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| - Review for Afternoon Tea (November 2014)
This review is long overdue, but I needed to stress this is not a place to go if you want high end tea service.
My group expected great service and amazing food because of the location inside the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, but was very disappointed as it failed to deliver for a reputable luxury establishment.
The decor was very modern and relaxed, like you were at a friend's livingroom which was nice. Plus they even had a lovely fireplace in the main room. Service was friendly, but was very slow despite not being very busy and at times service was non-existent. We were waiting for a friend who was late for our 2pm reservation, but in the end couldn't make it after we waited for 35-40 minutes.
During the wait, the server didn't offer us the tea selection, but only water. And then, to our surprise the server said they had to charge the amount for our friend not showing up because they had "pre-made" the food.
The tea selections from Sloan Fine Tea Merchants was displayed in a nice wooden box and the server explained the various popular teas, then left for about 10 minutes before returning to take our tea selections. To our dismay, the tea took another 20-25 minutes to be served to us.
The mini quiches came out before our teas and what a disappointment because it was not even served lukewarm, but we were all very hungry and just ate it as is.
Next was the savoury selection which was presented nicely on a unique tiered serving display, but we were very disappointed with all the sandwiches. There was definitely a good selection of assorted sandwiches, but all the bread was crusty and stale tasting, plus all the fillings and toppings were bland tasting. We were all hungry so just ate the sandwiches, but not all of us finished every sandwich.
When the server said pre-made, when exactly was it made? Even if it was the morning or night before the bread shouldn't have been this crunchy. Even the 5 year old in our party said it was awful and didn't finish her portion. She had the classic tea selection like the rest of us which was served on an individual platter for her.
The sweet selection was a lot better as it was tasty and had a great variety of different pastries and mini desserts. The sweets were not overly sweet that you had to take several sips of tea. For the most part the sweets were definitely more enjoyable than the savoury selection. Bonus for the unique display than the ordinary tiered platter service.
The scones were edible to our surprise because it was fluffy and buttery in texture. We wondered if this was even made in house or bought at the local bakery. Jams and clotted cream that accompanied the scones were a delight and enhanced the flavour of the scones.
During the tea service, I had to ask the server for a hot water refill for the teapot which was complied, but the rest of my party were not asked if they needed a hot water refill. The server left rather quickly before we can even tell her, but we definitely asked when she returned.
For tea service this was highly unacceptable to our liking because the whole premise of afternoon tea is actually having tea readily available. I guess we were used to other afternoon tea services where the servers automatically comes with hot water to refill the teapots or at least offer if we needed more hot water on several occasions.
Overall, it was definitely not a very enjoyable afternoon tea experience, so my advice is save the $40 and go elsewhere. Many other places in the area that offers better afternoon tea service.
Note: The server was definitely quick to produce the bill when we asked for it.
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