The Heritage Hotel

Date of Visit: 2 September 2012
Location: Heritage Hotel, 35 Hobson Street, Auckland
Website: http://www.heritagehotels.co.nz/auckland/restaurant-bar/
Cost: $32 pp

GrabOne strikes again, I went to High Tea at the Heritage Hotel for my Mum’s birthday with my family. Although the high tea was nice, the general consensus was that it was nothing spectacular.

Again, we made the reservation well in advance, and the initial day that we wanted was fully booked.

There was a large selection of teas on offer, all of which were from the Harney & Sons range. I had the Paris tea, which I really enjoyed. It was a black tea blend that had carmel, vanilla and black current flavours. Definitely a good tea selection. My sister opted for a hot chocolate but she wasn’t very impressed.

The table setting was clean and uncluttered.

The food selection was ok. I’ll start with what I liked. Chocolate dipped strawberries – always a winner. I also loved that all of the sandwiches were freshly made and they tasted great because of that. I wasn’t a huge fan of the sultana scones. To me, they tasted like sultana buns, they didn’t quite have the right texture for a scone.

The service was good and quick but not as attentive as I would have liked. It would have been great if the waiter serving the high tea had described what was being served for high tea as a menu was not provided. However, other than that, I don’t have any complaints.

What I did like about this high tea was the high ceiling of the restaurant, which was lit by natural light. Natural light is a lot softer than artificial lighting and makes the environment a lot lighter. Apparently the Heritage Hotel is what used to be the old Farmers building, and my parents spoke fondly of the place. I however, have no memory of its former occupants.

A brief review, but I feel like that basically sums up this high tea. It was ok, perhaps they are just offering high tea because it’s a current trend? For $32 I think it's a little expensive for what you get.

Service: 3.5/5
Food: 3/5
Tea: 4/5
Atmosphere/Ambiance:  3.5/5
Layout (of restaurant): 4/5
Setup (of table):  4/5

Overall: 3.5/5