The Living Room — Restaurant in Beverly Hills

Don't tell any of my homies, but I'm like super into afternoon tea with little finger foods and champagne. So when I saw a Reddit post about The Living Room's afternoon tea service, I knew I needed to surprise the wife with a tea date.

First off I'll address seating--depending on where you're put it can be kinda awkward. We got one of the awkward seats behind a couch that had people sitting on it. So they're trying to take pictures of their tea service but we end up in the background of all the photos because we got the weirdo table (even though we arrived first for the last tea service for the day).

Next I'll cover tea and champagne. The champagne pricing for "endless" bubbles is kind of outrageous, in my opinion, especially considering how infrequently they come by to refill you. The tea list is very extensive, lots of interesting options, both the teas we tried, we enjoyed.

Now for the reason you're here: the food. There are definitely some really, really good bites of food here. But the dessert tier in particular was disappointing. My favorite tier was definitely the savory sandwiches, with the best bite being the pastrami. OMG if they would just give me an entire tower of the pastrami I'd be set lol.

Service was just OK. All in all we had a nice time, and there were definitely a few wow moments/bites, but for the price I expected a little more/better. Not sure I'd come back to this specific afternoon...

Absolutely wonderful experience at afternoon tea and possibly the best I’ve ever had. You are promptly greeted and brought to a truly beautifully set table. The room isn’t huge and feels rather intimate, not like you’re in a large production just looking to pump through people. They have a harpist playing music which adds to the pleasant and sophisticated ambiance. Service was incredible, so warm and helpful. We got the endless champagne option (the rose option is wonderful) and both our champagne glasses and our tea cups never got below halfway without someone refilling. I finished my pot of tea with about 10 minutes left in our seating and they still brought me a fresh full pot right away. They do not skimp and make you feel constantly cared for. The food was truly stunning and also a rather filling selection that’s actually a full meal with enough to bring a few treats home; again they do not cut any corners and provide huge value in their offerings. We used up the lemon curd and jam options for the scones quickly, it was so delicious, and they gladly brought us more when asked. I chose the earl grey crème tea and it was delicious, needed no cream, honey or otherwise (although they do make those readily available on the table for anyone who prefers that). Honestly a magical experience that I’d recommend...

As a local and returning customer, I was surprised that the prices had increased while the quality and decreased. My server looked at his watch 5 times during the two times we ordered. The sandwiches hadn’t changed at all (for years) and the pastries looked tiny, and had even tinier flavor (except for the small chocolate cake). In fact, aside from the serving of lemon curd at the table, one of the pastries was clearly a premade, restaurant supply mini shell with the same awful lemon curd spooned inside! That and the odd pink square of sugar/rose water, smallest French macaroon ever and smaller scones, took me aback. Serving a glass of varying qualities of champagne at approx $90, I would have preferred to buy great Devonshire cream and put on the entire thing for way less than my $317 check (with tip) for 3 people. I won’t even begin talking about the centerpiece of pink carnation that had obviously passed its prime. Had to turn it to take this...