We've had breakfast numerous times at the Library at County Hall. Each experience has been…read morewonderful and worth the visit. The food offerings are diverse and service is impeccable. The view are some of the best whether you're having coffee or tea!

The Library at County Hall is situated inside the Marriott hotel cradled beside the River Thames…read more The restaurant offers sweeping views of the iconic Big Ben and captivates with its sophisticated charm and old world ambiance. My husband and I had the privilege of booking afternoon tea during our recent visit to London. The total cost was approximately $175 USD and served one pot of tea with the flavor of your choice along with delicate sized sandwiches and several desserts on a tiered platter. Alejandro, our server, was not only hospitable but knowledgeable with the tea offerings. Service was also efficient and the presentation was refined. That, along with the stunning view, made our experience memorable. The only part that STAINED my delight was being seated next to 3 overly pretentious young women who, while dressed well & presented the proper image, did not possess the etiquette they "TRIED" to present. It was more obnoxious than sophisticated. To give you a better visual - think 'ladies who lunch' but with the tone that matched women who discussed men like they were at a bar rather than an upscale tea room. I found their conversation inappropriate, immature and rude. They spoke loudly enough for perhaps a third of the room to hear. Other than that, I would recommend The Library for all that it offers - just cross your fingers you aren't seated too closely to a trio of young 20-somethings who think they have the male population all figured out like they've watched and taken notes of every episode of 'Sex and the City'.

I love a great English tea and St. Ermin's delivers above and beyond. Wonderfully blended…read moretraditional teas, decadently rich sandwiches and dessert bites, and the perfect scones. This is the place to get a well needed shot of refinement. Everything was delicious!!

On our London Christmas vacation, my wife main request was to have tea at a proper English tea room…read moreand St. Ermin's Tea Lounge fit the need. Located in a beautiful hotel with a calm and quiet lounge, the beautiful room was filled with patrons sipping tea. The sandwiches were fresh and tasty. The desserts were inhaled by our boys and enjoyed by all. The scones arrived with clotted cream and jam were equally consumed by our boys. The variety of teas were enjoyable and packed with flavor. If you are in London and looking for a relaxing / quiet tea experience, St Ermin's Tea Lounge is beautifully decorated, tasty and a memorable event.

Good= excellent Service= excellent…read moreAmbiance = excellent Prices=excellent. The owner is VERY pleasant!

I had a great experience here the coffee was rich and flavorful. The staff was so friendly,…read morewelcoming and made my coffee experience a relaxing atmosphere.

My wife loves this place and we make the trek to Kensington every time we are in London, so been…read morehere several times and can vouch for their consistency! It's a must now to book in advance if you want make sure you have one of the 5 tables they have inside. Noticed that they also sell their tea now as well.

This tea room is absolutely adorable. It is super small with only maybe 6 tables inside and a few…read moreoutside. We made our reservation weeks ago and were all set when we arrived. My mom and I had the full afternoon tea and we ordered two cream teas for my kids. Everyone absolutely loved it. The finger sandwiches were tuna, cucumber, egg, smoked salmon and a warm ham and cheese. The scones were delightful. We don't love raisins in our scones and they were able to accommodate us. The service was amazing. Everyone was so kind. I'd absolutely come here again!

We stepped into Harrods tea room in the morning and were seated right away. The menu was filled…read morewith so many tempting options, making it a bit tricky to choose, but I finally settled on the Croque Madame. When it arrived, it was warm and toasted just right, with perfectly cooked egg and ham -- it looked so lovely. My partner chose the English breakfast, which he truly enjoyed because it brought back memories of home. He finished his latte, while I didn't quite finish mine -- my turmeric latte -- because I forgot to ask for coconut or almond milk. I think I would have liked it even more with one of those alternatives. Overall, it was a wonderful experience, and the service was incredibly attentive.

The tea room was surprisingly affordable. We had delicious…read moretea, sweets, and finger sandwiches. The scones were to die for. A proper, traditional tea service. Definitely a more upscale vibe. Having a piano player at the piano definitely added to the atmosphere. Wonderful visit.

The Hidden Tea Room is the best of the "domestic" underground restaurants I have been to and it is…read morebecause she has got her concept right; high tea. Brilliant. Simple, and easy to maintain the quality. A Time Out review has meant that getting a booking for this place is more than a little tricky these days but I ended up there a month ago with two friends and had a great afternoon. As you find yourself in the front room, nestled around a table that touches every corner of the room you don't forget for one second this is not a restaurant and that is part of its beauty. The service, the surroundings, the food are all at a tangent of your "normal" experience. I mean, we even spoke to the people sitting opposite. The effort Lady Gray and her husband took to relax, feed and stuff you were laudable. The champagne to start was, well champagne. The cheese biscuits to go with it were the highlight. The rest of the cream tea was good, not grand Hotel good, but good. Where they really stood out was on the teas, a selection of 10s and with each person getting their own little teapot. All you can do when you meet such nice people as Lady Gray and her husband is wish them well and thank them for a great experience. Price - £25 a head with all the tea you want

Enjoyed the afternoon tea here. First, pls make reservation online in advance. They do it by…read moreshifts/rounds. I failed to book 3pm so have to wait till 5:30pm. Then it took some time to find the right venue. Need to go through the door in the middle of sculpture exhibition hall, across the garden, enter the other building door. Do not get confused by many other food choices (coffee, hot meals, cakes or others). It's on the left side of entrance with reception table for you to check in. There are 3 options, depending on whether you need to celebrate anything, with price varying at £30, £35 and £38. You will get 5 pieces of sandwiches, 5 pieces of sweat and the your choice of tea. I chose traditional one, English breakfast with milk and sugar.

High Tea in the William Morris Room was a wonderful experience. The service was lovely and…read moreunhurried. There was a choice of tea or proseco or both to go along with the savory and sweet tea sandwiches. It was pricey, 30pounds, but I wanted to splurge a little. Caution, I emailed my request for reservation twice, they never got it. We had to wait until some other party who had a reservation did not show up for 45 minutes after their appointed time. Worth the wait. Make sure you double check your reservation. There were empty tables, but they do not take walk ins as there is only a certain amount of food prepared depending on reservations. The museum was fun to walk around after tea.

I will admit up front that I had little knowledge of Fortnum & Mason before my most recent trip to…read moreLondon. I had done high tea before on a previous trip, and mentioned to one of my friends I would like to do it again. She is borderline obsessed with Fortnum & Mason so we decided to do high tea there. The tea room is fittingly at the very top of the building. Below are different floors that vary from a butcher's shop, to being filled with cookies and tea, and then having dinnerware. The Jubilee Tea Salon is exactly what you would think given its location. White tablecloths, well dressed servers, steaming pots of tea, and overflowing towers of miniature sandwiches and baked goods. The room is bright and well lit, and just had an airiness to it that I liked. We went all out and it was worth it for us. The context is that both myself and my friend Karin are big tea drinkers. I'm sure we could have found a similar high team for a cheaper price, but I really enjoyed it overall. If you aren't really into the high tea experience but just are doing it to check it off your bucket list, consider another spot. If you want to see what all of the fuss is though this is an excellent spot.

Overpriced and not a special experience. Staff seemed pissed off (management how are treating your…read moreemployees?) and rushed. One assistant manager was complaining how another staff member "couldn't even send a f@@g email." Not a relaxed atmosphere at all. No one explained the bottomless tea or food. When the tray was presented, the server rushed off and then seeing my puzzled face, asked if I wanted hom to explain the food. Yes, I said and he proceeded to in a very rushed manner. The server poured/dumped my tea in a bolus and splashed it (what's your hurry?!) onto the tablecloth. It would be proper to lay down a cloth napkin, but she just put the teapot over the stain, thinking/hoping I would not notice. Not even an apology. Other tables got better hospitality. As a solo traveler, I felt ignored and had to wait a prolonged time for the check. The savory menu I ordered was largely tasteless and many items which should have been served at room temp were too cold. I left most of the items half eaten. If there is so much remaining food, shouldn't the server or manager ask if anything was wrong, or did I dislike the food, and how could we make it better? Food was like mediocre catered type items from a church event. For over $100 USD, it was an expensive TOURIST TRAP. BTW, I have worked in hospitality management. FM need to be aware that some families/individuals save for years to have this once in a lifetime experience. FM needs to respect and honor this. I am indignant about this disappppinting FM experience and will be requesting a refund directly to management...more about the principle rather than the $.

Kind of ashamed I didn't review this place last year when we visited. So last year we were on our…read morehoneymoon and my wife's birthday was during our trip. All she wanted for her birthday was a nice afternoon tea. We left London and were basically driving sort of toward the coast just stopping wherever we found a tea shop. Unfortunately, every tea shop we hit was closed because of some bank holiday we were unaware of. Except one! We got to Glynde, parked outside this tea shop, went in, and found a large sign that said "cash only". OMG this wasn't our day. We had to go to the next town over to use the ATM which sucked, but we weren't in any hurry and we really liked the look and feel here. We came back, got seated, opened the menu, and right at the top it said afternoon tea available with reservation only. We were devastated. I saw the look in my wife's eye and there was no way I was not getting her this afternoon tea! I approached the woman working and explained our situation and before I could even fight for the experience she told me not to worry, she would get us taken care of. BLESS HER! We had a wonderful visit and would recommend the experience to everyone in the area. Fast forward to this year. I knew how much my wife loved that visit and decided to reach out and ask if they had any ideas of what I could get her for her birthday this year. Joanne reached back out with an amazing gift and shipped it to us and it amazingly arrived on her birthday! She also included a nice birthday card for her! Amazing people that went out of their way twice to make us happy. They will forever be apart of our story and hopefully we have the chance to return soon! Thank you!!!

The whole experience of the Phantom of the Opera tea was amazing. The setting was exactly what you…read morewould want for a traditional English tea. The service was amazing and attentive. The food was delicious. The tea and cocktail were perfect. I would gladly do this again. If you are a fan of Phantom of the Opera the place was perfectly enhanced with props from the play. If you are not a fan the experience is still amazing!

I hate to say it, but this was one of the biggest wastes of money I've ever experienced on…read morevacation. We found The Rose Lounge's Phantom of the Opera Afternoon Tea experience to be overpriced, overindulgent, and to have intentionally slow service, drug out for HOURS. We booked this experience the afternoon we arrived in London, thinking that it would be a great way to keep ourselves entertained while we fought off the jet lag. Unfortunately, it was quite the opposite as this could've put me to sleep. I believe our reservation was around 1 PM and we didn't leave until about 4. The first course was a few different sandwiches, which came with one of each for both of us. One or two of them were good, but a few were inedible in my opinion. Knowing how many more courses we had coming, we decided not to finish our sandwiches, which the wait staff commented on rudely. By the final course, we had been there for so long, and were so full, that we asked them to package it up to go. I'm not sure if this is common practice, but I had to sign a waiver that the restaurant wasn't liable if I didn't store them properly. Overall, it is really beautiful in here for a single cup of tea, but I would save my money and skip the overpriced experience. The Rose Lounge is easy to find, and staff at Sofitel St. James was really lovely in pointing us in the right direction!