The Garden Court at The Palace Hotel in San Francisco is historic landmark and one of the world’s most beautiful public spaces. It’s also one of the most popular spots for afternoon tea in San Francisco.
The Palace first offered afternoon tea service beginning in 1910. For more than a century, afternoon tea has remained a signature experience in The Garden Court.
The luxurious setting features a stained glass dome, Italian marble columns, and Austrian crystal chandeliers.
For our Signature Tea experience, we enjoyed the following:
- English Cucumber & Edamame Ricotta with lemon crumble, pecorino, pumpernickel
- Castroville Artichokes & Chicken Salad with smoked fiscalini cheddar sourdough pillow bread
- Poached Asparagus with upload pepper cress creme, watermelon radish, white pillow bread
- Savory S’mores with barlette pear, brie, prosciutto, shortbread
- Prosciutto and brie on cracker
- Caramel & pecan cheesecake bites, chocolate covered strawberries, scones
- Mixed berries (raspberry, blueberry and blackberry)
The setting was beautiful and I’m glad I did it once. However, the items they offered for the afternoon tea set when I was there was not particularly memorable. During the same week, I had dined at the Rotunda at Neiman Marcus and The Laurel Court at Fairmont San Francisco and they fared better in terms of service and uniqueness of the afternoon tea set items. The Rotunda was the best in my opinion of the three and was cheaper compared to the Palace Hotel.
Perhaps there is a staffing issue industry wide but the server I had at the Garden Court wasn’t particularly attentive nor knowledgeable. She only explained the more unique items and didn’t go through all the rest of the afternoon tea set.
Here are more photos of the setting.
The Garden Court is located at 2 New Montgomery St, San Francisco, CA.