and cocktail hour on the patio facing the glade. Most of our guests travelled from outside of the country. We were very happy to hear many of them complimenting the scenery of the venue. I don't think we could find any prettier place to host a wedding in Berkeley. Because we had a morning ceremony, the Campellini was playing at 11am when we were exchanging our vows. It just added so much magic and romance. Price wise, we found the rental package for the Faculty Club was reasonable and affordable. The banquet menu has a good number of choices in terms of appetizers, main course, and dessert. The food tasted quite well, to our surprise, and so did the house wine. Renting the Great Hall has the best value because it gave us a lot more extra room. The Hall itself was already beautiful architecturally, so we didn't need to use any decoration. Overall, I think this place is a best value wedding venue in Berkeley. It is also a great place for wedding photography if you love nature scenery. read more

My finance and I are planning our wedding and have visited here 3 times and met with Kenna twice. She has been very helpful and flexible. The policies of The Faculty Club are more flexible than many similar venues and the facility rates and meal prices VERY reasonable for a Bay Area wedding. We are planning a smallish wedding, 50-60 people, in the Seaborg Room upstairs. It's a lovely room in the old Maybeck wing of the building with windows all along one wall looking out into the trees and french doors along the opposite wall that opens onto a terrace where we'll have an outdoor ceremony and cocktails. No animal heads in sight, just beautiful oaks and japanese maples. We are very excited about the site! We had dinner in the restaurant and the food was delicious, on par with most good Bay Area restaurants. We'll see how the wedding itself goes, I'll update my review after that. read more

Loved this place! It felt like I was in the deep woods but yet we were on campus. I enjoyed the rustic feel of the rooms and the food was pretty good too! Hard to find a parking - but that's campus life. I'm hooked on this place and will go back if I need to be there on campus for business again. read more

I made a reservation on 19th of August for my daughter's move-in on the 25th, i spoke to Dealan, fortunately he told me that there is one bedroom available, I gave him all the information he needs, my name, credit card, billing address & just wait his email for the confirmation, I was so happy coz I know that you cannot find hotel near the campus on that week, after 40 minutes Dealan called me only to inform me that theres no more available room.so how did that happened??, answer...DISCRIMANATION !!!! read more

as a haas student, this place gets a star for convenience. the only thing enticing enough for me to have tried are the burgers - salmon and turkey are pretty good. you can't really go wrong with the grill, i guess. read more

BEST BURGER IN THE BAY!! (and can't beat the price! $5.75 for a fresh burger made to order and criss-cut fries!)

Wow, I had no idea this was a hotel. I've actually always kind of wondered what it is. I've come here after Cal games with my dad, brother, uncle, and some of my uncle's friends. We have before-dinner drinks, and I have really fond memories of the place. However, the food is pretty bad. I recommend eating elsewhere, but go and sit on the deck overlooking a field or enjoy the rustic ambience inside. read more

Amazing venue. We had our wedding here and Michelle, the coordinator, was outstanding. Great food, great service, great everything!!!

I was part of a committee to plan and deliver a major fundraising dinner for a non-profit organization in Berkeley. We chose the Faculty Club because of it's beautiful location and marvelous menu selection. One of the biggest bonuses however was having Meredith as the Event Coordinator. Boy does she know her stuff! Listen to her suggestions in every category! She is a pleasure to work with and made sure that the event flowed perfectly. Everyone had the best time ever! We are very grateful to Meredith and look forward to another over-the-top fundraiser next year. All of her team work beautifully together and every detail is handled to perfection - from table arrangements to candles, music, decor, etc. Thank you to Meredith and your team. You're the BEST! read more

In addition to the buffet option, the Faculty Club features wonderful full-service dining with a selection of fresh organic dishes. My guests not only enjoy the food, but are also appreciative that young children are welcome. The only drawback is that the restaurant is not open on the weekends. Considering some US university dining clubs aren't even operational during the summer, members and guests should really take more advantage of the Faculty Club's facilities. Truly a hidden gem on the Berkeley campus. read more

SHADY staff at the Faculty Club Hotel...and I hope they read this... Stayed here last week. I checked out and forgot my Jacket in the closet. Called exactly 1 hr after we checked out and told them to go to my room and get my jacket and hold it for me. I left my phone number and told them to give me a call. No one calls. I call the next day to speak to the manager. Told him the situation. They found no jacket. So obviously -- either the maid took it, the lady at the front desk who knew we checked out took it, or the old lady that rented my room the next day took it. The manager said he would find out and give me a call. He never called me. I had to check in every other day to hear the same response. Something doesn't sound right here. As a manager Jerry, you need to talk to your staff and tell them that if people leave items in the room, you cannot take them. That is stealing. Also, you need to jump on the situation a lot sooner. It's been 10 days and it seems like you're hoping this situation just dies out. You are failing as a manager and losing all credibility for the Faculty Club. If I was in your shoes, I would have contacted the maid immediately. Tell her, if you took it, please give it back and please do not lie to me because I will fire you. Then, I would ask the girl at the front desk the exact same thing. Then, I would contact the person missing the jacket and inform him of the situation and then assure him you will do the best to track it down or else we will reimburse you the value of the jacket. Something along those lines is what should have been done....but you did absolutely nothing! Your staff is shady. Until I hear of any better news, this review is staying up. read more

My husband and I recently hosted our wedding reception at the Faculty Club on Berkeley's Campus. Needless to say, it was a huge success and a day we will never forget! Initially we fell in love with the location. Who could imagine such a serene and breathtaking venue in the middle of a university campus? It truly is a haven! All of our guests commented on the beauty of the location and venue. The hotel is so convenient and was a perfect place to stay during the weekend festivities. The food was excellent (taste and portions) and was reasonably priced. The wait staff was professional and friendly, and felt like family at the end of the evening. What truly made the experience exemplary was working with the wedding coordinator, Erica. There is no one better to work with than Erica! She is incredibly patient, charismatic, organized, and dedicated. She was an invaluable partner throughout the entire wedding planning process, answering our questions and being open-minded and flexible with our ideas. Even on the day of the wedding, Erica was outside helping her staff set up the chairs for our ceremony. She is a true leader for her staff, and a teammate for anybody planning an event at the Faculty Club. We are thrilled with the way everything turned out for our wedding and fondly reminisce the day. It is one we will never forget, and we are so grateful to Erica for helping us make our dreams come true! read more

My husband and I recently hosted our wedding at the Faculty Club in the Great Hall, and everything exceeded our expectations. The venue was gorgeous, there was ample room to get ready there beforehand, and our guests felt comfortable. Erica, the Special Events Manager, always seemed happy to answer questions and was quick to respond via email (very important when you only have 3mo to plan a wedding!). She was on top of it the day of, attending to details I hadn't thought of (which was key, since we didn't have a wedding coordinator). Every staff member we interacted with was friendly and accommodating. Having in-house catering was also a plus for us, since we were on a very tight time-frame and dealing with as few vendors as possible was important. Pro-tip: They've made a short video with driving directions to the Club. It can be a little tricky to navigate there by car, so encourage your guests to watch it! read more

We have stayed here many times but will probably never return. Quaint and charming, yes. Dark, dim and inadequate lighting, terrible beds and bedding, horrible staffing, yes. This last time, as I was unpacking, I happened to glance out our windows and noticed flowers and tables being set up. A lovely wedding was soon presented just within feet of our beds. But the lovely wedding then turned into a very loud and vibrating party with very loud music and conversations. There was absolutely no way we could sleep. I too made repeated appearances to the front desk in my pajamas to no avail. It really was a terrible evening. Any manager in his/her right mind would know that guests would not be able to sleep under those conditions. We were given no warning, no notification. The entire staff was unhelpful and just short of being rude. Whoever runs this place should be fired immediately and the university should consider this to be either a hotel or event center. read more

I went to UC Berkeley as an undergrad but never knew about this place until my husband and I started planning our wedding. I found TFC on Here Comes The Guide and set up an appointment to see the place. My husband and I initially met with Amy Lovlien who later left TFC. Amy was warm and congenial and you could tell she loved her job. Sadly, after we booked TFC, we were told Amy had left and Meredith took her place. I almost want to take off a star because Meredith didn't last long either and I was freaking out because I kept having to repeat myself as to how I wanted my reception to be. However, Michelle Viscarra eventually took over our event and she was GREAT! Michelle knew how to calm me down and she was very attentive to detail. She did such a great job setting up the reception just like we asked. She let us drop off our decorations the day before and she set them up before our reception. When we got there after our ceremony, the place looked amazing. Our guests raved about how great the place looked and how wonderful it felt to be there. I was also worried that the food wouldn't taste as good as when my husband and I had our tasting, but my worries were for naught! The food was amazing the day of and our guests are still raving about how good it tasted! If you are looking for a reasonably priced venue with great food and great staff, please don't look any farther than The Faculty Club. I highly recommend Michelle and her staff! read more