Melina Albanese
Google
The Drawing Room is okay, but I've had better afternoon tea experiences elsewhere. I was so looking forward to this celebration and trying afternoon tea in Niagara on the Lake. Unfortunately, I left disappointed with this experience at The Drawing Room. I've been numerous places for afternoon tea and this ranks the lowest. The main thing going for this place is the ambience of the space itself. In fact, this is what enticed me to try tea at the Drawing Room in the first place.
We visited in July for a birthday celebration. Even though this was indicated in our online reservation, the wait staff did not give any birthday wishes nor include a candle or anything to make the service special for a birthday. We've seen candles placed on one of the desserts at other places that serve afternoon tea, which is a really nice touch.
Upon arrival, nobody was at the counter to seat us. Eventually another party came, and both us and the other party had to wait several minutes before we were acknowledged. At that point, we were checked in but not seated. It took another few minutes before we were seated.
In the reservation, I explicitly requested a table by the window in the reservation, which I'd made several weeks in advance. We were not seated by a window. Right away, we noticed two dark brown stains on our tablecloth which was disappointing.
The host was very abrupt, our server was friendly. However, the service was quite disruptive. We were seated near the entrance to a private party room, and a few minutes into our visit we were informed by our server that a party would be coming in shortly and that people may try using the entrance which could be disruptive to us. She asked if we wanted to move. While this was thoughtful of her, I was unsure why they didn't close that entrance since the official entrance into that space was directly accessible from a hallway off the hotel lobby (versus having guests enter the Drawing Room and then into the side room). This was fine, but then the hostess came over and abruptly and asked us to move our table. At this point, the service was simply disruptive. They could have planned for this before seating us.
Our tiers of savouries and sweets were brought over before my partner finished his cheese plate, which made for a crowded table. The cheeses were very good and served with lots of fruit (berries, grapes). My cocktail sat around for a while before being served (I could see it sitting on a table near the entrance). In terms of the prepared food, the sandwiches were okay but nothing impressive. Very simple and easy to make at home. They were also very cold as if they'd been stored- prepared- in the fridge and were just taken out. The croissant used for one of the sandwiches was dry. The scones were very big and dry, which was disappointing. I've never tasted a scone that dry before at afternoon tea. I didn't finish mine and it's usually my second favourite part after the savouries. The desserts were overly sweet; for example, the macaron looked very pretty but just tasted like plain sugar. There were no special English desserts such as eccles cake or Battenberg cake. Very North American style dessert tier.
Doubt I'll visit again, but figured I'd leave a review for others considering going here. I would not recommend for a special occasion, and I'll opt to go elsewhere where I know the food is fresh and pastries more diverse, authentic, and less sweet. And where the service is more attentive, especially for a celebration!
