Disappointing High Tea

<p>On Wednesday 13th July, 2016, myself and two other persons went for high tea at the Tablebay Hotel at the V&A waterfront.</p> <p>We are all well experienced with high tea offerings both locally and abroad, and decided to try the Tablebays offering together.</p> <p>It's a beautiful place, opulent and well appointment, live entertainment with excellent quality foods and sweet treats. That's however where there 5 star service ends.</p> <p>My overall experience and that of my guests was of upmost disappointment. The experience was so substandard that I felt it wasn't worth paying for. I reluctantly left a tip for my waiter.</p> <p>Our waiter, although very kind and friendly, disappeared at one point. We could not find him, and we were not offered any 2nd course tea options). The high tea comes with 3 courses, which includes 3 choices of tea from a very extensive tea menu.</p> <p>To add insult to injury, I asked the person in charge for a paper napkin, she went off, and after waiting a while I realized that there's no napkin coming my way. I then asked another waiter, who was responsible for other tables. She also went off, and I sat there waiting. But during this time, neither the manager or this waitress came back to me to let me know that I won't be getting the paper napkins any time soon. It's no big issue for me, had they just told me that they don't have any, and that they will have it brought from another location. So instead I just sat there with sticky hands waiting and waiting. Eventually I grew tired of being ignored and got up and asked a third person for the paper napkins, it then arrived from what seemed to be outside of the high tea venue. The point is, I wasn't ignored in the end, but the total lack of communication (in this so called 5 star establishment), creates a very different impression. Is it that hard to inform your customers as to what's going on?</p> <p>At this point, our waiter was still no where to be found. Our table was very messy, and nobody cared to clean it up. Again, how basic is this for a 5 star establishment? The sweetener packages that we used in our teas were piling up, and empty/dirty plates from the second course offering left to bask in the sun, it was just a horrible and very uncomfortable situation. At this point I just wanted to get up and leave this place!</p> <p>Eventually I asked the other waitress (couldn't find our actual one), to clear the table, and she did. I also asked her for more tea, and she took out a pen and paper and asked us to tell her what tea we wanted, as if we were at wimpy. This shocked me, as I told her I can't remember the names and descriptions of the teas and that we need to see the detailed tea menus again. Now, please explain to me why I should have this conversation with your waiters?? Why should I teach them how to do their jobs properly? Who is managing the floor and who is in charge of training the staff at your so called 5 star hotel? I didn't understand why I needed to memorize the very detailed tea menu and not be offered a menu to look at when ordering.</p> <p>Our actual waiter eventually returned, and I told him that we were looking for him. He said he had to go and get a cake somewhere for what I assume was someone's birthday celebration. So this means we were left unattended with no other person having to take care of us.</p> <p>Myself and the other two guests agreed that we were not taken care of, as one comes to expect from a high tea offering at an upmarket hotel. There was a complete lack of communication and obvious poor management. We can compare this horrible service to that of other hotels as we know from experience what the standards should be.</p> <p>I highly regret going to he table bay hotel, and I wish that I had gone to another establishment instead. My experience was ruined, and I will ever get back those 3 hours wasted. The tablebay hotel should be ashamed of their lack of quality and standards. I feel insulted and humiliated to say the least. I received better service at a family steak house just the night before, how ironic is that? I surely left highly dissatisfied and I can't believe that this is the same place that I sent 13 people to, two years ago to celebrate a birthday party. A highly disappointing experience overall.</p>