Afternoon Tea at Mount Nelson, A Belmond Hotel, Cape Town — Restaurant in Gardens

We visited the Mount Nelson to celebrate my grandmother’s 80th birthday. We called ahead of time to say we were running late only to be told we need to be there on time as tea is served between 3-5. Upon arrival, we had to wait to be seated for a while as there was a mix up with the name on the reservation. Whoever took the details made it under Eric instead of the actual name. When we eventually got seated we were told that the savouries and scones would be brought together as we were late. We had to wait sometime before someone eventually came to take our tea/coffee order. When it arrived my gran waited even longer for milk. There was another wait for a high chair for my niece. Not once did anyone explain what savouries or cakes were being put on the table. When my sister asked about what tea she could pair with dessert the waitress said she did not know, she knew nothing about the teas. We ordered coffees and the order was wrong. My sister got her scones just before 5pm. I had to asked multiple times for a tea cup and there were long waits for the staff to help or bring requested items. The service was terrible and the wait staff didn’t seem to care or apologise. Then there was the cakes, some of them were had soggy bottoms and partially melted. The plating wasn’t that great. The vegan option tasted bad, it’s like the chef didn’t know what to give the vegan and so they just threw something on the plate. To think we spent so much for bad service and a horrible...

I was always a huge fan of your high tea, but after not having experienced it for a while, I was eager to try it again.

First of all, making a booking was harder than necessary - no one could actually tell me if I had a booking or check on it because the system was down apparently. I actually went on Saturday for a friend's birthday on a bit of a whim, hoping my reservation still stood. I was even told by the concierge that he would get back to me personally, which he never did. Really not a great start.

On the day we were seated at a great table. The savory items were nice but it's quite unbelievable that for the price of your high tea, that they are not included in the buffet and are served in a tiered stand. The sweet treats were decidedly average, with broken, badly made macrons, cheap luminous sugar on your marshmallows, average fudge and an over indulgence in all things chocolate making it both unbalanced in the offerings and really not great.

I just feel like when you pay that much money (you must be aware that it's the most expensive high tea in Cape Town), that you really expect more. While the service was good, I certainly didn't find much of the staff particularly friendly.

I really think Capetonians need to stop touting this as the best high tea in Cape Town, it's honestly far from.

Overall an only okay experience which took the Mount Nelson high tea from my favorite to my least favorite in Cape Town. Sadly, I won't be back...

My family and I booked and paid for high tea in advance to celebrate a birthday. We arrived at 3.35pm and were met by a rather tired and frustrated looking chef who skipped the warm welcome and abruptly indicated that we just made it for the 3.30pm session. This unfortunately set the tone for the rest of the afternoon. We were seated at a table for 5 people, yet the booking was made in advance for 6 people. We were then left to twiddle our thumbs for 15mins until we flagged down the manager asking for some assistance. Finally, we were seated accordingly and the high tea commenced. The salmon and pakora items were palatable, however, to our dismay, the majority of the savouries were not to our liking (lacked salt and seasoning). Sandwiches were standard, risolles and pies were oily. The scones and macaroons were good, however, we did expect a wider variety of savoury and sweet items.

I have been to many high teas at 5 star hotels and I must say I am thoroughly disappointed. It is the festive period and I expected an abundance of food items and perhaps a special menu during this festive period. At around R635 per person (extra charge for festive period), I expected to be treated to delicious sweet and savoury items, and valued as a paying patron. We all looked forward to this high tea experience, however, it definitely was not up to standard. Unfortunately, I cannot reccommend the high tea...