Palm Court

Here for Christmas break. I knew I wanted an experience I would remember and I have found it. Afternoon tea was wonderful. Great for a single traveler. Was seated promptly and no detail was overlooked. After shopping on Boxing Day I checked my bags and coat and had a very relaxing afternoon. The tea was beautiful and balanced. The staff was attentive and professional. Would recommend to anyone visiting.

Quite simply the most spectacularly decadent, indulgent and luxurious afternoon tea imaginable.
Unlimited tea and coffee served in silver pots with an unbelievably wide ranging menu of teas– fruit, herbal and specialty blends.
We had a gorgeous amuse bouche of pea soup, a selection of savoury items, beautiful dainty sandwiches, cakes and confectionary we, miniature sorbet ice cream cones abs finally a cake from the trolley to take home in the most glamorous doggy bag of all time along with a tin of Balmoral tea!
Fantastic understated yet perfectly efficient and friendly service in sumptuous décor. The toilets are even beautiful!
Do yourself a favour and go. At £35 it isn’t cheap but worth every single penny.

Oh, dear. Dreadful. Very expensive and dreadful. Leaving the tea pot on the table so the tea could get cold and we could serve ourselves is pretty poor service, in my book. The amuse bouche was a cold tomato soup. It tasted like Heinz, only not as good. The sandwiches were stale, the bread was cheap and nasty, and the fillings were virtually inedible. The liquid strawberry cheesecake thing was weird, and terrible. The cakes were stale, and of a very poor quality. It’s just as well we didn’t like them, as the amount we received was miserly, to say the least. I’ve had afternoon tea all over the U.K. and the U.S., and this was, by far, the worst, and possible most expensive I’ve had.

I returned again this time to treat my mum who was visiting from the Highlands. My mum has MS so has problems with here walking. As I could not park too close to the Balmoral Hotel, we used my mums wheelchair. disabled access was great and the staff could not help enough, putting special ramps up for my mum to get to the toilet etc. Mum can get stressed and fell like a burden when out in here chair but the staff made her feel at ease and that nothing was a hassle. the food was amazing again.

This was where I developed an obsession with afternoon tea. Come here for a great experience, and come hungry! There is a LOT of food in the afternoon tea service– 1200 to 1600 calories depending on how much you opt to eat (I precisely weigh and measure everything I eat).
The staff is splendid and the setting divine. This is a perfect way to spend time with a good friend (or friends) or just relax alone with awesome snacks. I cannot recommend it enough!

I would give it 6 stars if I could. Amazing afternoon tea.
They had a harp player entertaining us and it was very relaxing. I felt totally spoiled with wonderful food and service. They were very knowledgeable about ingredients which is great for me as I am vegetarian and I needed to know that they didn’t use gelatine in the cakes, they actually use agave syrup.
The tea selection was delightful, I started with Strawberry & kiwi tea, then peppermint and finally peach tea.
The ladies had nice REN hand wash and lotion in it which
I will be back here for sure.

Its so weird that people that came after us were served before us.
But whatever, I ordered the Japanese cherry green tea and he ordered the Oolong tea. They switch our teas, but this didn’t bug me, it happens.
Sugar was already on the table, but you have to ask for milk.
the first tri-​tray came with sandwiches on the bottom, wraps in the middle and pastries on the top.
The sandwiches did not «wow» me. I did like the twist pastries on the top of the tray– the taste stood out the most out of the sandwiches and wraps.
The refills of teas came next.
The second tri-​tray comes the scones, jam, butter and the cakes & mousse on top.
The mini lemon curd sponge had a tart taste to it.
I did like the caramel and pecan brownie, but sadly I was too full for the scones.
The «treats of the trolley» — the guy asked what I wanted and he gave me the wrong one. Never mind, I think they didn’t understand me.

the high tea was above average through UK, the sandwiches were specially diversified and its worth to be mentioned that the cheese twist is very tasty, and scones are good but only strawberry and blackcurrant jam were available with the scones, where the latter jam is never something I would go with scones. the dessert section is fine but just. overall I only give three points because we came first than the neighbour table but served after them, in addition, I have been waited for five minutes for my bill and the waiter forgot to give my bank card back.

On the one hand, the high tea itself was a real experience. You get the sandwiches and savory set, then they bring out the scones and sweet set, and then some people get the 3^rd course of a serving from the dessert cart. Unfortunately, the service was difficult to flag down, so by the time I got someone’s attention to give me the bill, I was ready to get out of there vs. trying the dessert cart (and no one even seemed to notice I didn’t get that course). It’s too bad because the setting and live harpist are really quite lovely. Someone did check in on me after the first course to see if I wanted a fresh pot of tea, but then no one came back to check later, and by the middle of the second course, my tea was cold. It was nice they gave me a newspaper to read, since I was by myself. I would definitely come back because the tea was so nice, but I would make sure I had plenty of time, so I didn’t feel like I had to run out of there at the end. Overall, it’s just not the level of service I would expect from the Balmoral.

Love Palm Court! It’s relaxing, usually a good pianist tinkling the ivories. great service and lots of lovely nibbles! Our visit was just before Christmas so it was lovely and festive and not as mad busy as The Dome, plus we could actually get a seat! They do serve their spirits as a double measure, but well, its Christmas! ;0) Try the afternoon tea if you fancy a splurge. I hear it’s fabulous! I’ll need to go back… sigh ;0)

Decent High Tea served at Palm Court
Expecting a 5-​Star experience, we found the waitstaff to be inattentive; focusing more on the wedding party who were waiting for their event to begin, than the patrons who were trying to enjoy High Tea and lunch
Tea pots emptied & cold w/​no one around to refill & in fact, we were never asked if we needed refills on anything. In the UK High Tea services we’ve experienced in the past, it’s usually set up w/​lots of offerings to bring out more sandwiches, more pastries, etc… not here
Mom & I shared the Veggie Afternoon Tea while Dad opted for the Roast Beef Sandwich
Tea sandwiches were standard fare. No wow factor — egg, tomato, cheese. Was hoping for some interesting curry, chutney or something to really make it stand out but unfortunately it was not meant to be
Desserts were likewise so-​so but we liked the shortbread cookies. Extremely buttery & crumbly
Saving grace for our Tea were the Scones! Definitely best of the offerings & we wished we had had about a dozen more of these — miniature Cinnamon and Honey were the standouts. Soft and flavorful but they weren’t paired with clotted cream… or what I consider clotted cream.
We found throughout our journeys & teas in Scotland, a whipped butter-​cream hybrid is offered instead of Devonshire Clotted Cream. Basically, it’s just fluffy butter…
Dad enjoyed his sandwich but wasn’t wowed — standard is the theme in this review & a standard sandwich is what he had… served w/​crisps
So why 3-​stars after this mediocrity? Well, it was a High Tea, we were on vacation & we got to enjoy the open, airy feel of the Palm Court… it’s an impressive Bar /​Tea area & worth a visit… but for that kind of money, we expected a bit more pampering