Garden View Tea Room

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

I just looked at their menu again yesterday.  I won't be going back.

[wendinator 109]

Went for tea again today - my first time since March. We didn't get Riley as our server this time and I don't know if it was because she had the day off or because she's moved on.

 

As best I can tell the menu hasn't changed at all since the last time I was there, so once again I (and all my dining companions) opted for the Bedfordshire tea.

 

Sandwiches are still the same — open faced beet, egg salad, curried chicken, cucumber & watercress. Two pieces of cheese (I stashed in a Ziploc bag for later), grapes, two raspberries, two blueberries, lavosh (crackers) and the famous onion tart.

 

 

New to me this time was the presentation of the scones and desserts. A three tiered tray is presented for up to two people so this one here was for me and my Dad. On the top layer you see his cranberry trifle and my pastries.

 

 

I'm beginning to think that the apricot jam I was served last time is a permanent thing. I inquired once again about strawberry jam and my server Amanda sourced some from some other stash on property. I guess I have some preconceived notions about what jam goes with scones, and apricot isn't it. Strawberry or raspberry seem more suitable to me, but what do I know?

 

 

Once again that tiny amount of Devonshire cream seemed insufficient so of course we asked for more. Riley usually brought just another tray like what you see above, but this time we were provided with small plastic tubs with a much more appropriate amount of cream. They took a while to arrive (our server said they needed to thaw) but they did not go to waste.

 

I opted for the pastries this time. The mousse filled swan flavor this time was mint. I guessed pistachio based on the color so was a little surprised to hear it was mint. I guess that was in light of the festive season. Anyway, I like mint and it was good.

 

 

My parents both had the cranberry trifle and they enjoyed it. I've never tried it because I feared it would be too tart. My Dad took a few pictures too so if they're any different than mine I'll post those when I can get access to them.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Great update Wendinator!

 

There are still about a thousand things I'd do before I ever go to tea at the Grand Floridian, but your photos and descriptions are great.  It does look like it could be fun. 

 

TCD

[BradyBzLyn...Mo 2,023]

Thanks for the update/photos!

 

I agree on the apricot jam front.  :)

 

We didn't go this past trip but TCD, I've dragged Brian a couple of times now and he always hems and haws ahead of time, and then has a great time.  He really enjoys the food, and remarks every time about how much there is because he thought he was going to leave hungry. 

[wendinator 109]

Did I hear someone say they wanted more afternoon tea pictures? No? Oh well - too bad! Here they are.

I went for afternoon tea today. If you scroll up you'll see the last time I was there was December 2015 - so over a year ago now (wow - time flies) - and there has been yet another change to the menu since my last visit.

You may recall they previously had the "shire" menu choices — Yorkshire, Berkshire, Cheshire, Derbyshire, and Bedfordshire. The -shires are gone now, there's just one base tea service to which you can choose to add accompaniments. Here's the new menu, which is pretty much what you had before in the Bedfordshire tea. And you'll be shocked to hear that the price went up too. The Bedfordshire was $30 (Jan 2015) and the new menu is now $35. 

Here's the new menu:

 

And here's your choice of accompaniments where you can add champagne, caviar (for a mere $95), or more fruit & cheese.

 

The sandwich plate remains pretty much the same — sandwiches of curry chicken, egg salad, cucumber, and beet, now just two smaller pieces of cheese instead of three big chunks, fruit assortment, and fortunately still the tasty onion tart. One piece of cheese is hiding in this photo, you can sort of see a bit of orange by the curry chicken sandwich. I stashed it in a ziploc bag for later but ate the sage cheese, which seemed more flavorful to me than previous visits, even though I'm sure it's exactly the same stuff.

 

Nothing much has changed for the scone and tart. They still brought apricot jam so I had to ask for strawberry (which they were able to provide) and as you can see in the picture the cream was much runnier/softer this time than in my previous visits.

 

The trifle today was bananas foster, so I opted for the pastries. What was new this time was no more tiny eclair (which was only just OK anyway) and instead I got two macarons, one vanilla and one pistachio. These were quite good. The mousse swan today was lemon poppyseed and I really enjoyed it. Chocolate covered strawberry was the same as always.

 

I didn't take a picture but the teapot and tea cozy remain the same, but the tea strainers are gone. I think the teas themselves have changed but I've never paid close enough attention to be sure. Regardless, there's no loose tea in the pot when they bring it to you. I suspect it's bagged tea now that they remove before it's brought to your table.

There's no AP discount for the afternoon tea and with the price increase + tax & tip this works out to a pretty pricey indulgence at just under $44 (especially by the time you convert it to Canadian dollars!). But I'm stuffed and won't need dinner, and my Mom and I will still undoubtedly go again when we've got a trip scheduled in March.

[wendinator 109]

Just got back from a short trip with my Mom and of course we went for afternoon tea.

Hard to believe but the menu has changed yet again since I was last there just a couple of months ago. And you'll be shocked to hear that you now get less food for the same price! But for those of you who were disappointed that the cheese plate was gone, there's some good news on that front. Here we go.

We were seated at a nice big table by the window with a view of a pleasant day.

There was a teapot of fresh flowers on our table too.

OK, enough ambiance. Onto the food. If you scroll up you'll see I mentioned that the -shire teas were gone in January. Did you miss them? If you did then you're in luck because they're back! Here's the new menu.

The Bedfordshire is the basic tea, and back in January your $35 got you some cheese, fruit and lavosh but you'll notice all that is conspicuously absent now. The sandwich flavors themselves are the same as in January, but their configuration has changed slightly. The egg sandwich is now open face with some garnish on top - capers, olive, and I think that was red pepper and not tomato. Similarly the cucumber is now open faced. Is it still a sandwich if there's only one piece of bread? Is this some kind of weird cost savings measure? The only sandwich that has two pieces of bread is the curry chicken.

My Mom had been looking forward to the cheese so decided to order the Cheshire Tea (Bedfordshire + cheese plate) and here's the plate of fruit and cheese we got. Kiwi, mango, papaya, pineapple, honey, and then 4 kinds of cheese - blue, brie, cheddar, and one other I forget. Oh yes and there was also fruit that was described to us as "grapes dried on the vine". So... raisins?

Here's a close up of those dried grapes since we got such a laugh out of that.

The tea still comes more or less the same way. It arrives pre-steeped, there's no tea strainer, and no tea leaves/bag in the pot. Tea cozy looked like it's showing its age a bit.

You still have your choice of strawberries & cream, trifle of the day (bananas foster), or pastries. We both opted for the pastries. The scones and pastries are presented same as last time, on a 3-tiered tray.

No real change here so once again I voice my opinion that apricot jam is still wrong, and they never give you enough clotted cream. The jam situation was remedied by my server grabbing some strawberry jam from elsewhere, and bringing another tray of clotted cream.

As you might have read before, I like to put the lemon curd on top of the jam tart.

And you may also recall that my husband, a Brit, is very specific about the order of the cream and jam on top of the scone. Jam first, then cream. Always.

These were our pastries. The mousse in the swan was "peach tea" today which was OK but nothing to write home about. Macarons were (L-R) strawberry, lemon, vanilla, and chocolate. Chocolate covered strawberry remains the same.

We had a lovely time as always.

A few other stray observations. The table to our right and the table to our left both ordered gluten-free tea (I had no idea that was an option, but I guess I shouldn't be surprised). It took so long for their food to arrive that at least one of those two tables had their meals comped. I don't know what you get when you order gluten-free, but apparently you can get an hour's wait and a freebie. I asked our server if Riley was still working there and she said yes, so that was good news even though I haven't seen her the last few times I've been. I also asked our server about Lynn - the old lady with the dolls who hangs out in the lobby - because I hadn't seen her the last few times either. She said the last she'd heard was that Lynn is now in hospice care and they all miss her.

So there ya have it until the next time I go!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Dried grapes on the vine and sandwiches with only one piece of bread?

Hard pass from me.

But, I'm glad you had a nice time with your mom!

TCD

[keith_h 420]

1 hour ago, wendinator said:

"grapes dried on the vine".

Makes me think the vineyard didn't have time to harvest all of their grapes on time and that selling them as raisins was just too common. 

[h2odivers...Ray 952]

Sounds like a great way to spend some time with your mom.  

Thanks for sharing. Lovely. 

[Beckers 1,136]

I'm still laughing about the dried grapes on the vine. I'm pretty sure I could find some in my car from the last time we had a picnic.

[wendinator 109]

None of you should be shocked to hear I went back to the Garden View Tea Room on my recent trip. I was there August 20 with my nephew.

When we arrived to check in there were three young girls using the Tea Room as their playground, running around in circles, climbing over/under a red velvet rope for a CM-only area. The woman at the check in podium assured me they'd tried suggesting to the adults that it wasn't appropriate, but without success. Fortunately for us, they left about the moment we were seated at our table.

The sandwiches have changed a little bit since I was last there. The golden beet is gone, and a roasted tomato is in its place.

Pretty much everything else remains the same. A 3-tiered tray holds the scones and your dessert course.

I'm disappointed that the apricot jam seems to be a permanent fixture, but once again they were able to find me some strawberry when asked. There's also never enough clotted cream on these prepared trays, but they will bring more when asked.

I still like to put the lemon curd on top of the jam tart.

The mousse swan flavor this time was white chocolate. I should have gone with the lemon blueberry trifle, which is what my nephew had. He couldn't finish it and I wasn't much help, but it was really good.

It doesn't look like the price has gone up, so that's good. Still $35 per person for the Bedfordshire.

[BradyBzLyn...Mo 2,023]

Thanks for posting this!!  I've been wanting to go back for a while now and I've been on the fence since the menu changed.  But this looks lovely and you may have convinced me.  :)

[wendinator 109]

I meant to mention that I was unable to get an ADR for last week and this is why:

I had occasion to spend a few hours in the lobby of the Grand Floridian right near the tea room and indeed there's some work going on in there, though it's not abundantly clear to me what it is they're doing. Some furniture is moved off to the side, there are drop cloths on some things, and there was a guy there with a ladder.

Wonder if any changes will be noticeable the next time...

[BradyBzLyn...Mo 2,023]

Speaking of Garden View changes... anyone know if they are still doing the evening champagne thing or was that just temporary?

[Beckers 1,136]

On 3/11/2017 at 3:02 PM, Beckers said:

I'm still laughing about the dried grapes on the vine. I'm pretty sure I could find some in my car from the last time we had a picnic.

We cleaned my car the other day and I did find something that was either grapes turned raisins or they actually were raisins when they were dropped between seats.

[BradyBzLyn...Mo 2,023]

13 hours ago, Beckers said:

We cleaned my car the other day and I did find something that was either grapes turned raisins or they actually were raisins when they were dropped between seats.

LOL!

[FeltonWeller 2]

On 9/22/2017 at 9:05 AM, Beckers said:

We cleaned my car the other day and I did find something that was either grapes turned raisins or they actually were raisins when they were dropped between seats.

I must say, that was a "fruity" surprise. Lol!

[wendinator 109]

On 9/5/2017 at 3:08 PM, wendinator said:

I had occasion to spend a few hours in the lobby of the Grand Floridian right near the tea room and indeed there's some work going on in there, though it's not abundantly clear to me what it is they're doing. Some furniture is moved off to the side, there are drop cloths on some things, and there was a guy there with a ladder.

Wonder if any changes will be noticeable the next time...

I was back for tea today. I'll spare you the pictures of stuff that's the same so here's a quick update of what's new since I was there in August.

Not much noticeable in terms of work that was done to the room during the closure in August. My server said they did a bunch of work to the kitchen and something with the ceiling.

They have new vests, though, so there's that.

On the food front, there was a new sandwich. And it was in addition to the sandwiches I got last time, not instead of. So that was a nice surprise. They now give you a poached pear with gorgonzola. You can see it at the top right between the cucumber and the roasted tomato. It has a nice hint of cinnamon, and my server said the pears are poached in red wine  (the dark slices) and champagne (the light ones).

I still think it's a little weird that of the 5 sandwiches they give you, all but one are open faced. Call me crazy but I kinda think you need two pieces of bread to be called a sandwich.

Price remains the same - $35 for the Bedfordshire.

[DaveInTN 3,247]

That actually looks pretty good. 

Please let me know who to turn in my man card to.  

[fladogfan aka Gretchen 259]

On 1/16/2018 at 1:56 PM, wendinator said:

I was back for tea today. I'll spare you the pictures of stuff that's the same so here's a quick update of what's new since I was there in August.

Not much noticeable in terms of work that was done to the room during the closure in August. My server said they did a bunch of work to the kitchen and something with the ceiling.

They have new vests, though, so there's that.

On the food front, there was a new sandwich. And it was in addition to the sandwiches I got last time, not instead of. So that was a nice surprise. They now give you a poached pear with gorgonzola. You can see it at the top right between the cucumber and the roasted tomato. It has a nice hint cinnamon, and my server said the pears are poached in red wine  (the dark slices) and champagne (the light ones).

I still think it's a little weird that of the 5 sandwiches they give you, all but one are open faced. Call me crazy but I kinda think you need two pieces of bread to be called a sandwich.

Price remains the same - $35 for the Bedfordshire.

You and Mo are making me want to do the tea.

 

On 1/16/2018 at 6:23 PM, DaveInTN said:

That actually looks pretty good. 

Please let me know who to turn in my man card to.  

[BradyBzLyn...Mo 2,023]

Pear and gorgonzola... mmmmmm

On 1/25/2018 at 10:49 AM, fladogfan aka Gretchen said:

You and Mo are making me want to do the tea.

I haven't been in a while and I'd love to go back again sometime. 

It's always a lovely time and the food has always been good (and surprisingly filling).

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

3 hours ago, BradyBzLyn...Mo said:

Pear and gorgonzola... mmmmmm

I haven't been in a while and I'd love to go back again sometime. 

It's always a lovely time and the food has always been good (and surprisingly filling).

Gorgonzola ... yum.  Pears ... yuck.  I wish they would bring the cheese plate back.

[BradyBzLyn...Mo 2,023]

On 1/26/2018 at 8:39 PM, CCIntrigue...aka Gwen said:

Gorgonzola ... yum.  Pears ... yuck.  I wish they would bring the cheese plate back.

That cheese plate was killer. The last time I was there the cheese plate wasn't on the menu, but you could still order it as long as you were also ordering something else off the menu.  But that was a couple of years ago now, so not sure if it's still the case.

[fladogfan aka Gretchen 259]

5 hours ago, BradyBzLyn...Mo said:

That cheese plate was killer. The last time I was there the cheese plate wasn't on the menu, but you could still order it as long as you were also ordering something else off the menu.  But that was a couple of years ago now, so not sure if it's still the case.

We could try to find out during WWW

[dvccamper 32]

On January 16, 2018 at 1:56 PM, wendinator said:

I was back for tea today. I'll spare you the pictures of stuff that's the same so here's a quick update of what's new since I was there in August.

Not much noticeable in terms of work that was done to the room during the closure in August. My server said they did a bunch of work to the kitchen and something with the ceiling.

They have new vests, though, so there's that.

On the food front, there was a new sandwich. And it was in addition to the sandwiches I got last time, not instead of. So that was a nice surprise. They now give you a poached pear with gorgonzola. You can see it at the top right between the cucumber and the roasted tomato. It has a nice hint cinnamon, and my server said the pears are poached in red wine  (the dark slices) and champagne (the light ones).

I still think it's a little weird that of the 5 sandwiches they give you, all but one are open faced. Call me crazy but I kinda think you need two pieces of bread to be called a sandwich.

Price remains the same - $35 for the Bedfordshire.

My kids were there on the 16th too!  We had taken them when they were little girls and now as young adults they love it even more.

5 hours ago, BradyBzLyn...Mo said:

That cheese plate was killer. The last time I was there the cheese plate wasn't on the menu, but you could still order it as long as you were also ordering something else off the menu.  But that was a couple of years ago now, so not sure if it's still the case.

My husband and I were there earlier this month and we got a fruit and cheese plate in addition to the offerings above. It was delicious. Oh, and it was on the menu.