Four Seasons Hotel in Toronto

I had high expectations for Afternoon Tea at the Four Seasons Hotel in Toronto and was not disappointed.

First time tea-goer, Danielle, seasoned sipper Pam and I took the subway downtown on the beautiful Saturday afternoon. Our reservation was for 1pm and since the hotel is located in the lovely shopping area famously known as Yorkville, the three of us went down a little bit early to window shop.

A few minutes before 1pm, we headed to the lobby area of the hotel.  We were seated within minutes in the pretty and modern lobby bar.  The chairs were very comfortable, the tables were well spaced and set perfectly.  So far, so good. The only downfall to this point was the tea cups.  They were actually small coffee cups.  When doing afternoon tea, I prefer traditional thin tea cups, but each to their own.

Our reservation was made well in advance and a note was included indicating a nut allergy. Without reminder, once we were settled in, a server came over to our table prior to our tea order being taken and asked us what we would like as a substitution for the nut laden desserts.  This was a real plus… a great attention to detail.

Shortly after that, our waiter came over and took our tea preference.  Despite the ample tea selection, we each ordered a traditional black tea – I ordered English Breakfast, Danielle selected the Earl Grey and Pam picked the Orange Pekoe.  The waiter really knew his tea and had suggested some alternatives to our selections, but we stuck with our favourites… and were glad we did – the tea was delicious.

Our tea was served promptly to our table as well as the three tiered treats. On the bottom tier, beautifully presented sandwiches.  The first,  Apple and Aged Cheddar with Chutney.  This sandwich had the apple and cheddar inside and the outside was garnished with the chutney and sprig of parsley. It tasted even better than it looked.

The next sandwich was an open faced chicken salad with mixed herbs… also garnished beautifully.  It was very tasty, but the apple cheddar was a hard one to beat. Then the Asparagus and Roasted Pepper Pinwheel… so pretty.  I am not a fan of asparagus, but this sandwich was absolutely incredible. The asparagus was perfectly crisp and the roasted pepper spread was so delicious I wanted more. 

The next option was the traditional cream cheese and cucumber – with a twist. The cream cheese and cucumber were deliciously tucked between the white bread, but then on the outside of the top slice was a bit more cream cheese and thinly sliced cucumbers perfectly lined up on the top – to me it resembled large fish scales. The taste was great and the presentation was a real hit.  The final sandwich was a Lobster Salad Profiterole. It was displayed beautifully, but the flavour was a letdown.  It was a bit fishy and not much else. 

The next level cradled our scones.  The still warm raisin and plain scones packed a lot of flavour.  Served with Greaves strawberry and raspberry preserves, lemon curd (yum yum yum) and whipped Devonshire Cream, this definitely was a real treat.  

Our server was completely on the ball.  Whenever we needed something, like magic, he was there.  When we requested more Devonshire cream and lemon curd, it was brought to us in seconds.  This was probably the best services I have ever received in the years I have been attending afternoon tea – very prompt, attentive and addressing our needs almost before we knew we had them.

The final tier was the dessert tier.  Thankfully we were already pretty full, cause this was a weak offering.  The Chocolate Caramel Frangipan Savarin was so small you could barely taste it. The Raspberry Rose Bavarian Tart was very pretty and surprisingly tasty – generally tarts aren’t a big hit with me.  The Spring Berry Financier didn’t look like much at first (resembled a tiny Twinkie). I took a bite of it and all I tasted was sweet. I waited a bit, cleansed my pallet with a bit of tea and gave it another shot.  The delicious caramelized outside with the large fresh raspberry on the inside was much better on the second bite.  The final dessert was the Almond shortbread cookie.  This ultra-thin cookie was beautiful – a long triangle shape covered with sliced almonds, but the flavour was bland.  It was undercooked and didn’t have that snap that shortbread should have.  A few more minutes in the over would have fixed that.

Overall, the experience was as close to perfect as I have seen to date.  The location is great for shopping and celebrity spotting (we saw Michael Landsberg), the food was good and you could not have asked for better service. If you head to this location, don’t forget to head upstairs and check out the washrooms before you go.  Nice private stalls, impeccably clean, cloth hand towels and a great area to touch up your make-up and check out your outfit before hitting the streets for some more retail therapy.   

Four Seasons - Toronto Website

LOCATION: Yorkville, Downtown Toronto
AMBIANCE: High End, Modern, very bright - great for celebrity spotting
TABLE: In the lobby bar area - great seating
SERVICE: Amazing - very responsive
FOOD: Really good - desserts could be a bit better
TEA: Delicious with many options
PRICE: $38 plus tax and gratuity
RATING: 4 cups

Millcroft Inn in Alton (Caledon), ON

As a huge fan of afternoon tea, I decided it was time to expose my nieces to the experience. 

So after a morning of shopping me, my tea buddy and my nieces (18 and 12) dressed up a bit (no jeans or runners) and took the 40 minute drive from Toronto to Alton (really close to Caledon, ON).

The road getting to the Inn was pretty well marked and we found the Inn, but then couldn't really figure out where to park as the signage on the facility property was lacking.  We parked in a big lot and took a walk.  The grounds are quite beautiful.  There is a nice garden and gazebo area (great place for wedding photos) right beside a cool waterfall.  Looks like this place may have originally been a mill.

If you are going for tea, it is recommended that you make a reservation as seating is almost always limited at all locations. So, I made the reservation weeks ago. As there is a fish and whole egg issue in the group, I asked the hostess to let the kitchen know prior to our arrival so that there wouldn't be any issues when we arrived. I was assured that the special request was no problem. The day before our visit, I called again just to confirm.

We were a bit early for our sitting (as most teas are served at set times), so after our tour of the grounds we went to the restaurant and figured we would sit and have a cold drink to wait for our reservation.

So, we got to the restaurant and stood at the podium for several minutes and no one came over.  We walked away to find someone.  After some searching, the waitress came over and seemed very frazzled. It looked as if she was the hostess and the only waitress in the moderately busy restaurant.

She told us that we cannot wait in the dining room, but if we go over to the lounge someone would come take a drink order.  We went and sat... and sat... and sat.  About 20 minutes in, a manager came over and asked us if anyone was looking after us.  We of course said not yet and then someone came over right away.  The kids ordered water, I ordered club soda and my friend ordered a glass of wine.  About 10 minutes later (it may have actually been longer) they brought over the water, a gingerale and the wrong kind of wine.  We sent the wine back, I decided not to complain about the gingerale (that was supposed to be club soda) and my friend just got a pop.

We had our drinks for a few moments, and then they seated us. The first thing we had to do once seated was pick our tea.  I selected one called Margaret's Hope (a spicy black tea), my friend got a black tea as well, and both the girls picked a Citrus Sunshine herbal tea.  Although the selection of teas was VERY small, they were nice teas.  The pots were very small (could have partially filled one regular coffee cup). We did have to ask for milk and sugar several minutes after our tea arrived as the server forgot to bring it.

About 15 minutes after our food came, two three-tiered trays... with fish and egg salad sandwiches.  I am not kidding.  So I reminded our server about the fish egg issue I had mentioned with our reservation.  She apologized and took the trays back to the kitchen.  About 15 minutes later, she brought the trays back without the sandwich plate at the bottom and suggested we start with the scones and desserts. 

There is a 'way' to enjoy my afternoon tea.  First the sandwiches, then the scones with jam and devonshire cream followed by the pastries.  Since the sandwiches were coming later, we had to, without a word of complaint, start with scones.

They were thin, dry and square.  The first one was chocolate chip (a first for me at tea) and the second was plain.  Disappointing. They served one tiny jar of jam for two people and a small amount of the devonshire cream.  We had to ask for more.  When my niece opened her little jam jar, it was all moldy on top.  We didn't bother saying anything at this point, we just put it to the side.

Our sandwiches arrived.  There were three kinds.  Roast beef (super chewy) with way too much mustard and thick slices of cheese.  The second was a cucumber, onion and cream cheese and the third was deli turkey slices.  They were small, the bread was dry and the flavour was disappointing. 

The desserts didn't fare much better.  It looked like store bought mini tart shells with two cherries from cherry pie filling. However, they did look interesting because they had these little blue gelatin balls on the top, but they were tasteless.  The other dessert was a dry banana mini-muffin and finally a tiny triangle brownie. I have to admit, the brownie was pretty good.

Once we were done, the server came over and asked if we wanted more water for our tiny tea pots. We declined as we were ready to run, I mean leave.

We waited a few minutes for our bill and the server came over to apologize for all the problems (my guess is she saw the moldy jam jar) and gave us our tea at no charge and asked us to give them a second chance and visit again. We were very surprised they offered the whole kit and kaboodle for free - we didn't complain even once and were willing to pay for it... but one doesn't look a gift horse in the mouth.  We left a nice tip for the server as it wasn't her fault.

Would I give this one a second chance? Nope. I get an issue or two, not every day is perfect, but this location had way too many problems, so it does not make my recommended location list.

Millcroft Inn Website

LOCATION: In the countryside, beautiful grounds
AMBIANCE: Nice, slightly rustic / worn, but clean
TABLE: Standard dining room table (there is a nice sunroom that would be great for tea)
SERVICE: Not bad once we were seated for tea - horrible reception
FOOD: Not good (except the brownie)
TEA: Disappointing selection, but nice flavour
PRICE: $19.00 (or free if your jam is moldy)
RATING: 1 cup