The Jade Lounge — Restaurant in Songshan District

Over priced, over rated, over pretentious, over zealous ….

Chairs are uncomfortable, table was too small, decorations are stiff, I felt more stressed in that room than in a court house.

I have had high Tea at some of the first rated hotels and restrurants in England and countries around the world, and we thought it would be nice to try in a nice hotel in Taipei.

Took forever for the tray of food to arrive, then it sits on the serving counter next to a door across the room, for more than 10 minutes before it was brought to our table, and this is after we were seated for more than 30 minutes and stared at the tray of food that was later brought to our table, while every server was MIA, disappeared for a long time behind, I guess the door to the kitchen..

Just because they are selling this place as high end, it doesn’t need to move in a snail's pace, nor is this place a church or a library that all staff whispers while talking to you.

I have never had champagne that’s not filled to the rim. perhaps they should use a smaller, narrower champagne glass instead of small wine glass!!! And individual serving bottle would have been nice, since there were only 4 tables and only couple people including me drinking champagne. If the champagne was so expensive, charge me more, DONT give me less than half a glass, it's tacky,

Overall, both salted and sweet items on all three trays were exquisitely crafted, each with a complicated unique taste and decorated beautifully. I gave it 5 stars for efforts and uniqueness. Unfortunately, it is lost amongst all the other mishaps..

Scones are a big part of afternoon tea, when one thinks about afternoon tea, scones comes into one's mind first. But the two scones we got were substandard, store bought, thrown into a bread basket sideways, it’s like putting the guest of honor at the kiddie table, when it should occupy a dignified place on the tray with the rest of the items. The three spreads? They were the forgotten step children, neglected by their father, the chef. Store bought orange marmalade would have tasted 10 times better.

I can accept that Taiwanese style afternoon tea might be different, perhaps cucumber, egg salad or salmon sandwiches are substituted, but not by mostly deserts.

Who goes out for afternoon tea that have 5 deserts and only couple of small food items. Don't waste your money, not worth it...

When I made a reservation for this place, they even requested me to upload a photo in their form so they could greet us upon arrival. There was also an allergy question where you check off your allergies but since there wasn't a box for no allergies, I skipped that question. After that, they even emailed me to ask me about the allergy question and to tell me to confirm my reservation or else they couldn't hold the table for me. I think they would probably be okay if you skip the form, but they are just very thorough. A bit surprising though.

Even though they don't allow people to designate tables, I did put that we would appreciate a certain table in the notes section and they were kind enough to oblige.

The service was impeccable. They even helped us put on our jackets when we left! Our server could speak English and she was such a darling. We were lucky to have her.

The teas were very fragrant and I liked those, but the desserts were very sweet. I have had high tea at two other Mandarin Orientals and these desserts were the worst in terms of taste but probably the most intricate-looking.

We were celebrating my friend's birthday and the complimentary cake they gave us was the best thing we ate.

They have two rooms in the lounge and I felt the room we sat in was prettier and probably the original. In terms of afternoon tea in Taipei, the ambience at this hotel can't be beat, although some other hotels like the W have a modern vibe.

Along with the tea set, they were doing a collab with a Japanese artist, so it included a paper coaster, a fan, and tickets to see his exhibit in Nangang.

There was only one bathroom stall in the place, which seemed inadequate given how much tea we were drinking. Free refills on hot water and each person gets to pick their own...

This review is purely for the afternoon tea set’s food quality and the lack of hospitality from a 5 star hotel. I have never experienced such a subpar Mandarin Oriental service going to Paris or Hong Kong. The tea set’s pastries are not fresh, as shown by the soggy sable on the bottom of all the sweets that have one. It obviously has absorbed too much moisture from what’s on top of it, or the residue moisture that comes from sitting too long in the fridge. When my friend and I asked about it, the server said they take it from the freezer. The glaze on the cakes was unpleasant, almost like a plastic film (see video). A good glaze should not be able to be literally “peeled” away from the mousse; needless to say, the texture was terrible. Onto the savories, in which there was a verrine of a seafood gelee, which has way too much gelatin. The “crispy” cheese tartlet was not crispy either. This all leads me to believe that neither the chef nor the team at Mandarin Oriental in Taipei care about the quality of the food they serve.

I failed to eat most of it, and when I told the server, nothing was done to rectify the situation. No one came to speak to us, and no apologies were offered either. I am highly disappointed and will remember for the rest of my time never to visit Mandarin Oriental in Taipei again. Quite frankly, I feel that it’s embarrassing for them to call themselves a...