Mayfair, Afternoon Tea Restaurant Guide

With its trollies, oil paintings and plush banquettes, this Mayfair dining room is worth considering for an old-fashioned traditional meal, and one fan declares it “just the right place for a special occasion” thanks to attractions like “great Dover sole” (filetted at the table). Other retro offerings in the hotel include an ‘Original Sweet Shop Afternoon Tea’.

2023 Review: “A great change to the ghastly chains” – Victoria & Grace Sheppard’s elegant, “friendly” café is tipped for its “terrific coffee”, as well as a quiet bite or their ‘bottomless brunch’.

The “refreshingly traditional” afternoon tea served in the Drawing Room of Rocco Forte’s Mayfair hotel is “as English afternoon tea should be”, with “none of the thematic faff often seen in other tea offerings these days”. “A long, long-time London favourite” (since Queen Victoria was on the throne), it has dispensed with “the trolley that used to trundle around serving massive slices of traditional cakes as an unofficial fourth course, but still provides just what one wants from the meal”. In the evening, the room serves a dinner menu created by Adam Byatt (of Trinity in Clapham), which provokes vanishingly little feedback. Top Tip – “they serve afternoon tea at lunchtime as well… Wonderful idea!”

“Always a special afternoon” of “understated elegance” is reported by many fans of the spoiling afternoon tea served in the “delightful” and "tranquil" foyer lounge at the heart of Mayfair’s famous Art Deco hotel. It’s “reassuringly expensive” they say: “but the occasion and professionally smooth and friendly service make up for it”. But for a growing proportion of critics, “the fabulous ambience and service just don’t justify the price tag…”; “it just didn’t seem special enough for what we paid…”; “when lunching we’ve found the food surprisingly poor given the status of the hotel and the cost of a meal”.

“Well, where else?” – “Still the best Traditional Afternoon Tea experience you can get!” is, according to its many fans, to be found in this “stunning”, “luxurious and elegant” chamber. The performance is “beyond belief – just perfect – with all the trimmings”, fizz if required and endless cake and sarnies. “Try to come back every year!”

“I still love it!” For a “grand occasion”, this “sophisticated”, “European-style” grand café near The Ritz is “a classic that works” and which has endured the boardroom battles that beset its owners in 2022. Even if it’s “now lost the Jeremy King touch” – and, perhaps, a smidgeon of A-lister cachet as a result – “it has survived the rule of the money men (so far)” to remain one of the capital’s key rendezvous for just about any occasion. “There’s no finer start to a special day in London” – “breakfast is as good as it gets, if what you happen to want is the best room, a newspaper and a bacon roll… just put a suit on and feel like you own Piccadilly”. Amidst the “noisy” mêlée of West End visitors, shoppers and theatre-goers (“wonderful people-watching”), there is a perennial backdrop of expense-accounters from the start of the day onwards, as “no one ever got fired for taking a client to the Wolseley” (it’s “the perfect place to seal a deal!”). “For a celebration or a special night out, you can bring pretty much anyone along and they will find something to eat, a nice place to sit and charming service”. OK, the food from “a wide-ranging menu of European classics” is “not remarkable”, but it never has been and it’s not the point. Booking well in advance is a good idea, but “they always have a few tables for walk-ins so it’s worth a punt when passing”. Top Menu Tip – “your goal is to get in, eat breakfast, and charge through the rest of the day on a post-black-pudding high”, or go for the “perfectly cooked kippers and scrambled eggs!”; “the afternoon tea is good and very good value in a lovely setting”.