We just got back from London and the biggest disappointment was the afternoon tea at the Ritz Hotel. We paid $80 for 2 people. We got about $8.00 worth of food. The sandwiches were 80% bread, 15% butter, and 5% meat. The one meat slice on each sandwich was sooooo thin that you could read a newspaper through it. I have never been served such a skimpy sandwich in all my life. It was laughable, unless you enjoy eating bread and butter sandwiches, which is basically all they were.<BR><BR>The scone tray was never refilled. The pastry tray was good, but not great. We could have gone to Harrod's food stall or Fortum and Mason's food stall and got tons of great quality food for the $80 we spend for 2 people to drink tea and eat butter sandwiches at the Ritz. BTW, I think all teas are similar ripoffs and that is why virtally NO local people at there. It is ALL tourists.<BR><BR>WE left there with upset stomachs as the food was sooooo bad and sugary and buttery that I regretted going.

I had tea at the Ritz 5 years ago (forced by friend) and found the food plentiful. However, I knew paying nearly $40 for tea was going to be a place for tourists to 'experience tea' and fulfill a sterotype/fantasy and not a place for locals to take tea. <BR><BR>I teach tea classes and may be a tea snob but even I realize that most Brits, like most Americans, use tea bags.

JJ<BR>I'm not sure what you expected.<BR>Tea sandwiches are supposed to be very thin and skimpy, in fact sometimes they ARE just bread and butter, this "meal" was traditionally meant to be a light snack to share with guests and to tide the upper crust over while they bathed and dressed for dinner.<BR>You chose the Ritz, you must have realized that it would be mostly for visitors and that it would be expensive.<BR>Most Londoners are of course at work at teatime, and those who aren't are unlikely to spend the money for tea at the Ritz when there are so many other vastly less expensive, less ceremonial, quicker, and less "special occasion" options.<BR>I've also had tea at the Dorchester; I loved it for the special experience it was, but it was also very expensive, formal, and also mostly for visitors. With rare exceptions, most hotel dining options attract more tourists than others in every city I can think of. Certainly a two-hour tea break in the middle of the day would be expected to attract mostly people at leisure.<BR>On my Feb trip to London I had afternoon tea at the Charing Cross Thistle Hotel. 13.75 #, selection of (very thin) sandwiches, scones, cakes, tea.) And relatively informal; I was decently dressed but would have definitely changed clothers were I going to the Ritz instead. Tea at the CCT hotel on the other hand was just tea, enjoyable, but just an hour's break and snack, nothing ceremonial, nothing attentive from the staff. <BR><BR>I'm sorry you had a disappointing experience, but really,nothing you described at the Ritz seems surprising, deceptive, or inappropriate to me.<BR>As for the price, it's what the traffic will bear.

Of course it is!! If it weren't a tourist trap, you probably wouldn't have ever known about it. I think you experience is a good warning to all of those who expect to have a wonderful "experience" doing something that thousands of others have also been persuaded to do. All such events and places are going to cost more than we think they should. If the rest of our readers see this, then instead of the Ritz, they go to a little local pub or some small out-of-the-way tea shop in London, you can consider that you have done a lot of people a good favor. It doesn't take too long to realize that if something is recommended in every guidebook, posted and advertised in papers and web sites, and generally made known to the traveling public, chances are that it isn't worth the money. There are exceptions, but they are in the minority.

JJ, I imagine you have a weight problem if you're complaining about the skimpy size of your 4:00 PM meal. I'm sure you made up for it at dinner.

JJ, sorry you had such a bad experience. You can have lovely formal teas here in the U.S.--treat yourself to one at a Four Seasons. Afternoon tea at the Four Seasons in Philadelphia, for example, is an undiluted pleasure. You won't spend as much and experience will wash away the bad taste of your Ritz tea!

I hate to break this news to you JJ but the tea is just that. It is not a lunch, not a brunch, not a snack. I am surprised you got more than just one skimpy biscuit. Be happy, now you can brag that you had been to Ritz in London for the afternoon tea. Wow!

Be careful, chantal, you're showing your ignorance. That is not what "tea" is in London. Whatever makes you think that having tea at the Ritz is just tea??

Of course it is a ripoff, always has been since tourists romanticized having "tea" like the British. If tourists pay, they will serve. I like the smaller places for tea, but then only as a fun little experience, certainly not for anything hearty. They<BR>consist mostly of sweets and finger sandwiches, but that is the definition of "tea".

I agree with comment so far. There is a note on ordinary tea in London under the tittle "ordinary tea" which you can find by using the Fodors text search or at 03.21.202 at 04.41 pm.