The University Club of San Francisco Reviews

We couldn't be happier having our wedding at the University Club in April 2023. The moment we met Yvonne we knew that the University Club was the right venue for us. She is so friendly, knowledgeable and relatable. We knew that she was going to make our wedding wonderful with as little stress to us! Yvonne handled everything with ease and worked so well with our other vendors so our wedding day went flawlessly. Everyone at the University Club is so friendly and accommodating. The head bartender met with me the day before the wedding to make sure everything was perfect and she made sure I had a drink in my hand all night. The front desk staff are so helpful and made our guests feel welcome all weekend. Our guests still talk about the delicious food they had. The appetizers are amazing and the prime rib/salmon station was a huge hit. My personal favorite was the mushroom ravioli, we want to come back just for that ravioli! Everything is made onsite so the food is hot and timed perfectly with the evening. Being a more all inclusive site saved us so much hassle, not needing to worry about rentals and additional vendors showing up on time. Knowing they've done this so many times saved so much anxiety! For being an upscale venue in the heart of San Francisco, they are a very reasonably priced wedding venue, with no hidden fees at the end! Pick the University Club and dazzle your guests with delicious food and stunning views of San Francisco!

We loved our wedding at the University Club. Beautiful view and a magical wedding. Yvonne is wonderful to work with, and we're so glad we did our wedding here. The food was also delicious. We will have beautiful memories and pictures to look back on forever.

I would highly recommend this gem of a venue. I loved working with the day of coordinator, Yvonne (my fairy day of coordinator should I say), throughout the wedding process. Let me also mention, everyone we talked to and worked with at the UC were just so beyond wonderful and helpful. The venue with the breathtaking skyline will surely blow your wedding guests away! AND THE FOOD!!! Okay, usually wedding food is never that good at a wedding....the food at the UC is amazing!!!!!!!! Everyone raved how delicious the food was and how it was the best wedding food they ever had.

I don’t have any negative things to say about the University Club of San Francisco because having my wedding here really was the most positive experiences one could ever ask for. I really mean it when I say this is highly recommended!

We held our wedding reception at the University Club of San Francisco in July and are so glad we did! We couldn't have thought of a better venue to host our wedding reception; this included cocktail hour, buffet meal and dancing and drinks. This place is a hidden gem!

Apart from the amazing interior and classic SF feel to the venue, we wanted a venue that would feel very 'San Francisco' since many of our guests were coming from the UK - the cable cars just outside, the black cat bar, the wooden panels, the view from the third and fourth floor balcony did exactly that.

We had a really tight budget and this venue was exceptional value for money. It was really important for us to find a venue that had lots of inclusions rather than a blank canvas; being a couple from the UK we needed to make sure the venue was a stress free as possible so wanted somewhere that had venue coordination, linens, silverware, chairs, bar staff, on site catering - these guys pretty much had everything! Even down to the smaller details like candles, a cake stand and an easel for our seating chart.

Yvonne was so helpful throughout the whole process, she is obviously very experienced and answered our questions at all hours no matter how big or small. She helped us put together a timeline and was there on the night itself to help co-ordinate everything.

On the day itself we were safe in the knowledge that the room, the cake and our decorations would be set up perfectly and that the evening would run to time - we had nothing to stress or worry about and just enjoyed ourselves the whole night. The groom was even able to have getting ready shots in the library and the photos are just amazing.

A special mention needs to go to the FOOD; our guests have not stopped talking about how amazing it was; notably the vegetarian buffet options and the Steamship Round! That's definitely a way to make the wedding guests happy!

We really did have such a perfect wedding reception and were so impressed by the customer service, the final touches of the room set up, the dedication of the staff - our guests were so impressed by this stunning location, it is definitely a place to remember!

We’re so glad we decided to have our wedding at the University Club. It was a fantastic experience from start to finish. Here are some reasons why:
-The planning and execution went really smoothly. Over the year leading up to the event, Yvonne answered our myriad questions and requests via email and during our walk-through and tasting. On the wedding day itself, everything went like clockwork. All the furniture, decorations, and food showed up in all the right places at the right times, and whatever behind-the-scenes machinery made that possible was virtually invisible to us and to the guests.
- The location is superb. It’s close to Union Square, but far enough to feel less urban and to offer some pretty iconic vistas along the adjacent cable car routes.
-The views of the city skyline through the massive windows provided a magnificent backdrop to the ceremony, dinner, and reception. It made the whole event feel super open, and it was a special treat for our out-of-town guests. At times, it felt almost as if the dance floor was outside and we were floating among the highrises of FiDi.
-The food was terrific. After hors d'oeuvres during the cocktail hour (potstickers strongly recommended!), we had a buffet dinner. Our guests loved everything -- from the salmon and prime rib to the roasted vegetables and cheese tortellini. They plated the appetizers and dinner for us, so we actually got to eat some of the food!
-The space is clean, well furnished, and elegantly decorated. Between the main hall/dance floor, the balcony, the game room, the bar, and the library, there are so many great spots for guests to hang out in. Having a variety of areas made the reception especially vibrant and fun, and gave people plenty of options if they wanted to take a break from the dance floor.
-Being able to have both the ceremony and reception in the same place, and being able to stay over and get ready in a room at the Club, was very convenient -- it allowed us to focus on the main activities and people of the day rather than worrying about transportation.

All that said, there are a couple of areas for improvement:
-Some of the guest rooms were outdated. While the beds are comfortable, the rooms can be loud due to cable cars outside or events (like weddings) upstairs
-Parking can’t be booked in advance and is first-come-first serve for an additional fee. Every time you want to access your car you need to check out/return a remote-control gate opener.

Overall, the pros FAR outweighed the cons. If we could get married (to each other) all over again, we would absolutely choose to do it at the University Club!

Planning our wedding at the University Club was the best decision we could have made. Yvonne was responsive, friendly, organized and accommodating to our last-minute changes and requests. Nolan and the day-of front desk staff member were helpful and also responsive with assisting with a room block and day-of coordinating. The University Club is a beautiful venue and Yvonne and her team went above and beyond to ensure everything was set up properly. The day ran incredibly smoothly due to their attention to detail. The level of service and professionalism was outstanding, and the price was incredibly reasonable for their quality of work. Our guests loved the beautiful venue, the food and the space the University Club offered. They really made our day very special!

We got married at the University Club on June 15 this year and we honestly wish we could do it all again (okay, maybe minus the logistical stress) just so we could go back to the UClub and dance the night away! Having our wedding here (ceremony and reception) was without a doubt one of the best decisions we made. From the food (delicious! plentiful! seriously Bay Area restaurant-quality--not boring wedding food), to the space (vintage vibes, amazing views of the city, gorgeous library, and also shout-out to the beautiful wallpaper), to the staff (professional, organized, super communicative and responsive)--we could not have been more thrilled!

A word on the staff here: Emily and Yvonne are rockstar coordinators and we were lucky enough to have both of them working the floor the day of our wedding! We had a very specific idea of what we were going for (vintage-tiki-glam), and brought in what felt to me like a lot of extra stuff (colored votives, tiki mugs, lots of paper goods and other personal touches). We also hired several vendors who had never worked an event at the UClub before (Helena and Laurent--photographers; Dart Collective--dj; The Alcatraz Islanders--live music). All of those things could have been super stressful or disorganized, but it was FLAWLESS. We talked a bunch with Emily before the wedding, met with her a couple times to walk through the space, and the day of, all we had to do was show up. My husband keeps saying that he felt like a guest at his own wedding, which I don't think is the norm, and speaks to the professional, calm, and organized (and fun!) demeanor of the staff here.

Oh, and we had two specialty tiki cocktails and we sent Emily the recipes and the bartenders executed them PERFECTLY. When we went for our tasting, they made us both to try and gave us advice about one of them (maybe too strong) and we chose another recipe. They were stellar!

A few other notable things (there are seriously so many!): Right after the cocktail hour as people were going downstairs to dinner, Emily brought us a plate of all the appetizers and our cocktails so that we could sit for a minute in the library and collect ourselves. This was SO APPRECIATED. A lot of the staff stayed late the night before setting up the space with all our decor, and it looked incredible when we came the next day. Seriously, I was blown away. We dropped off about a million colored votives and they had them (and all our other decorations) arranged beautifully around the whole space. There was a little snafu the week before the wedding with the number of linens I had ordered from La Tavola (this was my mistake, not the UClub's), and Emily and Yvonne took charge and took care of it and it was solved! (The UClub provides white linens but we wanted color which is the only reason we rented them.) They let us keep all our stuff in the coat room until Monday when we had time to go back and pick it up, which was a huge lifesaver and kept us from having to worry about it the night of our wedding. Oh, and she packed up boxes of cake for us to take with us at the end of the night, which was super thoughtful.

Finally, I had a LOT of questions for Emily in the year leading up to the wedding, and she always answered them all thoughtfully, and the answers were essentially always, "Yes, that's great!" or "Yes, we can do that!" or "Yes, we'll take care of that for you!" I can't overstate how valuable her attitude and expertise were to us. She handled all the logistical things (eg: floorplans...I have no idea how to do that) and was enthusiastic and accommodating about all my ideas. In sum, we couldn't be happier to have gotten married at the University Club and we can't wait to start going to other events at the Club because we love it so much now!

I should be relaxing on a beach enjoying my honeymoon in Maui right now but I had to write this review praising Emily and the rest of the university club team. Our wedding was truly the best day of my life and everything was handled with such precision and smoothness by the amazing Emily! I didn’t have to worry about a thing! Things guests raved about:
1) the food wasnt just good for “wedding Food” — it was absolutely wonderful. People complimented us all night.
2) the view is spectacular. Rain, shine or cloudy, you can’t beat the skyline. Out of town guests especially loved it.
3) the venue itself is just so lovely and had so much charm. You really don’t need to add much decor.

Things I loved:
1) Emily is a lifesaver and a godsend! She literally took care of everything day of so I didn’t need a separate coordinator. She also kept us on track during the course of events.
2) there are 2 floors so people can move around and there’s a great flow to the place
3) the library was the perf place for photos
4) the dramatic door opening for the bridal walk. Easily the best moment of the day — as a bride, it’s really magical to see all of your friends and family smiling at you in that moment.

This is the perf venue if you’re:
- trying to be somewhat budget conscious
- want to wow your guests
- seeking a chill but guano atmosphere
- want delicious food
- want an absolutely beautiful showstopper wedding

Yvonne, Yvonne, Yvonne. I can't stress enough how much she made our wedding the success it was - she thought of EVERYTHING and kept me so calm. She is simply amazing. I have no doubt she is the reason the club has such exquisite events and is the core of production. I hope you value her as much as we did (and still do!!!!).

We were recommended the University Club by a friend and couldn't be happier. First the venue itself is beautiful, perfectly located in the middle of San Francisco and offers breathtaking views of the city. We had a number of visitors from out of town and I think all of them took pictures of the city from the balcony. Second, the services provided by the University Club were top-notch. The food was amazing (we received multiple compliments, including from my uncle who doesn't like anything), there was never a line at the bar and so many little things were on point. Finally, and most importantly to us, the staff there was just perfect. Leading up to the day they answered questions, worked with our budget and had recommendations for vendors. Wedding planning is inherently stressful and the team at the University Club helped to keep that at a minimum. Then there was the day of. Just wow. Everything went so smoothly from start-to-finish. They did an amazing job of making the day magical for both of us This was one of the best decisions I have made in my entire life. Hands down.

I can’t say enough good things about The University Club of San Francisco. This venue MADE our wedding. Not only is it an INSANELY gorgeous venue with an uninterrupted view of the San Francisco skyline, but also they were incredibly professional and easy to work with. Yvonne in their event planning division was amazing—I was an overwhelmed bride who didn’t know the first thing about planning a wedding, but she made the process easy and simple. She was reachable at all hours of the day if I had any questions and she had great insight into what was needed to make our day run smoothly. I didn’t have to worry about anything on the big day thanks to her! The food and drinks were DELICIOUS. The hotel accommodations were PERFECT. We couldn’t be happier with our experience at The University Club of San Francisco and can’t recommend them enough!!

Wedding planning is a stressful affair. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. But it’s a great life lesson that if you surround yourself with the right people, you can do anything.

That’s a roundabout way of saying that to pull off a wedding in this day and age, you need a good planner. My now-wife and I are both physicians, so juggling our insane work schedules (lots of weekends, nights, and early mornings) is a frustration in and of itself. That said, Yvonne made a valiant yearlong effort of handling our paranoid late-night text messages and near-constant barrage of emails towards the end of the journey, mixing in her expertise as the University Club’s wedding coordinator with humoring our petty demands on quite a few issues.

From the start, she connected us with a number of vendors who have previously worked with the U Club, and this was an excellent idea as our photographer knew when to capture the best city skylines (seriously, the view from the club is absolutely insane) and our florist rocked the arrangements in the venue. Her encyclopedic understanding of the space (Yvonne has memorized the time of sunset for each month, since that’s the best time to have the ceremony) and repository of prior wedding photos and vendors also allowed us to imagine exactly what our special day would look like.

As for the club itself, the space is an extremely charming, historic institution clad in aged wood paneling, stained glass, and turn-of-the-century wallpaper. “Classy” is the appropriate adjective here, yet once the sun goes down, the incomparable views of the modern SF skyline from the building’s colossal full-wall windows leave no doubt where in the world you’re dining. And speaking of food, we chose options of filet mignon, Chilean sea bass, and a dizzying array of vegetarian (and vegan) choices, which were all marvelously (and artfully) assembled.

All in all, we could not have asked for a more romantic, unforgettable location to say “I do”. A huge thank you to Yvonne and the University Club for making our special day perfect.

Our wedding reception at the University Club was flawless. From the moment you walk in, you are welcomed and met with a sophisticated level of professionalism by all staff. The location is perfect and the floor to ceiling windows on the 3rd and 4th floor provide a breathtaking view. The entire building is yours for the duration of the event and this (as opposed to a hotel wedding where you have one banquet room) was a huge selling point for us. We knew this would make our guests feel comfortable and gave us the freedom to really make the space ours. The elegant space, featuring large leather couches, beautiful wooden floors, 10 feet+ tall fireplaces, elegant chandeliers, and Library Room are reminiscent of a smoky steakhouse where you find yourself slinging back martinis amongst other fellow patrons.
The drinks pour heavy and the food is exceptional. Order the prime rib - you won’t regret it!

Yvonne and the staff are top notch. My husband and I are true native San Franciscans and it was important for us to show our guests what a true San Francisco wedding can be. We contacted multiple types of venues (event spaces, restaurants, hotels, etc) in the city and not a single one of them met the level of service and responsiveness as Yvonne. Yvonne never failed to respond immediately to our never ending stream of questions. She even had no problem with us corralling a 15 piece brass band into the space. She truly left us feeling 100% confident for the day of. Yvonne really sealed the deal for us!

If you want a worry free, beautiful, fun and memorable reception, we highly recommend the University Club as you will be blown away!

We checked out a few different locations in San Francisco for our big day and the University Club ticked all the boxes for us. We worked with Yvonne who was very flexible and easy to reach. Our guests loved the venue. We chose medium cooked fillet steak as one of our main entrees and got a lot of good reports about this dish from our guests. The guests also loved the balcony :-)

We chose the University Club for their amazing views of the downtown San Francisco skyline and were completely blown away! Its location along the cable car route made for some incredible photo ops! The food was outstanding and we received numerous compliments from our guests. We loved how accommodating the chefs were. Several guests had celiac disease and the kitchen worked very hard to make sure everything was gluten free without cross-contamination. And our vegan guests raved about the quality of the vegan options. Service was prompt and everything went off without a hitch. The guests couldn't believe the transformation from the ceremony to the reception and then into a retro video game arcade with dancing! We still couldn't believe it ourselves. Magical. The on-site guest rooms made everything so much more convenient for us and our family who all came in from out of state. We had a few things shipped to the venue ahead of time and they had no problem keeping them safe until our wedding day. A huge thank you to Yvonne for guiding us through the process of putting together such an ambitious event and working so well with all our other vendors!

Booked this Venue based solely on the incredible views, decor, and venue size, without giving much thought to the food options or coordinators (not an ideal situation), but everything at the University Club did not disappoint. We were able to book this venue and work with Yvonne to plan a wedding in less than a year. From the menu tasting, to getting floor plans, and venue visits there was complete transparency when planning with Yvonne and we were able to bring in preferred vendors and also vendors of our own. Yvonne and staff performed exceptionally and above expectations on our big day.
TIP: If you are interested in this venue, don't miss their annual wedding fairs where you can see the entire space and also try some of their delicious food.

The University Club was a terrific wedding venue. Our guests loved its unique character and the intimacy it created. Yvonne was an amazing coordinator, which was important to us as we were planning our wedding from the opposite coast. Everything went smoothly thanks to her excellent recommendations, wealth of experience, and attention to detail. We couldn't be more pleased with how our wedding went!

Such a hidden gem for weddings in SF! These people are real professionals (Yvonne is amazing! ). Venue has this great East-Coast charm mixed with Classic SF - certainly something different for a bay area wedding. Food here is amazing and we had guests raving about it, plus they are incredibly flexible with addressing the needs of your wedding. They treat their staff like family and it totally shows in the level of professionalism you receive here. Totally reasonable in terms of pricing for an SF and Bay Area wedding venue - our family was impressed by the final bill and thought we paid another $10 to 15K more. Don't hesitate to go with this - we looked at several options (including the City Club) and the University Club won by a mile.

Absolutely loved having our wedding reception at the University Club. Yvonne was amazing and incredibly helpful with the planning and the day of details. Such a beautiful venue; spacious with amazing food and friendly staff!!! We arranged to have a cocktail hour on the 4th floor, then dinner on the third floor, followed by dancing w band on the fourth floor. Perfect set up!. Highly highly recommend.

We can't begin to express how amazing The University Club was! Our wedding turned out beautiful and our guests continue to rave about how excellent and majestic the venue was! The unique layout and the beautiful view really captured our guests' hearts. The service was EXCELLENT. Everyone was so warm and friendly and truly wanted to take care of us and our special day. The quality of the food was some of the best food we have ever eaten and they were great to accommodate any requests that we had. The surprise was also when we got our bill and saw how AFFORDABLE everything was. We plan to come to University Club every year to celebrate our anniversary. We highly recommend this place.

We would choose The University Club a thousand times over again for our wedding. The venue a gorgeous, classic San Francisco, venue with beautiful sweeping views and the staff is even better. Yvonne is a total rockstar. Everything, and I mean everything, was taken care of from planning to execution and throughout the entire night. I really can't recommend this venue, or Yvonne, more. Host your wedding or event at The University Club, you'll be so happy you did!

We are so grateful from the professional service we received. Yvonne was always available for any questions we had and the timing from start to finish at my daughter’s wedding was perfect in every way!

Having our wedding at the University Club of SF was the BEST DECISION we made!! As soon as we toured the venue, we knew it was the one. We were blown away by the elegant interior and beautiful city views. We also liked how there were several different spaces within the club that could be utilized during the wedding (library, game room, lounge, dining room) so that it felt like different portions of the evening could take place in different spaces.

Upon booking the venue, Emily Mattison-Earls (director of sales and catering at the UC) was amazing to work with! She was super responsive, patient, calm, and an all around cool person to be around! Her help coordinating the logistics of our wedding day was essential and put our mind at ease.

She went above and beyond to ensure that our wedding day was a rousing success and one of the best days of our lives! Her constant calm, helpful attitude and expert organization was a blessing throughout the various ups and downs over the 6 months of planning.

We honestly can't thank Emily enough. She truly went above and beyond the call of duty to make our wedding at the beautiful University Club one of the most wonderful, memorable experiences of our lives! I highly doubt there is better value for cost for a wedding in SF than the University Club!

We recently got married at University Club and cannot say enough about this place!! It was hard finding a place in San Francisco that could fit all of our guests (approximately 150 people) and had the right ambiance. We lucked out that we found this place because it was perfect for us. The venue itself has a lot of old charm - lots of wood, leather chairs, beautiful greens, and old history. It also boasts a magnificent view of the city from both the 3rd and 4th floors, and our guests were able to hang out on the balcony. We loved how there were little "nooks" of space for everyone on each floor. As the bride/groom we had private time in the library, there is a pool table for guests that can also be converted to display food, and a bar area with ample seating. We worked with Emily primarily who had a team that helped her with the entire night. She was one of the main reasons we chose this venue. She was kind, attentive, responded extremely quickly to emails, and was fun to work with. We wanted a lot of details about food and she worked with us each step of the way. Food was an important part of our night and having a full kitchen and bar there was extremely important to us. She helped us design a customized menu for our guests - prime rib (reminiscent of house of prime rib with all the fixings), miso black cod, spinach salad, and a well-stocked seafood raw bar, charcuterie, cheese board, hummus/vegetables for the the cocktail hour. We also had custom drinks made from both of us. We set up our tables in 2 long aisles to so that we could achieve a family-style vibe. The servers, chef, bartenders, and other staff were awesome and so kind to us. Anything that we asked for they tried their utmost to accommodate. We felt that the staff was very professional, considerate, and down to earth. Our guests had a lovely time and we had a great time working this venue!!

We had an amazing wedding with our 100 guests – and while we’d like to think we were a big part of that success, we owe a lot of credit to the University Club.
- Staff: From our initial tour to the final song, we had a dedicated coordinator there to help. Yvonne and Emily worked with us on everything from crazy planning ideas (like a hot cocoa bar - TRY IT!) to day-of logistics (even catching some mistakes that we’d made in our seating charts). They made the whole experience a breeze. Not only did they make things easy; they made it fun.
- Convenience: The University Club has it all in a one-stop shop. This isn’t just a room you rent, it’s getting access to the quality staff and service of a private members’ club. Everyone from the servers to the bartenders knew the venue and how to deliver a phenomenal experience.
- Catering: The food was fantastic and perfectly prepared. Their menu was extensive and allowed us to address a variety of dietary needs and still knock the socks off our guests.
- Venue: Tired of the hundreds of “ambiguous winery wedding” photos in your social media feed? Not here. The University Club offered us the unique vintage look we wanted, with incredible city views to boot! Our guests are still talking about it.