Afternoon tea conjures up images of flowers, frilly hats, and plate tiers holding two-bite delights. Alas, it also reminds me of stuffy traditions, odd eating times, and long periods of sitting. Hence, I was intrigued about the casual weekday option at the Ritz Café ($28 per person) – noon reservations are allowed, there’s no dress code, and you’re given a decent amount of food that could work as a lunch without leaving you stuffed.
The tea selection includes six Sloan Leaf options. While the Signature Black isn’t the most aromatic, it’s a strong full-bodied tea, which I find is required to hold up against all the sweets.
In lieu of the tiered plate tower, a decorative holder arrives instead. While pretty to look at, it’s difficult to use as you need to keep swiveling it to the side (on a small packed table) to extract food. For anyone who’s clumsy, I’d approach removing the
Nueva Vista Social Club returns to DEQ patio, featuring the food, flavours and music of Cuba. The patio was very nice with a trendy loungy feel to it. The Expense Account Mojitoto was hands down the BEST
My experience of the new patio concept, Nueva Vista Social Club, at the Ritz Carlton Hotel’s DEQ Patio. By Amy Sanderson. I jumped out of my Über ride to be swept into the lobby of the posh Ritz-Carlton Hotel. As expected, the
Make a reservation in advance. You will need to complete a form (with your credit card information) to confirm. Cancellations within 72 hours will be subjected to a penalty.
If you're there to celebrate an event, let them know in advance and there will be balloons waiting for you when you arrive. :)
Don't be embarrassed to ask for your treats to-go if you can't finish them. They will pack it up for you, no problem.
DEQ offers a light lunch menu, afternoon tea, as well as all-day dining options which focuses on light Mediterranean inspired dishes, carefully prepared for a shared dining experience. DEQ’s summer drink menu features fresh-muddled Mojitos, Caipirinhas, among other hand-crafted cocktails highlighting Caribbean Rums and the Brazilian Liquor, Cachaça. DEQ also offers a tasteful, large wine list selected by the Wine Director.
Overall, the Afternoon Tea service at the Deq Ritz Carlton wow-ed us with presentation and attentive service. Evey thing was delightful to say the least and really cheered me up on such a rainy & gloomy day!
The mainstay restaurant at the Ritz Carlton hotel in Toronto, my friends and I went here for the afternoon tea. While we are expecting a lot from a 5-star or 6-star hotel like the Ritz Carlton, we were somewhat disappointed by the lack of imagination, and the absence of a delicate hand in creating and executing the afternoon tea menu. The sandwiches had fillings that were very typical of other restaurants, the desserts and pastries were leaning too much to the sweet side with way too much sugar, that even Countess Violet from Downton Abbey would doth protest much. However, the saving grace of DEQ would be its summer terrace that would be available when the weather permits with the beautiful scenery and exclusive privacy the Ritz can afford.
This restaurant is located inside the chic Ritz-Carlton Hotel. I had reservations for afternoon tea to celebrate a friend's birthday. Our party consisted of the celebrant, myself and our husbands. We are all fans of the afternoon tea experience and have frequented many of the other establishments that offer it, so our expectations were high. At DEQ, afternoon tea is only served on Saturdays and Sundays from 2-4pm.
Our reservation was for 2pm so when we arrived, there were only a few other tables occupied. However it quickly filled up with well dressed people ready to enjoy each others company in the elegantly decorated restaurant.
Our server was very polite and knowledgable. My friend's husband ordered the Posh Tea ($72), while the rest of us ordered the Classic Tea ($40). Our next option was to select our tea. Other places will usually list the different tea flavours in their menu, however that was not the case at DEQ. We were handed a beautiful wooden box that when opened, was back lit and featured a list of the teas under the lid and clear little containers of loose leaf teas for you to open and smell. I chose the Pink Jasmine which was light and refreshing.Our teapots were Le Creuset with bold colours and sat atop a beautiful dish that had a tea lite candle within it to keep the pot of tea warm.
Our first course was a classic florentine quiche that had a nice and flaky crust. It was well seasoned and just the right portion size.
The next course were the sandwiches which consisted of curried chicken salad on a brioche; an open-faced egg salad; the traditional cucumber and cream cheese; heirloom tomatoes and cheese on a crostini and my fave, smoked salmon on a mini croissant.We are used to having our sandwiches displayed on multi-tiered serving dishes and the one at DEQ did not disappoint. It was contemporary in design and made use of the the narrow space on our table without blocking our views of each other. We all agreed that these were amazing sandwiches and each had so much flavour.
The scones and desserts were served at the same time. There was a small dish of Devonshire cream. We asked for more cream for our scones and were provided with 3 additional dishes without and hassle (we love our Devonshire cream!!) The scones were soft and delicious, and didn't fall apart when putting our cream on them. The only comment we had was that we wished the scones were warm.
Dessert was by far the best we've had for afternoon tea. It included a chocolate coffee square; a vanilla bean cream puff; a red velvet cupcake with cream cheese icing; a raspberry macaron with fresh raspberries and the highlight of the dessert tray, the lemon meringue tart complete with a thin dark chocolate square with the Ritz-Carlton name and logo stamped on it!
Needless to say, we were stuffed with the portion sizes and impressed with the quality of service. We agreed that this exceeded our expectations and promised to come back soon. I highly recommend this experience to anyone who loves afternoon tea!
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