Holiday Season NYC, Part 3 - Tea at The Plaza

The Little Lady has been excited about the Eloise stories ever since we got to New York. These are a series of stories about a 6 year old who lives with her mother in the Plaza Hotel. She is always getting into trouble and having many adventures in the city and in the Plaza. It so happens that we live about 6 blocks from the historic Plaza Hotel. One of the things they do there is an Eloise-themed tea for kids in the Palm Court. This is something Eloise did in the stories, and the Little Lady was excited to give it a try. You can do this at any time of the year, but we figured doing it during the holiday season with the hotel all decked out would make for an even more memorable experience. We had fun. I would not do it again.

Tea at the Plaza is a long-running NYC tradition. And it is very popular with tourists. Which means it is insanely expensive. But doing it once seems like a requisite if at all possible, so we bit the bullet and made reservations. (If you want to do this, book several weeks in advance, particularly during the holiday season.)

The Palm Court is the venue, which is located on the lobby level of the Plaza. It is doubtlessly a beautiful setting. The seating area is filled with plants and palms (surprising, huh?). And the hotel is just very elegant. These should give you the idea:

We arrived on time for our reservation and then waited about 20 minutes for a table. Not much in the way of explanation or warning about how long the wait would be. They seemed over-whelmed the whole time we were there. No excuse for this given the price-point.

We ordered our tea first. The tea list is extensive and impressive. There is no doubt that tea lovers will be very happy. As is customary with afternoon high tea, plenty of food is included as well. The food is served in a tower and is comprised of dozens of dainty sandwiches, snacks, and desserts. The food was quite good and Jana and I found lots that we liked while the Little Lady was content but not blown away by the quality of her items. She likes very high quality food and this stuff was very good but not great. The service was hardly attentive. We were initially served food that LL could not eat due to allergies despite noting the allergies on the reservation, at check in, and directly to our server when ordering.

It was cool that they had special Eloise themed china for the LL. She thought that was pretty neat. And the Christmas decorations at the hotel were indeed grand.

All in all, tea at The Plaza was an enjoyable experience, but one time only. Given the quality of the product offered and the modest level of service, this experience is not just over-priced but far over-priced. I would expect to pay a little more than half what we were charged by New York standards. That is assuming great quality and service. Based on what we experienced, I would not pay a third of the price for this experience a second time around. Overall, I would skip this unless you have money to burn and time to kill.