Clivedenhouse Reviews

A very disappointed Cliveden guest - What s happened

I m very lucky as I have a most wonderful daughter who every year takes me out during December for afternoon tea to start our Christmas festivities This year today - 6 12 2021 was the turn of Cliveden House hotel Whoopee I thought great to be visiting Cliveden again My daughter asked my best friend to join us as she has had a very trying year I use to be a member at Cliveden some years ago prior to moving to Wales In those years I would have put Cliveden up there with the Savoy and maybe even better Not anymoreAfternoon Tea Soooo awful Sandwiches were not good but I thought they had just been set out to early as the sandwiches at both ends of the plate were dry Nevermind - let s try the beet root wrap with walnuts and stilton - plenty of beetroot - no walnuts or stilton Well let s try the sausage rolls - the pastry tasted like cardboard - the filling was even worse and all of us just left these after indulging in one mouthful All 3 of us had heartburn as a result of this small morsel Nearly forgot - our choice of tea We requested a pot of tea for 2 with one teaspoon of earl grey and 1 2 teaspoon of Darjeeling Waitress came with pot of tea for 2 with just Earl Grey Then came back with new pot with obviously much to much Darjeeling as you could not taste the Earl Grey whatsoever Oh never mind - didn t want to risk another go at it as all staff seemed to be running around like headless chickens No one came to table to check if everything thing was OK Well let s have the cossiant filled with cheese Pastry once again tasted like cardboard and where was the filling Well we have the aged Gouda scone I think it should have read aged scone with Gouda seriously I think if you had thrown it at someone - it would have knocked them out Hurrah we now have the fresh scones with cream and jam The scones were good - although insufficient jam for 3 people Overall I ate 2 sandwiches a piece of beetroot wrap and half a scone as I knew my friend really enjoys scones and I didn t want to leave her without enough jam Five star hotel Where was the service Where was the beautiful food Why was it not questioned as to why so much food was just tasted and then left I am aware currently the hospitality industry is having trouble because of Covid To be honest my overall impression was other than the sandwiches everything else was brought in and not made on the premises To add insult to injury - this food was inedible which makes me believe it was bought from the lowest end of the food market I was so flabbergasted at how bad it was but so much more disappointed that Cliveden just doesn t know how to do it any more I did complain about how bad it was and would have expected a much better response than we were given Just want others to be aware - this is really unacceptable from a 5 hotel Never again will I ever eat at Cliveden if they can t even get an afternoon tea right I know small local caf s who would have done so much better at a quarter of the price my daughter paid