Afternoon tea difficulty

[TheAverageJoanne]

Well it's ATBU. Booked afternoon tea for a few friends on Saturday for a birthday. One person only eats cheese on sandwiches but she'll have chutney and things like that on them.

Unfortunately they are being rather difficult. When I requested cheese sandwiches when I booked she had to check with her manager who said it would be OK. They phoned today saying they could only provide cream cheese & cucumber, but not plain cheese! I pointed out plain cheese was available on the children's menu but they weren't able to change the sandwich selection, only for allergy or food intolerance.

AIBU to not leave them a tip, grumble on Trip Advisor and complain to them? We want it to go ahead. I'm going to make some and take along in a sandwich box for this person, too. She doesn't eat meat or fish.

This is a prestige hotel that charges a lot btw.

There will be another selection of sandwiches for vegetarians, or at least there always has been whenever I’ve had cream tea. Just order her that one.

Go to Greggs if she wants a cheese sandwich.

Prestige and customer service do t seem to be compatible on this occasion. What ‘ chef’ can’t make a cheese sandwich? Cancel and take your money elsewhere.

This sums it up perfectly

I will eat pretty much anything. Can't bear fussy eaters (as opposed to people with actual allergies). And the sandwiches you've listed are hardly challenging. She can eat the cream cheese one and stop being pathetic.

This would be my assumption

So you don’t just want a cheese sandwich, you want a vegan cheese sandwich?

I’m not sure I’ve ever come across an afternoon tea that doesn’t have a vegetarian option!

I’m not sure why you’d choose to go to one that doesn’t cater for veggies when the vast/vast majority do? I’ve had plenty of afternoon teas with my friend who’s a coeliac vegetarian (and I don’t live anywhere especially fancy).

Perhaps it would help if you could clarify the situation? Is it that the hotel doesn’t do a vegetarian option at all so any veggie’s have to pay for the full afternoon tea but leave 3/4 of the sandwiches? Or is it that there is a veggie option but your friend doesn’t like it (eg she doesn’t like egg mayo/coronation chickpea etc). The first is crap service from the hotel, the second I’m afraid I’m with them (afternoon tea is usually bulk prepared with ingredients ordered in appropriately. Yes it’s just one person but what if somebody else decides they only want the ham sandwich or the salmon…).

Either way - it doesn’t seem like this venue is going to work for your friend so why go - especially if you’ve been to places in the past that have been flexible? Why not reward that with ongoing business?

Oh MN, the faux outrage SHE ONLY EATS CHEESE SANDWICHES!!! Never met a fussy eater before, they do exist!

It's a bit miserly of the hotel as it doesn't seem an overly difficult request. Have bread, have cheese....I wouldn't complain but their reluctance to change things would make me concerned I was going to get served up from pre-frozen crap they'd already prepared.

I can’t be doing with food places that are inflexible, so I’m with you, OP.

Afternoon teas are rubbish I can’t believe people still go to them and pay over inflated prices for a few sarnies and some cakes. In this situation you’d be better gathering at one your houses and doing at DIY afternoon tea and then going for a drinks somewhere nice.

I’m vegetarian and love an afternoon tea. Have you told them she is veggie rather than “will only eat cheese sandwiches “? In my experience if you tell them you have this dietary they will do cream cheese and cucumber, houmous and roast veggies, cheese and pickle etc. F however she is saying she will only eat cheese then it isn’t that she is veggies, she is fussy (or both).

Afternoon tea is quite process driven and they make the food in bulk and in advance so anything throwing that off eats into the margin (which isn’t massive) so will be resisted, and one of the points of afternoon tea is you get a selection but you aren’t choosing.

It is going to be massively embarrassing if you bring tupperware and you may be asked to leave.

Having recent catered for ten people, three of whom had food preferences, I can see why they would want to keep to a standard menu, otherwise it could open the floodgates to a million and one very "reasonable requests" for alternatives that just make life very complicated for them.

If I was them, I'd make an exception though and do it because it is just so easy to do - I mean literally it's just putting a bit of grated cheese between two slices of bread.

Should you write a bad review, I'd see how the afternoon tea goes before making any decisions. They might redeem themselves with good service.

I'm very fussy when it comes to sandwiches (don't like butter, mayo, picky about ham and certain filings have to be on certain breads - i know i know...) i don't bother with afternoon teas as know the sarnies won't be to my tastes (not least because the crusts are the best bit!). i would love just cheese on brown bread but it wouldn't occur to me to request them to be made - i'd just eat the cakes if i had to go

HOWEVER if it's a large booking with plenty of notice at the request, and they do plain cheese sarnies on the kids menu, then i don't think it's unreasonable to ask the question esp if they aren't offering a proper veggie alternative other than cream cheese. i don't think they are BU to say no though - afternoon tea does tend to be a set menu

just don't go there again next time i guess!

Yabu. I don't blame the restaurant... afternoon tea is usually a set menu. Imagine if everyone who ordered afternoon tea wanted to hand pick the selection of sandwiches they had...time consuming, possibly more costly and potentially confusing for the restaurant.

There is (likely) options that isn't afternoon tea if she doesn't like the range on offer

That said, their afternoon tea sounds crap for vegetarians if all they offer that isn't meat or fish is cream cheese...not much variety!

Why don’t you ring back and say that one friend has sensory issues and would only eat cheddar cheese sandwiches. I feel like they’d change it then? If not then I’d order her a sandwich from the children’s menu to have as well as eating the sweet treats.

It is possible the hotel do not make the afternoon tea, but purchase it from an outsourced supplier each day…. But they of course don’t want to tell you this 😀

But thats not true...the friend doesn't have sensory issues, she has a taste preference.

Lying about that is a piss take for people who genuinely need requirements due to sensory needs.

Say it's a food intolerance, go, then leave a bad but honest review.How on earth can they claim that they can't do a cheese sandwich?!

She didn’t tell us either.

Sorry you are so angry over this, I can understand it now because she is vegetarian.

I eat very little meat and when I go to afternoon tea I make up for it by eating scones and sweet things. There is usually plenty and more available also.

I wouldn't expect the hotel to serve a sandwich that's bot on the menu but I am surprised they don't have vegetarian options besides cream cheese and cucumber.

Taste is a sense so I don't even think saying it's a sensory issue is a lie. But even if it was, it's hardly going to bother other people with other sensory issues. I doubt they need you to be offended on their behalf.

They do do cheese sandwiches...just not as part of the set, afternoon tea menu.

Lots of places won't change things on a set menu

Seemingly, if she wants a cheese sandwich, she can not order afternoon tea and order off the other menu.

If they charge a lot of money for the afternoon tea and they have the ingredients,it's odd to refuse to make a cheese sandwich. It's not as if the OP was asking them to source a rare food.

I’ve been to many a “posh” (Michelin star etc) restaurant in my time … never been to one that doesn’t make allowances for taste.

Smacks of “bought in” sandwiches … but even if that were the case, takes 5 minutes to made a sandwich