King Cole Bar — Restaurant in New York

A Pleasant Time for Tea

As the big birthday travel continues, I jetted off to New York City for a whirlwind two-day fun trip of discovery. As a belated birthday gift, my sister treated me to afternoon tea at the St. Regis. She ordered the Lady Astor’s Tea, among others listed. It is said that Lady Caroline Astor reigned as the social leader of the 1890’s during what was known as the Gilded Age. If you were lucky enough to be a part of her group, “The 400” also known as “The Patriarchs,” you were considered what she called, “The Old New York.” The following are my thoughts of this pleasant experience. Pros: We were seated promptly but it took our server at least ten minutes to acknowledge us prior to taking our order. The presentation of the meal was pleasing with a sense that there was plenty to eat. I tried the tropical oolong tea. It’s light fruity flavor did not disappoint. We were able to substitute the Scottish smoked salmon for more egg salad sandwiches which turned out to be very light and tasty. With the raisin and traditional scones, I was delighted to find that double Devonshire cream and lemon curd were served. My sister loved the fruit preserve that accompanied our meal. Regarding the sweets, my favorites were the Lemon tartelette with toasted meringue and Dark chocolate mousse presented in edible cups. The harpist added a refined, soft, musical background giving the experience more pleasure. Cons: I was disappointed that our server was not more attentive. In most tea rooms that I’ve attended, the hostess would explain the items that are presented on the tray to prepare you for your meal. Our server just placed the items on the table and off he went. Twice he stopped by after long intervals to see if we needed anything. By that time, it was too late because another server, Kenny, had already cared for our needs of more water for the tea and removal of dirty plates. It just felt like our server was there because he had to and couldn’t wait to leave. The area is one for dining and not just for afternoon tea. Others were having lunch which distracted the mood of “afternoon tea.” Overall: I would still suggest the St Regis for tea for it’s food. You are sure to leave full...

The older bartender named Bill is a racist. Me and a friend were here having drinks and because we were younger and this place is for “older people “ he began to refuse to serve us drinks. Isn’t that discrimination based on age???? Anytime I called his name he ignored me. Even tho it was my birthday he still did not care and just looked at me with a nasty face. I even tried to request water and he still ignored us. This is by far the worst customer service I have ever received in my entire life. This bartender is also racist and treats certain types of people terribly. I feel so uncomfortable just being here. No one should ever have to feel unwanted at a place where they come to relax after a long day of work. I will be reporting this because this is discrimination. Maybe it’s time for them to get a new bartender who will have no issues serving us drinks or simply water. I will be contacting my lawyer in regards to how I was horrible mistreated by Bill. I had a flash back to slavery time when the whites ignored the black people. It was my birthday and he just kissed/sucked his teeth. I tipped Bill over 20% but because I am a black younger female, he did not want to serve me. If this bar co signs on this racist behavior which is by far ILLLEGAL ... then they need to...

Good service, less than sub-par cocktails. This is absolutely a destination if you want to tick off that box for possible birthplace of Bloody Mary. Used to be very upscale service and very good cocktails but those days are gone. A friend and I first ordered Old Fashion and Aviation. Old fashion came with muddled neon pink cherries and Aviation was Aviation gin with lemon twist….this is a bartender who obviously has no clue. Muddling cherries was an early 90s thing when the bourbon was so bad, you had to mask it with sugar. Aviation is a gin based cocktail with crème de violet, lemon juice and maraschino liqueur, which if done right comes out purple. We each had couple more drinks but it was disappointing. My New York sour came out a pink mess with those damn neon cherries. Proper New York Sour is dry shaken lemon juice, bourbon, simple syrup and egg whites followed by shaking with ice, strained into glass and then you gently pour red wine over the top using the back of the spoon so that the drink has two layers. When an amateur like me can do better than a pro, that place as a cocktail...