Ritz Carlton Buckhead is set in an upscale neighborhood of Atlanta (there is another Ritz Carlton Atlanta that is about 10 miles south in Downtown Atlanta), not too far from the tony shopping boutiques and the city’s most prestigious shopping venues – Lenox Mall and Phipps Plaza. When we arrived to the Lobby Lounge, it’s a handsome, dark lounge set with a large bar toward the front, plush upholstered sofas and chairs dotted throughout the lounge.
Afternoon tea is a staple at this luxury hotel. Here, the traditional afternoon tea takes place Wednesday through Sundays at 2 PM and 3 PM and gets booked very quickly. Separate tiers of tea sandwiches and pastries and warm scones are served along with tea in the English tradition.
We opted for The Ritz Tea ($60 per person) which starts off with our glass of Prosecco, tea (B chose wild blackberries and I had orange jasmine) and a small bowl of strawberries and cream dressed in Grand Marnier. The prosecco was a fine start for tea – light, pleasant yeasty biscuit notes with just enough acid. Our teas were good and fruity (but not in the offensive, artificial way). Our bowl of strawberries and cream were good but neither of us could taste the Grand Marnier.
The first tier to arrive were savory tea sandwiches of smoked salmon topped with American caviar on rye, open-faced turkey canape with orange marmalade, cucumber with dill and lemon ricotta cream, traditional egg salad with truffle, prosciutto and melon canape with mint, and Georgia shrimp profiterole with tarragon and basil. All of these sandwiches tasted freshly made. We liked the shrimp profiterole and smoked salmon sandwich the most for its flavor.
As for the sweets tier, we liked the warm flaky scones smeared with clotted cream and the twee profiterole filled key lime curd. The opera cake cube was a bit dry. The raspberry macaron was good in terms of its sweetness but the internal structure is off. The chocolate tart was fine but I didn’t care for the mint frosting. The red velvet cake was nicely moist and tasted good.
We did see and hear a pianist performing for the hour we were there. Service was not up to par for afternoon tea. Our waitress made her appearance once in a long while that left our tea cups empty for quite some time and even when we wanted to ask for our check, it’s hard to find her.
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Information:
The Ritz Carlton, Buckhead
Website
3434 Peachtree Rd
Atlanta, GA 30326
Phone: (404) 237-2700
