Bristol Lounge at The Four Seasons Hotel
200 Boylston Street
Boston, MA 02216
(617) 351-2037
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The famous Four Seasons Hotel Chain is a luxury Canadian operation that focuses on high-end business clients. It regularly picks up awards and most people in Boston have a high regard for their relatively new hotel perched on the edge of Boston Common. The ground floor is dominated by The Bristol Lounge, a large modern lounge room with floor to ceiling windows looking out on Boylston St and the Common beyond. Afternoon tea is served to customers at tables by the windows, whilst couches and armchairs further into the lounge are more for casual visitors, business deals and those using the bar at the back. The Bristol Lounge even calls itself "Boston's Living Room" with seating for up to 165!
Afternoon tea is served every day between 3.00 and 4.30 pm and offers a traditional afternoon tea with or without champagne. There are 12 teas to choose from but none stand-out as adventurous, just the classics. The tea starts with scones and tea bread with jam, cream and lemon curd, and is then followed by typical, but well-presented light sandwiches and pastries. Without champagne, your looking at under 30 dollars per person as of 2007.
This afternoon tea marked the first ever meeting for Tom and Hana, and so began The Boston Teacup blog!
Tom...
This was my first afternoon tea in Boston and although I had a relaxing and enjoyable time with Hana, I left quite disappointed. Although we arrived well-presented we were treated with slight disdain at not having a reservation, even though it was mid-week. And once seated, our server was somewhat patronising. The tea range was nothing special and *shock horror* was served in the plain modern steel tea pots that you see everywhere. No elegance, no style. The food was very good. Although not particularly adventurous or generous it was done well. I really remember the beautiful semi-circle cut egg sandwich. It seemed a crime to eat it. But I did. Arrest me.
For me the real let down was the ambiance. Everything was modern in an early 1990s way with no charm or style. It never felt cosy or welcoming, the view doesn't really stretch out over Boylston St to the Common and you are constantly surrounded by business people doing their deals and networking. To me it felt like an Airport Lounge. And not being a businessman, I felt unwelcome.
Hana...
I love tea and I love food, and I was very excited to experience afternoon tea for the first time, with a true Brit no less. It is one of those affordable luxuries more of us can enjoy. However, the Bristol Lounge was a real downer. Aside from the nearly non-existent decor, there wasn't any relaxing melody played during tea time. The food, though decadent, was much on the small size. I know, I know, tea treats are supposed to be small, but this food is quite miniscule at top dollar. Food, tea, and ambiance together are what make an afternoon tea great.
It would be great to have afternoon tea breaks everyday from work, wouldn't it? Having tea with scones and Devon cream, which I am really loving. But don't be fooled because Devon cream has a minimum of 50-80% butterfat. It would've been better if the food they served on was a real 3-tiered silver tray, to be traditional, instead of removable plates on a stand. However, I do like the fact that they put in new teas, instead of refilling it with hot water.
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3 comments:
I agree with this review. I had my first real tea experience in Boston here some four years ago, and it just wasn't worth the money. I'm glad I persevered and tried some other places (my favorites are also the former Ritz/Taj and L'Espalier).
Atmosphere is bad (as described the review). We arrived about 20 minutes before our reservation time, and we were greeted with almost disbelief. Admittedly, we were somewhat early, but it wasn't just dealt with (or they could simply have asked us to wait a couple minutes) -- instead, the reactions and attitude made us feel immediately like we had created some terrible inconvenience. Not a good way to start. (I should mention that we were near the beginning of tea service, so it wasn't like they didn't have available tables.)
It went downhill from there. Service was simply odd. The waiter tried, but he was frankly a bit of an idiot (at least so it seemed). I inquired about an unusual listing of a Russian caravan variant on the tea menu -- what is it like? He didn't really seem to know what to say, and ended up replying, "Well... it sort of tastes like Russia." Whatever that means.
The person I was with is a big fan of lots of clotted cream; when we asked our waiter about the possibility of a little extra, he said, "Oh yes, we have plenty." After we were well into our scones, we ran out of clotted cream. It was something that a good waiter would have noticed immediately and offered more (especially given that it had already been mentioned), but he never asked, and we forgot to ask during the few times we could flag him down after he served us the scones and pastries.
Perhaps the most bizarre thing to happen was when I asked for more hot water. He never asked whether we wanted more tea or hot water, and when I did request more hot water, he didn't take my pot to refill it or bring water in a proper container (the original water was pouring into our pots at the table by another server who used a traditional hot liquid serving pitcher). He could have even asked the guy who originally poured our water to come again. Instead, he carried boiling water all the way across the room to our table in a metal COLD water pitcher, steaming away and burning himself even while holding a towel. He was clearly uncomfortable holding it as he tried to pour, and he ended up spilling some on the table in the process. It goes down as one of the silliest wait staff choices I have ever seen.
Perhaps it was his first day or something, but we went on a weekend (usually the prime time for teas in Boston), and I would expect that they would have trained someone just a bit better before letting him serve tables at the Four Seasons.
The food was nice though not amazing (some things were quite good), but it's difficult to enjoy things when the overall experience is marred by poor (and frankly strange) service. That, combined with the weird "airport lounge" atmosphere as mentioned in the review, made this just a bad introduction to the Boston tea scene.
I must COMPLETELY disagree= the Bristol Lounge is the ONLY place I will have tea in Boston. Best Food and Best Price. At Christmas time I had tea at the Park Plaza, and it was nothing special, food was terrible. I have also been a couple times when it was still the Ritz, and you had to choose from food or dessert, and not get both, and the ambiance was ridiculously gawdy and very expensive. Yes, it is hard to get a reservation at the Bristol Lounge, but it is totally worth it!
I arranged for a work group to go to the Bristol Lounge to celebrate the submission of a huge grant application, and we all LOVED it. It was a quiet weekday, and we sat near the fireplace, and although the atmosphere was more "masculine" than I'd have liked, it was still a luxurious afternoon. I was seated next to a Brit, who kept commenting on how lovely it all was. The food was amazing, my Russian Caravan tea was delicious, and the service was excellent without being stuffy. We spent hours just relaxing and enjoying the experience. Two of us asked for extra hot water, and we were accommodated quickly and smoothly. Maybe that waiter learned his lesson from the previous writer's visit. I would definitely visit this place again.
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