On Saturday afternoon we went for some afternoon tea, yet again! We chose the Ritz-Carlton, not only for its good reviews but for the exquisite tea selection from Sloane Fine Tea Merchants. Of course, the hardest part was waiting for the weekend to come!
It must be the trend now to showcase the tea leaves before the guests (as also experienced at the King Edward Hotel). The Sloane box had a blue glow around it, and just about the prettiest wooden box I’ve ever laid eyes on. Our server did an excellent job describing them to us, as well as the history behind the teas. The Darjeeling 2nd flush is supposed to be the “champagne of all teas,” so try this one if you can! On its own, it usually retails far more than the others but the Ritz has included it into their afternoon tea selection. Because I already have this at home, I chose the “Marrakesh Mint” and Joseph had the “Citron Chamomile.” Both were wonderfully refreshing!
No detail too small: The Ritz kept our teapot warm over a flame.
We were really impressed with the presentation of the food. We loved the unconventional round tray for its beautiful display of savoury treats. Lol, it was almost too pretty to eat. Almost. I forgot to ask for a description of each, so pictures will have to do for now. Note to self: next time don’t eat lunch beforehand. Although we typically associate afternoon tea with dainty little snacks that barely fill you up, the Ritz is the exception because you’ll be surprised by how much food there is! Even though we finished everything on site, we noticed that other tables had to get take home boxes.
Cucumber sandwich
Mini croissant with smoked salmon
And of course, who can forget Greaves jams and jellies?! We loved it at the Prince of Wales, loved it at King Edward, and loved it at the Ritz. 🙂
Round two: the sweets. Ah yes, there’s always room for dessert. I noticed that for tables larger than two people, they served the food in the traditional 3 tier trays, however this wasn’t a disadvantage because the unconventional round tray actually made it rather difficult for me to remove the food. Unfortunately, we noticed that the sweets came out only after all of the savoury dishes were finished and taken away. That could have been because there wasn’t much table space, but I ended up feeling very full by the time I moved onto dessert. Usually I like to interchange between sweet and savoury, but this setup didn’t allow for that.
Sorry, I can’t exactly remember the details of each item and the menu doesn’t list them either. However, I did notice that there were red velvet cupcakes, lemon meringue tarts with a marshmallowy topping, mini Opera cakes, raspberry macarons, some sort of cream puffs, and raisin scones.
Our favourite scones and devonshire cream are in Niagara, so we’ll always be making that comparison. Unfortunately, the scones at the Ritz lacked lustre, and the cream had very little flavour to it. We’re used to cream that has a thicker consistency and with a buttery taste, but our cream at the Ritz was already separating. We would have preferred our scones to be flakier and more buttery as well.
A little piece of heaven
Miniature red velvet cupcake
Chocolate opera cake
Overall, the presentation of the food was excellent and plentiful. I can’t comment too much on the level of service at the time because they were understaffed, but the two servers that were there were working really hard to keep up. Although we sat at a corner spot with banquet seating, we were still sitting really close to the people next to us, so I had to be mindful not to knock anything off the other table. Thus, if possible, we would recommend you ask to be seated on the right side of the room upon entering (where it’s more spacious), or at the back near the windows with lovely natural lighting, which would be great for taking photos. Also, be sure to call ahead for reservations because they book up quickly!
Cheers,
Melissa
P.S. Mother’s day is coming up, so book ahead for tea 😉
Ritz Carlton
Afternoon Tea from 2-4pm on Sat and Sun
181 Wellington St W
Toronto, ON, M5V 3G7
(416) 585-2500
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Disclaimer: The opinions and claims reflected in this blog post are my own and not those of Ritz-Carlton Toronto. No compensation was received to write this review.Â
