The lobby and few hallways I saw were beautiful. The Palm Court dining area was superb. After a renovation some time ago, it was restored to its former glory, or so I read.
The ambience was fantastic and I was excited to have my first afternoon tea experience. It was probably not the best idea to start at the most expensive place in the city, but oh well. The tea costs $50 per person and comes with food.
I had reservations because otherwise forget being seated. Was shown to my table promptly and had a waiter assigned to me that seemed to lack any kind of facial expression known to man. After reading reviews online, it seems that all wait staff follows that rule. I placed my order and waited a long time for my tray to be brought out. I asked for chamomile tea and received jasmine. They exchanged it once I pointed out the mistake. I should say that you get an entire teapot to yourself, so if you come with someone else, each of you has a teapot with whatever tea you choose.
My chamomile tea was good and I should have remembered that it also works as a laxative. I remembered that later at home. Enough said.
The tray contained a tier of small finger sandwiches, a tier of two scones and the top tier packed with pastries.
I finished the sandwiches and scones and was too stuffed to eat any of the desserts, but I got a box to take them home. It wasn’t a lot of food but I’m assuming the entire teapot I consumed filled me up as well.
The sandwiches were good but not spectacular. The first one I had was filled with smoked salmon and was the most delicious one. Wish I had five more of that one alone. The cucumber one was refreshing, the quail and egg salad one was ok, and the lobster and roast beef were nothing to write home about. In fact, the lobster one was pretty darn awful.
The scones were surprisingly delicious, helped along by lemon curd, blackberry jam and Devonshire cream, which I finished completely, to the horror of my ass, I’m sure.
I was offered an orange flavored scone and a cranberry one, so topped with the sweet creams and jam, that was dessert enough for me.
All the pastries seemed to be some sort of chocolate creation, except for one lemon cake cookie. I am very particular about chocolate and when I tried them all at home, found them way too rich and sweet for my liking. I would probably choose the New York tea option next time, instead of the Classic one, which comes with other non-chocolaty desserts such as cheesecake.
After an hour, I sat back, full and content, taking in the glorious surroundings and live piano music that recited the birthday song every ten minutes or so. There were tourists all around the place taking photos, making me more comfortable to take my own and also making me less self conscious about not being some sort of big shot at this swanky place.
Overall, the service was lacking, the ambience pretty near perfect, the food good but needs improvement and the price could be lowered. And here are pics of the hotel and the offerings.
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