Category: | Restaurant, |
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Address: | 551 S Hill Ave, Pasadena, CA 91106, USA |
Zip code: | 91106 |
Website: | http://www.athenaeumcaltech.com/ |
This hotel is the classic and boasts lots of interesting photos of alumni such as Albert Einstein and Linus Pauling. there is a dress code that is fancy. The dining Halls are very elegant and extravagant. The food was just okay. It's a great meeting place and the hotel rooms were relatively simple but clean enough.
Members only. The Rathskeller is just okay: the mixed drinks are always weak, the pool table is broken (as are all the pool cues), and the basement is always sweltering. The Haymen Lounge is in contrast very elegant, with wonderful drinks and complimentary snacks. A la carte dining is mostly good, depends on what you order. The Athenaeum periodically has wine, beer and spirits tastings that are amazing!
Chinatown or LA Confidential could have been filmed there. In the center of the impeccably served dining room sits a table set for 10 or 12 and that is reserved for the resident Nobel Prize winners at Cal Tech. The word 'class's doesn't cover it.
The Athenaeum is the private Faculty dining club for Cal Tech University (the MIT of the West.) You can't get in without a host who is a member. The architecture is glorious, service is attentive and skillful. Food is the best of class. It's a remarkable experience to dine here. You feel that Nobel prize winners could be next to you at the buffet.
Great Christmas buffet, probably 5 tables of different food and dessert.
Have a little history of going here with family around Christmas time. Sign up for a time slot shortly after labor day. This year we went at winter solstice. Always dark and chilly this time of year, people dress their best, take photos around the Christmas tree and on the steps inside and out.
It's a private club, so member and guests only. If you really want you can buy a membership (see their website for details).