Kind of S&B question: Claridges, The Ritz or The Savoy for Afternoon Tea?

[ujjayi]

So ladies, any experience of afternoon tea at any of the above? DH and I are organising a day to ourselves and we can't decide which place to go for. We want somewhere chic but relaxed. I love a little formal service but don't like to feel on tenterhooks whenever we so much as chink our cutlery!

My feeling is that The Ritz may be a little stuffy. Love the idea of Claridges because of the fact that they recently appointed David Downton as the Artist in Residence (v famous fashion illustrator) and not been to The Savoy since it was refurbished, and not for afternoon tea anyway.

Claridges. But biased because a friend of mine is manager there!
Browns is also nice. I would avoid the Ritz - I think it has become a bit of a cliche.

Glad to see lots of others feel Ritz is theme-parky and it's not just me being precious. IMO, Fortnums is even worse - was there for lunch about this time last year and most of the other tables were full with parties that had come up to town for tea,which was served in shifts. Like a production line - not at all stylish. The food hall part of it is just as bad - all tourists, no real atmosphere.

Fortnums is lovely.

I've been to all 3 hotel recently (although not for afternoon tea at all). The savoy and the ritz are both big tourist attractions and so can get very busy. I found the afternoon tea at the ritz to be nice and you were given plenty of food and topped up regularly. Clardiges is probably the more quiet and classy one of the 3.

Go to Claridges!

Experience nr 1: watching a table of 5 or 6 v thin, v beautiful ladies order a full afternoon tea each and then touch NONE of it! Apart from the weak black Earl Grey Tea.

Experience nr 2: sitting next to a table which had a lady and her wedding planner sitting on it. Half way through, the wedding planner reached into her bag, drew out a jewellery case and opened it - it was full of HUGE pearl necklaces (and not the sniggery kind!!). Vair casually done so that she could choose the necklace to wear. I mean each of them must have been worth thousands and the case was full!!!!!

Oh and we got refills of sandwiches and cakes.

I second MrsSnow's choice- The Landmark. We were there for 3 hours, had endless top ups of cakes, different teas, and came away with a container of cakes as well. I found Claridges a bit dark, the piano was too bloody loud (they did move us further away when we asked though) and the cakes were not a patch on The Landmark's.
I have a friend who is a bit of an afternoon tea connoisseur, her favourite is Langhams. I haven't been so can't comment on them.

Ritz does "sittings" so you may well be chivvied along, and it is quite cramped.

Wolsely is nice for lunch etc but not that posh IMO for a special tea.

Browns- not been- but has a certain subtle charm.

Savoy has now been taken over by Yanks and some think it has suffered.

I can vouch for Browns - was lovely!

The tearooms at Sketch are fab - like Alice in Wonderland with all the gorgeous cakes. Very contemporary though - wouldn't recommend it if you want somewhere traditional. The Ritz is too stuffy. Claridges is lovely.