Clipper Lounge — Restaurant in Hong Kong Island

We paid HK$1,253 for the Legendary Afternoon Tea at Mandarin Oriental for two people. That's about US$ 170. It fell completely short of expectations and was less than impressive. Only coffee or tea was offered as beverages. No crystal glass of chilled champagne or anything. The cappuccino was hot and had a deep aroma of fine coffee. The latte art was a failed attempt: what was supposed to be a heart shaped design looked more like the buttocks of a person with edema on one side (please see the photo). For the price we paid, I expected a far more professional display. It's really not that hard. The finger sandwiches were of minimally acceptable fillings (both in taste and quality) placed in low quality sandwich breads. No fresh cheese, no fresh tomatoes, no fresh fruit, no clotted cream and no freshly roasted nuts were provided. The pastries did not reach acceptable quality at all. Most bakeries in Hong Kong's MTR stations honestly beat the quality of the pastries we were served. The scones (traditional and raisin) were too dry and didn't appear freshly baked. Usually one finds at least two choices of jams and spreads. Here we got only one spread and whipped butter. The pastries that were supposed to have slightly crunchy granola toppings, had soggy granola. They didn't appear or taste fresh. We left more than half of the pastries at our table. The service was less than attentive. In fact, was it not for a young man from Turkey (Onur), I would have rated the service one out of five. Why? We were welcomed, seated and then promptly forgotten. It took several efforts and several minutes to get someone's attention to request a cup of hot water. Again, although Onur was not our waiter, he kindly brought hot water for us. The four people, seated next to our table, also had trouble getting their bill. The atmosphere was not fantastic at all. We were seated immediately adjacent to a concrete column. There were high windows a couple feet behind me and a couple feet behind my partner. Therefore we couldn't see the outside. Furniture is aged. All in all, a great...

Incredible Lack of Professionalism and Competence

Reserved a table for the allegedly legendary Sunday brunch at the Mandarin Oriental’s Clipper Lounge restaurant. Was greeted and seated at my table by the respectful and courteous staff, especially Mr Victor Mok. After having studied the brunch menu on their website well in advance, I came with great expectations anticipating a fabulous feast. Unfortunately the whole affair turned out a thorough desaster.

First of all I have to emphasize the high professionality of the service staff. However, this cannot be stated of the cooks; they seemed to come from mainland China, hardly understood any English and were poorly trained. Simply low cost personnel. Food was optically enticing, however incompetently prepared out of cheap and slightly expired ingredients, especially the seafood. The coating of the fried prawns was soft and came off. No crispness at all. The most annoying thing was the abalone: it had a rancid-fishy flavour. Definitely expired stuff. Meat dishes disappointed big deal as well: bland taste, processed meat cheap in acquisition, watery sauces. Even the so praised cheesecake felt heavy and buttery, no fluffiness at all. The offered cold drinks didn’t match the partially fatty food; there was only one hot drink (tea or coffee) included. I personally regard this concept as absolutely idiotic.

After an hour of being there I decided to abruptly quit all the nonsense and asked for the bill. Mr Mok obliged and enquired about my satisfaction with the brunch buffet. I told him my disappointment. He noted all the shortcomings on paper and refused any payment. As I spent an hour there and tried different dishes I insisted to pay. Then he apologized and brought me a box with finest jasmine tea as a gift from the house.

An old Chinese saying goes that fish always stinks from the head. I’m wondering whether the general manager of Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong, Mr Greg Liddell, is...

After much research, we decided to choose Mandarin Oriental's Clipper Lounge dinner buffet to celebrate a family members birthday. This is a good option if you mainly like seafood. There is an oyster platter per table and at the buffet there are unlimited crab legs, lobster, abalone, prawns and clams. There is not much variety of other foods compared to other luxury 5 star hotels. I have had better variety at Cordis and Icon's lunch buffet. Dessert variety is decent and there was a good festive selection as Christmas was just around the corner. Althought the restaurant is small with less buffet counters than other hotels, the restaurant does manage the number of people, flow and availability of food relatively well. Disappointed that no soft drinks were available in the price of the buffet. Only one tea/coffee per person included. Service was below par and was noticeably below expectations for the price we paid for a prestigious hotel. Waiters showed lack of emotion and enthusiasm. Delivered the incorrect drinks order, did not make an effort with the birthday cake celebration, did not find an appropriate solution to incorrect menu online stating hairy crab per table, charged the wrong price for buffet on payment as the website displayed the incorrect price. Please be aware of the website menu as Mandarin Oriental do not update their menu and the contents and price is not reflective of what is being sold which I found very poor of a brand such as Mandarin Oriental. Overall, seafood and dessert variety is good however, aspects such as variety of food, service and accuracy of online information is below the expected standard. There are definitely better hotel dinner buffets in HK at the other...