116 at The Athenaeum

The Afternoon Tea… in the restaurant at the Athenaeum hotel was to be honest rather poorly executed on so many levels. Sadly it started they couldn’t find the name of reservation at first?? Also although the amazing spa had put restaurant kitchen in touch with me 2 months before to discuss my allergy to Cocoa, Meat & Shellfish and dislike of cheese, they were thrown by this, had no record. I had to dig out email trail to tell them I was told to eat from Vegan menu. We were expecting a tiered plate to come out for afternoon tea, yet we were presented a plate of freezing cold fingers sandwiches each. I ate mine although didn’t enjoy them & my husband left half of his, it took about 30 mins to get someone to remove the plates… they said they waiting for us to finishing eating them…what are we children…You have to eat sandwiches before you get sweet treats? We then got the scones, my vegan ones didn’t really resemble scones much, yes they were warm but I knew as soon as was “trying” to cut into them they would be chewy as the knife was struggling to slice into two. I’ve never had a tasteless scone before but I tried half a sultana & half a plain one and left them, chewy and tasteless. I’m not sure how the chef could get it SO wrong….Compared to our last afternoon tea @ Hythe Imperial in August, night & day difference. Look at photo with ✔️ (my last vegan scone) Vs Fridays ones here. They again didn’t clear plates so after 30 mins my husband asked for cakes to go because yet again scones were bought out on plates ( no afternoon tea tiered cake stand!). It took 2 attempts to get this and our waitress come over and said I was waiting for you to finish eating them… I shared my feedback why I didn’t eat them. I’m not being funny but if a plate is pushed away from guest dining that’s a clear sign to ask, if everything ok rather than waiting for someone to ‘eat’ them? 🤦🏻‍♀️ The cakes were boxed to go…. We got home and were disappointed to see that as the Chef couldn’t be bothered to look for non chocolate alternatives he put 3 bits of fruit in a lolly stick thinking I’d want that instead? Really, where we dining Butlins children’s camp or a 5 star hotel? Disgraceful! And seriously the service was poor, execution poor and quality all bar tea was poor. Next time we book a spa afternoon if it has afternoon tea as part of package just maybe we will book afternoon tea to go and hand out to the homeless community in Mayfair..😌