Mad Hatters Tea at Sanderson

Mad Hatters Tea at Sanderson

 

I have a very mixed review about this. I love trying out afternoon teas at various London venues so obviously I had to try Mad Hatter's tea! I will try and breakdown my experience to give you a good idea:

1. Staff: This is what drove me into having mixed feelings about the place. The reception staff for registering your booking are plain patronizing and rude. the serving staff have not had any training in how to serve customers at a hotel restaurant. Inattentive and rude and frankly its the staff that put you off the experience.

2. Sandwiches: Not particularly great execution there. They look pretty but don't taste much of anything. I tried both the normal and vegetarian option and both are well below average. You can order more at no cost but this point was not made clear by our waiting staff. In fact, we only knew about it because we overheard the table next to us talking of it!

Vegetarian option

3.  Décor: I cannot fault it. The décor and table settings were lovely. The mad hatter china teapots with their cardboard crowns, the tea "potions", and even the sugar cube boxes were all very charming.

4. Tea:   There are special Sanderson's special Alice in Wonderland themed tea blends in "drink me" vials which you could choose from and can actually try multiple teas. However, you can also go for coffee or hot chocolate if you are not a tea-drinker. You can even change drinks at no additional cost.

5. Cakes and scones: The stand of  cakes and scones is simply beautiful. Most of the cakes tasted heavenly. I really like the little playing cards chocolate biscuits with jam hearts and the pocket-watch shaped macaroons.

I was disappointed to have only two scones between two people (yes for two afternoon teas!) That was a bit ridiculous. I am not sure whether you can order more scones as the waitress snapped at me when I asked her!

The whole experience takes around 2-3 hr if not longer but would have been a lot more pleasant if the staff were more attentive and courteous. Furthermore, the portions are a bit small for a pricey afternoon tea (Landmark Hotel's tea is around the same price and the portions are very generous). However, if you can order seconds it's fine though that information was not given to us at any time.

 

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