Afternoon Tea Time in NYC
 

Has anyone been to Tracy Sterns Salontea at the City Club Hotel? Also, is there a good SOHO area tea spot? Other suggestions for shopping, eating, seeing, doing, etc in SOHO?

Pearl River on Grande Street. Kinda like a Chinese Pottery Barn. Cool stuff, not too expensive for SoHo.

Great! ~ just what I'm looking for, Thank you.

Do you just want to have tea or do you want it with all the "frills" -- sandwiches, scones, etc. in a nice little tower)?

The frills ~ the civilized experience.

Several of the nicer hotels in town to a High Tea, but don't know of any in SOHO.

The closest I can think of is ABC Carpet, on Broadway and 18th St, they do a nice High Tea.

The Palace is probably my favorite, but you might try The Plaza, as well.

wantsomesun -

Just yesterday I learned that I totally mis-understood what "high tea" was, as opposed to just afternoon tea. You may be interested as well:

In 1861, the famous cook and writer Mrs Beeton remarked 'There is tea and tea'. By this she was referring to the difference between High Tea and Afternoon Tea. Both became established as meals in the mid 19th century and both feature the drink tea as a beverage, but that's where the similarities end. High Tea is a meal with meat as a main feature, hot or cold. Savoury pies, salads, pickles, crumpets, muffins, jams and preserves, fruit and sponge cakes also would have been considered suitable. In today's world, High Tea is usually thought of as a children's tea, a meal served to young children who eat earlier and more simply than their parents.

But Afternoon Tea has more or less remained the same in definition over the years. The tradition is thought to have been started by the Duchess of Bedford and consists of 'fine china, good manners and polite conversation', tea, the drink, poured from a china pot and served with cucumber sandwiches, crusts removed, of course, and little cakes or tea breads. In Devon and Cornwall, the tradition is Cream Tea served with scones and a big dollop of luscious, rich clotted cream, a speciality of the region.

The prettiest place to have tea is at The Pierre. The rotunda lined with frescos is incredible.

My preference is actually the St. Regis. They do a VERY nice "job" of afternoon tea.

Thank you all for your help.