Athenaeum Hotel

I booked afternoon tea for me and 7 of my friends as a treat for my 28th birthday.

Meeting friends for afternoon tea is generally something I only do on special occasions and have had a few in various locations around the country/world. After reading a few reviews and hearing about awards that have been won for the teasat this hotel I was expecting high standards but was left feeling very dissapointed.

We arrived on time for our booking but was told our table wasn't ready! We were advised that we could sit and wait and was pointed to a lounge area where we then had to organise ourselves extra chairs to fit around a small table. We had to wait 20 minutes for our table to be ready during which time nobody came to ask us if we would like a drink or take our coats or anything while we was waiting (not a great start).

When our table was ready we was escourted to a nice table the ambience, decor and lighting in the area was all very pleasant.

Those of us that wanted it were served a glass of Kir Royal (then somebody came to take our coats after we had sat down and started our drinks) we were shown the tea menu which had a substantial selection of teas. The table was layed with blue cups and plates and yellow cups and plates one thing i noted while we were wating was they seemed to have been put down in no particular fashion e.g. one persons place setting might have had a yellow plate, blue cup sitting next to someone with a blue cup and plate and so on, not that that bothers me but I would expect a little more attention to detail from such an establishment (You might expect to get odd cups and plates in a greasy spoon cafe). I also had an oyster fork laid in my place setting rather then a cake/dessert fork like some of my friends had in their place setting.

We were then served our sandwiches after a substantial wait (a theme that runs throughout the tea) a little shocked I was expecting tea before sandwiches or at least someone to take our tea order (baring in mind not everyone in my party wanted a Kir Royal and we had a 20 minute wait for our table.) The waiter silver served your chosen sandwiches onto your plate dainty finger sandwiches with the crusts removed (fillings as specified on the menu of the website), Again I felt disappointed the specialty breads tasted like the run of the mill supermarket pre sliced loafs and the fillings were so thin you could barely taste them. The finger sandwiches were also cut to odd sizes and the second round of sandwiches seemed to have a little more filling then the first (which was a good thing but demonstrates the lack of quality control and consistency.) The waiter took our tea order between rounds.

After our sandwich plates were cleared and a little wait our tea finally arrived for me and my rather parched friends. The waiter poured your chosen tea for you and then pots were left on the table. After finishing our first cups and waiting a while we realised nobody would be coming to top us up so we started to pour our own cups some of the pots were quite large (where 2 people were sharing the same tea) and because the pots were silver the handles were red hot and although little paper napkins were left on teh handles this was not adequate to prevent you getting burnt and the pots were very full and therefore heavy the girls in my group could not pour there own tea safely so I had to do the honours with the additional help of my linen napkin.

The warm scones arrived next (plain and fruit) with clotted crem and home made Jams strawberry and raspberry the strawberry jam was far to runny more like a lumpy coulis then a jam.

A pink cup cake was brought out with a candle in it for my birthday which was a nice touch happy birthday was also printed in chocolate on the plate with pink candy cains, flowers and blackberrys.

The dessert trolly was brought around next where you were able to choose 2 cakes each I was happy with the birthday cup cake and a piece of chocolate cake from the trolly however both were very disappointing very dry almost stale tasting was actually hard to swallow like mixing cement in your mouth so only eat a bite of each. (My friends were not to impressed with there cakes either one fruit tartlet definatley did not look home made.)

The tea finished with teacakes, crumpets and butter but our knives had been cleared with our scones so we had to ask for more so we could butter the teacakes and crumpets (by which time both were cold when the knives arrived) I must also mention the dinning room chairs were also very uncomfortable to be sitting in for prolonged periods we all had back pains at the end of our teas

Being my birthday I had reserved an area in a nearby bar for drinks after but because my table was not ready and the extremley slow service I had to phone ahead to advise I would not make my next booking until later. (I had not envisaged afternoon tea taking 3 hours) I requested the bill which arrived but then the lounge seemed to empty of staff after 6:00pm so ending up leaving my friend to settle the bill (when staff were available to pay.) so we could dash to our next reservation.

So in summary a very disappointing experience the service was shabby I have never experienced a service managed in such a manner a different waiter/waitress carried out a different task for each course(e.g. a different waiter served the sandwiches then another for the tea and another for the cake etc) which is why I believe there was such long delays between courses there was not 1 waiter to look after you throughout the meal and therefore monitor your progress and meet your needs.

I'm an accomplished cake maker and i could have done a much better job with the cakes then that was on offer at this establishment.

Theres much better afternoon tea venues out there including the Park Lane hotel next door!

How refreshing it is to be greeted with genuine warmth by friendly staff. From the cheery doorman to the cheerier( if this is possible) receptionist , this is the welcome you expect, but rarely receive, from a 5* hotel.

The rooms are spotless and a good size. If you can get a room overlooking green park you will be delighted. The bathroom is alsod size and tastefully decorated in marble.

Non alcoholic drinks and snacks are FREE in the minibar. Non alcoholic drinks and snacks are FREE in the minibar. This is true, pick yourself up off the floor.

What a lovely, friendly top hotel, in a top location. Handy for bus and tube and all the super Mayfair/ St James's shops.

Many other hotels charge similar rates, but only a couple nearby offer such genuinely friendly, helpful staff.

Ace.

What an awesome place to stay. Right on Picadilly in London across the park form Buckingham Palace. They treat you like royalty!