Cambridge Common is a fitting name for this casual restaurant/bar. Always busy, the popular pub serves up comfort food in mammoth proportions, sometimes sacrificing quality for quantity. Beyond the predictable fare of burgers, sandwiches, and quesadillas, Cambridge Common offers some surprisingly creative dishes such as “portobella pretending to be a burger,” with marinated red peppers, gorgonzola and spinach ($7). All menu items are reasonably priced ($5-13) and family friendly. Appetizers and desserts are their specialty, and favorites such as chili cheese nachos ($6) and their deluxe ice cream sandwich ($10) should not be overlooked. If you want to make a night of it, head for the bar to indulge in the 24 beers on tap. The self-proclaimed “beer geeks” at Cambridge Common offer a great rotating beer list, including delicious microbrews like Magic Hat and local lagers from the Cambridge Brewing Company (pint $2.50-4). Local musicians and artists perform nightly downstairs in the hip and ambient Lizard Lounge (Open M-W, Su 7pm-midnight, Th-Sa 7pm-1am). This section contains information from Harvard Student Agencies' Unofficial Guide to Life at Harvard.

This is an excellent place to enjoy live music. Visit their website to see their schedule and the bands that are performing.

This book shop deals in both rare antiquarian books and new scholarly titles; there is a plethora of used paperbacks, and a great number of hard cover fiction and nonfiction books that emphasize British and American literature.