Quick review – (read below for longer review of each section)
Booking Process ♦♦♦♦♦ – Super easy to book online and to change reservations afterwards using opentable via the Waldorf Astoria website here.
Ambience/Setting ♦♦♦♦◊ – the view is incredible! the seats comfortable but the table could have been slightly larger to accomodate everything, the tea sets were traditional and really pretty. The ambience calm and serene.
Service ♦♦♦♦♦ – can’t praise the service high enough!! They were outstanding!!
Tea Selection ♦♦♦♦♦ – had my favourite Orange pekoe but also had a really interesting variety of traditional and holiday teas to try
Sandwiches/First course ♦♦♦◊◊ – everything was tasty but I missed just traditional sandwiches, the tastes were rich and fancy but didn’t knock my socks off, also they were a bit cold as though they had just come out of a very cold refrigerator.
Scones ♦♦♦♦◊ – delicious but mine crumbled apart, my husbands kept together though so I might have just been unlucky, also they were only just barely warm by the time they got to us which was only mildly disappointing as they were yummy otherwise
Cream ♦♦♦♦♦ – REAL and AMAZING they make the cream in house and it was firm and rich and I wish I could have it all the time
Desserts ♦♦♦♦◊ – You’ll definitely have to have a sweet tooth for them but they were also really interesting flavours 3 out of the 4 were amazing and I wish that I wasn’t so full by the time I got to them
Cost – Holiday Tea $56, Royal Tea $140 (with Caviar and Moet Champagne) and Childrens Tea $28.
Times – Daily 11am to 4:15pm
Overall it’s the best afternoon tea experience I’ve had in the USA. We were there for thanksgiving weekend when the menu was the “holiday menu” which goes from November 21 until January 1 when I assume it’ll return to it’s regular menu.
– Review of The Tea Lounge at the Waldorf Astoria Las Vegas –
Being Australian it means that we didn’t grow up celebrating Thanksgiving but we do really enjoy the long weekend and wanted to make the most of it by trying to get to somewhere new for us. Neither myself nor my husband (John) had any real desire to ever visit Las Vegas neither of us gamble, drink or smoke, so we really didn’t think Las Vegas would suit us at all in fact to be truthful it was probably the lowest on the list of places to go but after a few people mentioned it to us and when we looked up prices and things we could do we decided to give it a go. It was really clinched for me that we could have fun when I found the Waldorf Astoria had opened only 3 month ago. It’s a non smoking hotel that’s hidden from the strip and doesn’t contain a casino but best of all is that it is home to The Tea Lounge which by all the research I did (and I did a lot) was the best Afternoon Tea destination in Las Vegas. The Tea lounge was originally set up by the previous hotel owners The Mandarin Oriental (which has an incredible history of afternoon teas at their hotels all around the world) and there are many things that are still held over from before the ownership change but from my understanding the menu isn’t one of them. I try not to get too excited at afternoon tea in the USA since as much as American’s are amazing at many things serving a traditional afternoon tea in my experience hasn’t been one of them. I’ve been to 3 others in the states in the past 18 months and mostly they have been pretty disappointing. This experience, however, at the Tea Lounge wasn’t one of them and was the best I’ve been to in the USA by far.
Ambience/Setting
The view is AMAZING from the Tea Lounge which is on the 23rd floor of the Waldorf Astoria. It’s calm and serene and even though it was completely full of people it never felt crowded or loud. Everyone felt separate to each other so you never felt like you were encroaching on someone’s private conversation or that anyone else was invading your space. The group tables are set up around the edges of the space and then down the centre and across the front of the window are the settings just for two, all of these face the window so everyone gets a great chance at the view. As there is so much happening outside it’s mesmerising to watch everyone below but you do feel very removed from the hustle of the strip in the tranquil space they’ve created. The setting was elegantly laid out and felt very special and thought out. The decor is a hold over from when it was the Mandarin Oriental and will over the coming months and years be changed and updated but for now it’s lovely with it’s lush colours and cocooning ambience. It’s traditional without being pompous. I was absolutely in heaven here, with the gold cutlery and the tea setting that was covered in birds and flowers, it was all stunning. The teapots are a substantial size and easy to pour and handle. The only thing that wasn’t 100% perfect was that we did have to do a bit of a table dance with plates and teacups whenever they came around with anything new to the table. The food is actually served in a tiered set of decorative shelves that sat between my husband and I. They were below eyeline so didn’t get in the way of our conversation but did allow us to see all the food without getting in the way on the table. I thought this was a stroke of genius! For the groups the shelves sat at each end of the table so that no one was having to look around a tall cake stand in the middle of the table. As I said genius!
Service
I can’t rave enough about the service of this whole hotel including and in particular the staff of the tea lounge. They were constantly available when we looked around for them and were quick and discreet whenever they came to the table to give us anything. Our conversation was never interrupted and our teapots were quick to be refilled with hot perfectly steeped tea. When they found out we had recently gotten married they brought over a glass of champagne to enjoy, as we couldn’t enjoy the drink they were quick to bring us over more of our favourite desserts and a little take home bag of their specialty holiday teas, and the champagne was passed on to the next table celebrating a hens weekend. They looked after us and offered service that wasn’t in your face or felt fake for a better tip. Truly outstanding and was such a large part of a wonderful tea experience.
Tea
The Tea Lounge has 24 teas on its menu all loose leaf and all they brew them all to specific times and remove the leaves so there’s no risk of over steeping after it’s been left there a while and they refill it and once again steep to perfection again.
Under the title Holiday Teas there are a few seasonal teas that include the flavours Nutcracker, Mulled Spice, Sugar Plum Fairy and Winter escape. These flavours are available until January 1st. Their regular tea menu is still available and includes the familiar black teas of Orange Pekoe, English Breakfast, Golden Tippy Assam, Jasmine Earl Grey and Masala Chai along with a number of other teas under the headings Green Teas, Oolong Teas, Artisan Blend and Herbal Teas. From the looks on everyone else faces when they got their teas around the room everyone was happy with their selections.
As I’ve said before I can’t go past Orange Pekoe tea and so I barely read past it when I saw it top of the first page and ordered it straight off as I was looking for something that I trust I’ll enjoy and will satisfy my tea craving and thankfully I was not disappointed it was delicious and totally hit the spot. John got the Golden Tippy Assam and was delighted with his selection. It wasn’t as bold as he was expecting but he enjoyed it thoroughly. I’m pretty sure though that we could have chosen anything on the menu and it would have been delicious.
Tea Sandwiches
The presentation of this course was absolutely outstanding but I’ve got to say my initial reaction wasn’t great to them as in my experience when people try to go too fancy and try to add excitement the “sandwiches” portion it has rarely worked for me. They all looked great and they tasted fine but they didn’t knock my socks off. Everyone around me was impressed with how they looked so perhaps I should put more of my emphasis on that and less on flavour? I was also a little disappointed as they all felt like they had very recently come out of the refrigerator and all had that cold to bite feeling. For me I would have been more satisfied with at least another sandwich especially if it was on the fresh bread that they seemed to serve elsewhere in the hotel. Again these are the holiday menu sandwiches and are only available until January 1st.
Turkey Slider | Mini Brioche, Lettuce, Tomatoes, Cranberry Relish
Pumpkin Cone | Candied Pepitas, Dried Cherry, Hidden Rose Apple
Porchetta Sandwich | Brie Cream, Honey Crisp Apple, Pumpernickel Bread
Salmon Gougere | Caper, Lemon, Cream Cheese
Scones
Now we get to my favourite part of the meal the scones!! I honestly live for scones and they were the first things that came to mind, when I had to go on a carb free diet, that I was going to be absolutely devastated to be potentially missing out on. Thankfully that diet didn’t last too long and I was back eating scones by the time we were visiting The Tea Lounge. My family definitely associate scones with me and NOBODY in the world makes better scones than my Dad. Whenever I visit him in the UK I ask for scones as a priority, thankfully he always indulges me and his scones never let me down. In my opinion they should be moist without being doughy and should be able to easily be either cut or broken apart in halves without completely crumbling apart. They should be light and fluffy and at least 1″ thick before halved. I’m very much torn about the ones at The Tea Lounge as they were very tasty and moist but for me they weren’t quite fluffy enough and were quite flat rather than raised. Mine fell apart quickly as soon as I cut into it which was disappointing but John’s stayed together well so perhaps I just got unlucky. I also get super excited when they arrive at the table still warm as though freshly baked but even though we were in an early seating they were barely warmer than room temperature by the time we were getting into them. All that said though these were definitely the best scones I’ve had in the USA to date. They served each of us one plain scone and one fruit scone. They were both delicious and other than my very high benchmark that I always want them to meet they still made me happy to be eating them.
Most people, and I’m inclined to agree with them, believe that scones are really just a vessel for the Jam and Cream or if you’re like my husband the lemon curd (which I am not a fan of). If there is one thing that will make or break an afternoon tea experience for me it’s the cream. If it’s aerosol cream then for me even if the rest of the meal was delicious everything is ruined. Luckily The Tea Lounge exceeded my expectations in this and dished out the best cream I’ve had in the USA ever. I asked where they got it and apparently it’s made daily in house. Whomever was making it was amazing as it was genuinely perfect cream for serving with scones. The jam too was delicious although I prefer it a little bit thicker so it can create a layer on the scone and not just get absorbed into it. As per usual John and I had the usual debate of Jam or Cream first – he is a cream first and I’m a jam first – and this time I would have been wiser to do it his way as the flavour of the jam did get a little lost in the amazing rich tasting cream (side note I’ll do another blog post just on the cream first debate as it’s one that we have constantly in our house). As I mentioned before I’m not a fan of lemon curd (not really a fan of lemon flavoured desserts in general) and so I can’t give an accurate review of the lemon curd but this is John’s take on it…
John’s sidebar on Lemon Curd
I haven’t had a lot of good lemon curd experiences in the US, but the Waldorf Astoria LV came as close to perfection as I’ve had on this continent. It was the right amount of tart and it’s consistency was oh-so-smooth to the point of being very nearly too consistent.
Dessert Plate
As always every time I ever have afternoon tea I’m always disappointed at myself for how full I am when we reach the dessert plate. I always try to pace myself but I’m always swept away with the scones and forget about the most decorative plate in the experience. At The Tea Lounge this plate is where you most see the “holiday” theme come to play. They honestly looked spectacular and so good that you didn’t want to break them. The menu consisted of
Raspberry Cassis Ornament | Raspberry Cassis Mousse, Pear Jelly, Chocolate Sponge, Cinnamon Sable
Christmas Tree Tart | Chocolate Tart, 70% Chocolate Ganache, Chocolate Mousse, Mint Merengue
Red Velvet Macaron | Cream Cheese
Mont Blanc | Chestnut Spread, Vanilla Cremeux, Chestnut Mousse, Chocolate Tart Shell
So even though I was completely feeling full I still just had to taste each one (massive FOMO victim here) even at the risk of making myself sick, I unbuttoned the top button of my jeans and dove in. All but the Mont Blanc were spectacular, The Christmas Tree was my favourite and was an adventure just in working out how to eat it. The merengue outside was almost marshmallow like and the fusion of flavours were balanced and delicious, although where can you go wrong with mint and chocolate. The Raspberry Ornament was wild and had a flavour that was unusual to me and probably would have been the one that if I had more space to eat more would have been the one I ate in it’s entirety. The way it looked so glossy was pretty cool and it was easier to eat than the Christmas Tree. The Macaron was as expected, delicious and perfectly put together but the Mont Blanc was a little lacklustre when up against the others. The flavour was much more subtle and it didn’t quite look as polished it was also the one that I saw most often left behind on the plates of other patrons when they too were full.
Overall it was genuinely the best Afternoon tea experience that I’ve had in the USA and one of the top 5 I’ve had around the world. Everything was delicious but it was the service and location that really made it feel special. The next time I go back to Las Vegas it will definitely be at the top of my to do list and I look forward to tasting their regular non-holiday menu.
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