Willard Peacock Alley Tea — Restaurant in Washington

Short version: the venue you’re paying for, Peacock Alley, is under construction as of January 21, 2023 and you will not be seated there. The alternative is not worth the money. I recommend you confirm construction is complete or cancel your reservation.

Long version: I imagine negative reviews could fall into two categories here: a personal “I had a bad service experience that won’t apply to others but I need to vent” or someone annoyed that they “paid too much for tea”. This is neither of those: High Tea is a special occasion, a luxury, a break from day-to-day life and it isn’t supposed to be cheap. But here’s the thing: you’re paying top dollar for a beautiful venue but will instead be served in a crowded hotel lobby.

This is a review of how the experience is not what’s advertised, how the business fails to communicate that fact, and why, as a result, this is not worth your time or money.

I repeat myself: cancel your reservation (or read on for more details).

A few nice things: our service yesterday was great and very friendly, the food good, the tea was tea. This earned two stars because our reservation for “Peacock Alley High Tea” was served in “The Lincoln Room”: Lincoln because of a portrait on the wall, and – generously – “room” due to a couple of couches flipped around to separate the space from the rest of the lobby. Think of the living room fort you made as a kid on snow days but without the blankets.

So, you’re sitting in the lobby of a hotel – feet away, folks are drinking tea or wine from the hotel bar behind the make-believe wall of your “room”. And it’s more crowded on your side, too: the venue made up for lost space by squeezing all of the small group tables into an area previously set aside for just large parties. We were awkwardly positioned against an uneven wall – with chipped paint I’ll add, just to drive the point home - and would have needed to shout to hear each other even if there weren’t two large groups within five feet of our table. There were.

That’s life, right? Construction happens. Sure, but other than this review where are you reading about it? The first I heard of construction was a confirmation call 24 hours before our reservation – a slick “and this is for the Lincoln Room”, which I corrected to Peacock Alley and was only then told that it’s not currently open.

Prospective guests: confirm there is no construction or cancel.

To the business: I made this reservation over a month ago as part of birthday plans. Unless this was surprise construction on the proper-noun Hallway of your five-star hotel, you could have informed guests earlier. Should have, even. You chose not to so reservations wouldn’t be canceled – I would have canceled. It strikes me as very odd for a luxury hotel to think their space has no bearing on the experience or price.

Update the language and photos on your reservations, put a notice on your website about the construction, contact those impacted, and lower your prices accordingly. This is false advertising and you’re setting your guests up for...

My wife and I had tea at the Willard Peacock Alley today to celebrate our 26th wedding anniversary. Having moved here from the UK 27 years ago we were looking for a little taste of England.

The alley was quite loud. There was a harp player who you could barely hear over the noise. I had difficulty hearing what any of the waiters were saying. I also had difficulty hearing my wife who was sat opposite me.

My wife ordered the Willard house blend. I ordered the Lady Grey. My tea tasted like weak black tea. I could not taste the bergamot or other aromatics in the tea. My wife’s tea was marginally better.

The selection of savory snacks was disappointing. The one good bite was the microscopically small cucumber and cream cheese sandwich. The other savories were awful. The sweets were also awful. The scones were dry and stodgy. There was no clotted cream, only Devonshire cream. It was not good Devonshire cream. None of the food tasted fresh. It all tasted like it had been sitting around for a long time. One of the savories was very dry, chewy bread with a tiny amount of flavorless sludge on it. Then there were worst devilled eggs I have ever tasted.

Having tea at Betty’s (chain restaurant) in England is a far superior experience. I would expect an upscale experience to be better than a chain. For over $100 per person, this should have been an enjoyable experience. The icing on the cake was our waiter bringing us someone else’s more expensive check.

If you are experienced with high tea I recommend you stay far away from...

Came here for afternoon tea to close out a weekend trip with my friend and despite there no longer being online reservation available, I was able to call and make a reservation about two weeks in advance.

It's hosted in an "alley" inside the Intercontinental Hotel, which itself is beautifully ornate. The vibe is elegant and lively, with a harpist playing the whole time. As for dress code, I just wore a nice blouse and slacks with white sneakers, but there were definitely people who went all out with their outfits, so dress as you please!

I got the Lychee Berry Rose tea, which I enjoyed with a sugar cube. We both ran out of tea during our time, so we were able to flag down the woman who went around refilling teapots with hot water.

The food selection was delightful, with three tiers of savory bites, scones, and then small desserts. We also got a tray of two different jams, lemon curd, and cream. As the menu is seasonal, our desserts featured flavors of apple, walnut, and pumpkin. It was definitely more than enough food, as I could just barely finish everything. I would say though, that I wouldn't recommend relying on this for a meal. We came around 3:30pm on a Sunday, so we weren't completely hungry.

We've both done high tea in London, so this experience brought us back. While it's definitely not cheap, I would say it's worth the ambience and experience. Would definitely recommend for a celebration, or simply having a cute date with a girl friend...