Harlan Social

Come here if you want a trendy dinner experience with quality food. Food is always fresh and seasoned well. I like that you can see the kitchen. They have nice and generous selection of cheese and meat for starters. Burrata is made in house. Everything I’ve had taste good. The service is a little slow, so don’t come here if you’re in a rush. It’s also a little pricey, but well worth it. Good dessert too.

Amazing lunch place! Both inside and out was clean and beautiful! Salmon was cooked beautifully. Veggies were fresh and happily the cocktails were strong! Wait staff was very willing friendly and waiting to help! Great experience! Will gladly be back again!

This was my first time here so I wasn’t sure what to expect at all. I was the first customer of the day and I was greeted with a welcoming and charming staff! The place itself is so HIP! I love it! Very trendy and up beat. There are various seating arrangements so you can choose what kind of seating experience you’re going for.
Aside from excellent service and ambiance, the food was absolutely wonderful! The salads are so satisfying and fresh. The fries are tasty. The Harlan burger is amazing (try it out!). The French toast is also pretty great. Did I mention they have blood orange mimosas? I was over the moon– this place is so underrated. I’m absolutely coming back again! Go check it out for yourself!!!

Agree with CJ K. Also had a bad experience with the Asian Bartender. Will NEVER return. Absolute worst bartender experience I have ever had. I live in the area and instead of frequenting the establishment and taking all my friends there, I always guide them elsewhere. Never thought a bartender would make me hate a place as much as this HORRIBLE employee. I won’t even get into what he did, but be warned! And yes the food is 1000x overpriced and nothing great.

Nice food in a cool atmosphere at lunch

I have absolutely had it with this place. One of the bartenders (Asian) is absolutely miserable. Terrible attitude. Inattentive. Acts like he doesn’t want you there. Yet he works so many shifts that as a frequent traveler who is rarely home, every single damn time I go there, I am plagued by having him serve me and act like he wishes I’d fall off a cliff.
I will not only NEVER go back to this place but I will tell every single person I know to boycott it.
What an absolutely miserably bad bartender. In addition to his demeanor it’s his lack of skills with anything service oriented. He ignores you or he interrupts your conversation. His drinks are mediocre unless they are beer pours or simple mixes.
Harlan Social makes its inferiority clear by even employing such a stain of person.
Will. Never. Ever. Ever. Go back.
Also the food is hysterically overpriced. It’s not worth half.
Seriously this place is the absolute worst. Why does it have business? 5 apartment complexes are within a 30 second crawl.

The food and drinks here are pretty good, but the service is atrocious. The Bloody Mary is pretty good and the burger is amazing; however, I can’t get over how the service was awful. We waited for several minutes at the front before anyone even talked to us. It took 5 minutes or more to even get a menu and the restaurant was pretty empty since it was 2 pm. They didn’t wipe down the table properly and wiped the crumbs onto our lap. The server clearly didn’t care. Everything took super long including have someone take our orders. The waitress even said sorry because she felt like we had been neglected.

Went for brunch, had the harlan burger. It was average. Fries were good. Ordered the bread which was good too, buffalo mozz app was decent. Rock shrimp had like a teriyaki ish taste had much better. In all i went expecting way more seeing it has 4 stars. It was a average meal nothing really made me say omg i have to go back for that dish. 2.5−3 stars. Maybe the dinner menu is better?

I highly recommend Harlan Social for dinner. The scene is hip, plenty of parking, the drinks are creative and the food and service were top notch.
We started with the house made chips with blue cheese and bacon — need I say more? I had the local borata appetizer and the grilled pork chop dinner. Both were fresh and delicious.
Others at our table had the shrimp and grits and the boccatini with borata. Everyone loved their food.
Looking forward to returning when it gets warmer because the have a large outdoor dining area.

So I’ve been wanting to come here for a while. Very uptown semi casual restaurant. There were mostly «business attire» diners who were probably there on their lunch break, I wore jeans. The waitress/​host were also dressed down. Wish I could have chosen the waiter. The young ones think smiling at the end of the meal makes a difference in tips. Umm No, I’m not scouting for models. I just tip generously. BTW, Nice location, calming vibe with modern décor. Burger was delicious. Signature drink? I could have made at home with no effort.

Best burger hands down. I don’t know what’s in it but it rocks!
Wine selection is good and fairly priced. Try the faustino Spanish red.
Great unique cocktails in an industrial chic setting.
Try it.

I was oddly craving a ‘good burger’, so I took CT Bite’s advice from their «Top 10 Best Burgers in Southwest CT: 2015 Edition» and decided to give Harlan a try. Atmosphere was great. Bar was perfect to watch the March Madness games that were going on. I heard from a friend that they have great cocktails, but I decided to order an espresso martini because I needed a little pick me up. When the espresso martini let me down, I ordered my usual Tito’s Cosmo… That was disappointing too. Food came quick and the servers were friendly. Ordered the burrata for an appetizer, enjoyed it but would probably try something different next time. Burger for dinner was pretty incredible. Order it one notch ahead of what you actually prefer your meat cooked. All in all, I’d rate Harlan Social a 3.5, it’s one of the top places I’ve been to in Stamford and would come back.

— BRUNCH 11AM —
I’d like to give thanks to Stephen Lee (check out his Unilocal page) for taking me for a fantastic dining experience. Without you, I would have never of thought to love Burbon, beer, and honey, all mixed together in one drink. Heck, I’d would have never guessed this would be one of the best meals I’ve eaten from 2016.
This restaurant defines an upscale brunch, dishes you wouldn’t necessarily expect from an eatery at the harborside, Stamford. The establishment is rustic, upscale rustic. If you’ve ever watch an episode of Fixer Upper, it’s sort of like that — that Joanna Gaines flare. We love that flare.
DRINKS
— Harlan Bloody Mary: Tito’s Vodka, Spiced «Everything Bagel» Rim, House Made Pickled Haricots Verts
— 3 B’s: Honey Bourbon, Beer, Local Connecticut Honey Comb
Up to par these drinks are for sure. I’m a sucker for a killer Bloody and this my friends, is one killer Bloody Mary. The pickled Haricots Verts are the perfect edible garnish, pairs well when you taste every element together. My burbon drink was absolutely to die for. If you’re not necessarily into burbon or a crazy hard drink for brunch, try this. The beer gives it that carbon its yearning for, and the section of honey comb sitting at the bottle emits the perfect amount of honey per sip, it’s almost too easy to drink. (Yes I was drunkskis leaving the meal, can you blame me?)
FOOD
— Chicken Liver Pâté w/​Rasin Walnut Bread
— Local Buratta w/​Roasted Apple & Fennel Chutney, Walnuts, Grain Mustard Vinaigrette
— Portabella & Quinoa Sauté w/​Poached Eggs and Hollandaise
— Challah French Toast w/​Berry Compote
They gave us a rather large jar of chicken liver pâté for only two slices of bread but hey, the more the merrier. I happily took most of that dish cause la bebe can’t handle the brutal punch of iron. So delicious, creamy, mild and minerally, and paired with a berry jelly atop. Buratta was a great choice as well, the bite of the mustard vinaigrette with the sweetness of the chutney was a great compliment with the mild and creamy mottz.
Who would have guessed that this corner restaurant tucked behind a Fairway’s Market would inspire me so much to have dreams late at night…
I’ve been… dreaming of that. Wh-​onderderful brunch… (Cue Bing Crosby voice)

I agree with others, okay food at expensive prices. The table service was far from good. Kid was very disinterested and instead of replacing my dirty glass right away, he told me what I was seeing was ice!
Burger was good, not great. Fries were so salty they were inedible.
$ 50 for two burgers and soda. There are many more good eateries in Stamford to ever give this place another try.
My benchmark for ALL burger spots is 5 Guys and this just did not make the cut.

Average food for above average prices. Went there for brunch recently.
Cramped booth near door when restaurant was completely empty. The staff mentioned table were reserved but we were there for 2 hours and never see those tables fill up.
The drinks/​cocktails were good but food was rally mediocre. I tried a few things from everyone’s plates. Nothing great

Went here for brunch with a group of 10. This is where we went wrong. Harlan doesn’t have the manpower on weekends to handle this big of a group. I would recommend going in groups of less than 5 people. We all ordered the unlimited mimosas/​bellinis ($ 20) but didn’t get nearly as many refills as we would have hoped. We ordered countless of items off the menu (all delicious) and racked up a bill of $ 400. That being said, the service we received did not match the gratuity that we were forced to pay. The waiter was doubling as the bartender at the same time, and as a result, was short and rude with us. We will not be returning any time soon until Harlan is able to handle larger groups.

My husband and I came to Harlan Social for brunch while visiting Stamford for a weekend and we both really enjoyed our experience. We came about an hour before brunch was expected to end and we never felt rushed at all. To start my husband ordered the smoked salmon with potato salad and though I wasn’t hungry enough for a starter I couldn’t stop eating off his plate! It was such a simple and unassuming dish but it was absolutely delicious. The potato salad was creamy and flavorful and made an excellent complement to the saltiness of the smoked salmon.
For my dish I ordered the restaurant’s namesake Harlan Burger and I was quite impressed. This definitely was not one of your run-​of-​the-​mill slapped together burgers. With a cheddar ale sauce and bacon onion jam, it was a simple-​looking burger, but the flavor was out of this world. The meat was juicy and even the bun was tasty. I loved everything about this burger. It came with shoestring fries which were also good, and I washed it all down with a pear bellini.
The service was great, our waitress was attentive and pleasant, and the restaurant, including the facilities, was impeccably clean. The next time I’m craving a burger in Stamford I’m heading back to Harlan Social!

Came here for lunch on a Saturday — cute place with decent food! Located right next to the new Fairway in Harbor Point, the place is pretty big with a small outdoor ‘patio’ (really just a organized outdoor seating area on the side walk.
The brunch menu was decent, with breakfast options plus sandwiches and burgers. I was a little disappointed that they didn’t offer mac n’ cheese (apparently it’s only for dinner). But we had the Fried Chicken Sandwich and the Pulled Pork Sandwich. Both were decent but nothing spectacular.
Overall I’d saw the ambiance and service were better than the food. Worth a try, especially if you’re looking for a place to come with a group.

So much good here and also so much room for better… food was good, not great, service okay and atmosphere was definitely the real star here. I’ll elaborate…
We were quickly seated (we had reservations) and water was delivered to our table. Soon after, our server identified himself and took our drink orders. When our drinks came out, we ordered entrees (no apps). Then came the long wait… nearly 30 mins passed and no food nor did our server check in. Ordinarily would have tried to find him to ask what was up but I had noticed other diners who had ordered before us also had not received food or were just getting theirs.
On to the food; my husband and I both went with the burger and my in-​laws ordered pasta dishes. They were out of the dish my father-​in-​law ordered (it was a vegetarian dish, though he’s not vegetarian) so the server checked with the kitchen and it was indicated that they had a substitute dish available. He went with the substitute dish rather than selecting something else off the menu.
My mother-in-law’s pasta dish appeared good, though light on whatever protein it was supposed to have, short rib maybe? I took a bite and couldn’t even identify if it was present. My father-​in-​laws substitute entrée just wasn’t good. It was boring; pasta with some seasonal vegetables in a pretty standard tomato sauce. It wasn’t exactly what was expected given what the server relayed and I think overall, it was pretty disappointing given the cost. Our burgers were only okay; mine was a bit overcooked given my requested doneness (medium and it came out more like well done). And though I loved the english muffin style bun, I found it crumbly and a tad dry. My husband’s had the burger juices soaked right through the bottom bun which caused him to forgo it entirely and eat his burger with his fork.
I’m not sure we’d go out of our way to return but I do really feel like there is a lot of promise here especially if they work out some of the issues with busy evenings both on the service and quality end. If I have fantastic food, I can overlook less than stellar service. If I have mediocre food (as was the case), I sort of hope I can expect great service. When I have neither great food nor great service, it just leaves a bad taste in my mouth (pun intended.)

I don’t know that Harlan Social really stands out from the crowd of modern, upscale, spartanly decorated American restaurants that are springing up like weeds in every major city, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t an excellent dining experience. It just means that it has a lot of company at the top of the pecking order.
The décor really is minimalist, but with high ceilings and big windows it feels very open and airy, and the tables aren’t crowded in too densely so you can actually get around. Our waitress was very attentive and friendly, although we had a couple of snafus, one where our extra plate of bread didn’t arrive until five minutes after we finished our cheese and charcuterie plate and another when she forgot to put in the brussels sprout order until we got our entrees. Neither was a huge problem, though.
The food was all outstanding, lots of delicious cheese and charcuterie choices to build a great starting plate, and that burger really is a winner, cooked exactly to order with cheese ale sauce and onion jam with big bacon chunks plus perfect fries. Dessert was a delight too, homemade «candy bars» with varying concoctions of chocolate, caramel, peanut butter, coconut, and other yumminess.
One last nitpick, the prices of some of the rarer craft beers were pretty outrageous. $ 12 for a Hitachino Nest or a Corsendonk? Come on now, that’s just gouging. If I had been paying, there’s no way I would have had more than one. Even so, the meal as as whole was great, superb food in a pleasing atmosphere. Harlan Social can be the new yardstick for all those other modern upscale American restaurants, it doesn’t have to stand out but if you can top this place you’ve got something really special.