The Tea Lounge — Restaurant in District of Canberra Central

My experience with high tea at the Canberra Hyatt was not bad by any measure. It was simply not good enough to justify the high price. When I visited with my family yesterday, almost everything was just a little off. When we arrived, I asked if sitting outside would be nice, only to be told that our seats were already reserved inside. I wondered to myself why a change could not be arranged in light of the fact that the place was practically empty on a Friday morning. Ultimately, however, we were given no choice. Our seats were apparently set in stone. The funny thing is that some random person was already sitting in our seats. That's no big deal at all, however, if someone is able to sit in our reserved seats, why would it be impossible for us to simply change our seats to an outdoor setting? We were never given the opportunity. Once the other customer was relocated and we sat down, the wait staff asked us if we had any dietary restrictions. I was a bit surprised by this question because we had entered dietary restrictions into the online reservation form. Moreover, someone from the hotel called us several days before to confirm dietary restrictions. Had the staff not received the message? Was there a communication breakdown? Whatever the case may be, I was not impressed with the service in this respect. // We thought it was curious that the food began to arrive before our tea orders were taken. I had to specifically ask for the wait staff to take our tea orders before they actually asked us what we wanted. Visitors to this establishment should be aware that the tea menu is extremely unusual. I myself am interested in the origins of teas and their brewing techniques, however, none of this information is provided. In fact, almost all the teas have a cute, localized name. Whether the tea is from Assam or from Celon or from someplace else, cannot be determined from the menu alone. The food was good and we were provided quick and delicious replenishments. The hotel did not provide strawberry jam for the scones. When it asked about it, the staff said they might have to ask the restaurant down the hall if I really wanted some. Why it would be an inconvenience for them to walk 20 m down the hall to ask the restaurant if they had strawberry jam is a mystery to me. It seems like an obvious thing to do for a customer, however, they seemed unwilling to take that extra step. In order not to embarrass my family, I didn't press the issue. It's worth mentioning, that the food provided as part of high tea was generally delicious and plentiful. The tea and coffee is unlimited. We found, however, that it was sometimes difficult to get the attention of the staff to make additional orders. In fact, we felt somewhat neglected by the staff. They were helping other customers get one or two coffees and maybe a small side dish while we, who were paying $75 each, were not getting much attention at all. Ultimately, I did not complain because I did not want to make a scene, nor did I want individual members of staff to feel like they had done something wrong. I don't think they had. It was simply an underwhelming experience. It was not worth the high expense nor did it meet my expectations of a very special experience for me and my family. I hope the hotel will improve to satisfy...

The place was quiet. As nobody approached to show us to a table, we found our own among a few that were uncleared. This table too was uncleared, but not as obviously as the others in the room. It was easier to sweep a few crumbs off it than wave any of the vacant-eyed listless staff over to do this. | For around five minutes we were ignored by both a woman who could plainly have seen we were waiting for service and otherwise unoccupied with serving other patrons yet chose instead to clean up nearby empty table, and other staff idly chatting among themselves. I decided the only way to get a drink was to walk to the bar and ask for menus, which I took back to the table with the promise of someone coming over to take our order. | My wife wanted a cocktail, but there were none listed on the menu. Over to the bar again I go seeking an explanation to be told 'oh, you want the cocktail menu?' and handed it over. Why it wasn't initially offered I’ll never know. | But we were making progress as we had now come to someone's attention and shortly approached and asked what our pleasure was. Still no offer to clean the table, but maybe because I did too good a job on it myself. | What seemed an age later the Pina Colada arrived. The ingredients had been blended with ice into a frozen white mass. We were unsure what it contained, as it was tasteless. There was certainly no evidence of white rum or pineapple juice we could detect, or coconut milk, sugar or lemon juice for that matter. All the above are what make up a Pina Colada. If any of these ingredients were in this frozen mass, it was too little of them to taste. It clearly had something in there that was white, as that was the colour of the frozen liquid. | After paying $22.28 for this farce of a drink, I approached a man in the adjacent bar who owned up to making this ‘cocktail’ what he'd put in it. Without hesitation he rattled off all the correct ingredients. I thanked him and left, with the only assumption one could make, assuming he was being truthful; that he'd used 10% of the required quantity of these ingredients and blended these with 90% ice cubes. I didn't bother to tell him you do not serve Pina Colada as a frozen drink. There was no point as we'll never be returning. | Someone who values the reputation of what is purported to be the best hotel in Canberra needs to have a serious look at the training and attitude of the staff in this tearoom...

We were so looking forward to this experience as part of our stay. It turned out to be the most disappointing part of our visit to Canberra. We were seated and offered sparkling wine, lovely (it wouldn't hurt the staff to smile or make you feel welcomed). It was then almost 30 minutes before anyone came back. Then the staff confirmed that one of our party were vegetarian, which was correct. Another 20 mins before anyone came back. The tier of savoury & sweet food came out first. The mini trifles on the second tier might have been nice, but we wouldn't know as we weren't given any spoons small enough to get into the glasses in which they we served. We then began on the scones and had them finished and still hadn't been served any tea to drink. The hot food for the meat eaters was served (even though this was the first course on the menu). Again, another confirmation about the vegetarian food. We then had to ask for tea. My guest asked for milk, the staff member appeared upset at the request. Another long wait for it to be brought to the table. The cheque was then brought to the table. We then ate the sweet course and were finished when the vegetarian meal was served, two mini quiches (we had already confirmed the day before on the phone vegetarian - no meat or eggs). We were still drinking our pots of tea when a staff member came around upset that we hadn't paid yet. This was supposed to be a nice afternoon, it was a shambles. I honestly couldn't recommend the Afternoon Tea. I wouldn't want anyone else to be made to feel the way we were. On a positive note, I can say that the Canberra Earl Grey might be one of the nicest blends of tea I had ever tasted -...