First of all, I am pretty laid back and mostly let things slide off my back, but this one I could not ignore. The Strings Tokyo..I really wanted to like you. I had high expectations and was spoiled prior at the Intercontinental Osaka (which btw, I highly recommend). We stayed 11-23, checked out 11-27; check in was uneventful, front desk staff was polite and efficient, our room was ready when we got there at 3pm, so far so good. The lady that greeted us at the door and helped bring our bags to our room was very sweet--hotel management: she's a keeper! Everything else about the room was good, although the hotel is showing its age, it is still nice. The reason for my review title is our experience at the Dining Room restaurant. It may probably sound pretentious but with the prices you are paying and the hotel reputation, a certain level of service is expected. After a full day of shopping, we got back to the hotel but housekeeping was still tidying up our room. Fine, we go downstairs because a poster caught my eye earlier about their afternoon tea offering. We get to the Dining Room around 3:30ish, in the middle of afternoon tea time. The maitre d' was stiff, unfriendly, quickly ushered us to the back near the kitchen. A server came a few minutes for our order and I said "could we get the afternoon tea?" She replied: "It'll take more than 20 mins for us to prepare for the afternoon tea. Do you want to do the cake set instead..blah blah" Huh? Ok, so you guys don't prep this stuff beforehand? This was the 1st time I had a restaurant dissuade me from placing an order because it was too long to make. I was like, whatever, we'll get your cake set, give us a few minutes to decide what tea or cake to get. She leaves, another lady in a different outfit comes in and takes our order. I ask for water, I never got my water during our whole time there. I get into a discussion with my husband, then we realize we have been waiting for more than 20 mins for our cake set. Mind you, all this time, NOBODY CHECKS IN ON US. I flag the original server to ask about our order and she says: 5 more minutes. I am livid at this point and want to leave but I was too tired at that point to complain and really hungry already, so we wait. My husband remarks that we probably could have gotten the afternoon tea set since we waited this long already :/ We get our tea and cakes and they were ok, not worth the prices but I get it, it's hotel prices. Again, NO ONE CHECKS ON US, only when another server saw we had finished our food, BOY, WAS HE QUICK TO GIVE US THE CHECK. No one offered us water, if we wanted to order more, etc. I've gotten better service at Denny's. I quickly sign our room number 3205 and we leave immediately. I wanted to complain to a manager or the front desk but I did not have the energy anymore and just wanted to go back to our room. I was waiting for someone to call us from the front desk to check in our last night (LIKE HOW THEY DO AT IC OSAKA), but no one called. I debated whether to talk to the manager the next day but we had to rush because of our early flight and had to catch the N'EX. I did not want to waste any more time if ever they had more questions for me. Another minor annoyance was that the housekeeping staff threw away a pack of band aids on one of the tables and I still needed them. I distinctly remember it looking pretty full and not looking like trash, so was surprised to see it gone. Anyway, suffice to say this will be my first and last stay at The Strings, I will be conveying this to my traveling colleagues as well.