The Tea Lounge

We had a wonderful catch up in the Tea Lounge, service was beyond amazing and the food was fantastic. I had never tried the normal menu before only high tea, the normal menu was so yummy, we will be back so that my husband can try that chicken!
Thank you so much.

I thought of a standard Hyatt experience with food and service. Long waitings to draw someone’s attention and not the best food quality made me surprised of this Hyatt. For the management to improve the standard….

Lovely old hotel with a quiet ambience and welcoming staff but the wait staff were nothing special, the food was run-of-the-mill and some things could do with replacing, renovating or cleaning. For example our table has seen better days and the silver milk jugs for our Devonshire tea needed a good clean with silvo - why use silverware if you aren't going to clean it? !
Anyway we had a good time because we could sit and chat in a pleasant setting but go elsewhere if it's a nice meal you are after.

Went for high tea. Food was a little disappointing - prob would not go back.

Nice atmosphere and the piano player is a nice touch. However, decor was average.

Service was a little slow.

At $85 a head I was expecting more.

Tea was very nice

We had a larger group of about 12 people. We were seated at 3 separate tables. It took about an hour for the food stand to be brought out. Hot food was not brought until multiple requests were made and it arrived about 1hr50mins into our seating. It was only served to 2 of our 3 tables. Tea and coffee orders were taken ad hoc, with one table having to get up and find someone to order tea from. My table didn't receive hot food until we found a serve to ask. They said that it had maybe been served to one of our other tables. I did ask if they expected me to have served myself from another table and the server shrugged. Our dietary requirement people were served food about 25mins after everyone else had received their food. No plates were cleared away, which meant there was zero room left on the table.
Really disappointing service.

A very long time customer of Hyatt Canberra. Booked for a very sentimental reunion over High Tea. I have no problem paying the high price (albeit weekend), but when the focus of the experience, the food, was so very disappointing I must object. The hot food being tepid in heat but the chicken boldly spicy for an inclusion in this fare offered. The tiered offerings did seem as though they had been “ready” for some time to serve.
At other times there used to be more choice with sandwiches, hot pastries, delicate morsels & fruit.
Will sadly remember today’s “wonderful treat” with regret and a huge hole in my wallet.

Food/nibblies was satisfactory. Service was average to poor, as I had to ask for my glass of water to be refilled twice. For the amount of money we paid, I’d expect them to also refill my tea cup. Won’t be going again.

Such a lovely experience! Everything from the comfortable chairs (that even my older father with back issues was able to sit in for ages), to the kind staff that surprised me with a slice of cake when they overheard it was my birthday, made this experience well worth it.
We went for the Easter high tea, which had more than enough food (even needed a little box to take some home), the tea was yum (even from a tea hater) especially the French earl grey.
Some of the food was better than others (the banana pineapple roulade was not the best but the coronation chicken slider and berry & white chocolate panna cotta were the highlights).
Whilst the service was perhaps a little slow for some people, I liked not being bothered every two seconds and allowed time to just take in how nice the building was, but when we needed something the staff were professional and efficient.
I would approach the menu a bit strategically because the hot food does err on the cooler side, as other reviewers have mentioned, so just eat that first.

Worst high tea we've been to and we've been to many. The tea itself was really poor quality and not at all drinkable. There was a big disproportion of sweet to savoury food and what little savoury food there was also didn't taste good. The service was also poor as once we were seated and served food, nobody came to check on us/refill water/offer us anything else. We also booked in advance and got seated in such a terrible spot outside in the corner with no view of anything.

10 out of 10. Couldn't fault a thing for an excellent high tea. Had trouble eating all the serving. Eclectic range of teas. Highly recommended. Well worth the trip to Canberra.

Called in for the high tea. Fairly pricey for what you get. It would be good to know what the offerings were instead of just putting them in front of you. Doubt we'll return for this.

Very bad experience overall. Extremely poor service. Took over 20 minutes to get some water and menus then took over an hour to receive the food which was also incorrect.

The actual food was below average. The minute steak tastes identical to a Big Mac patty except it costs $44.

Overall the high tea was disappointing.

Food:
Most of the food tasted like it had been in the fridge for a substantial amount of time. The hot food components could have come out of a frozen packet from coles/woolies.

Tea:
The tea itself may have been stale because there was hardly any taste despite steeping for a long time.

Service:
The staff were polite but a little disorganised, they couldn't find our booking then informed us our booking was for a la carte despite the web confirmation clearly stating high tea. Also there was no explanation of the food items, but I wasn't overly bothered by that. The building and seating area were very nice.

Had high tea here this morning with my husband and two kids (both primary school age). I booked two adult high tea and one kid set thinking that would be enough food for us to share without waste. They brought us four adult portion sets of food without checking or confirm with me before the food arrived on our table. I didn’t protest thinking worst case scenario we will take away surplus items. However, when settling the bill I was told they couldn’t let food leave the hotel? ! Food I didn’t order but paid for nonetheless!
The quality of the food is pedestrian at most, the savoury items are quite unpleasant and after a taste of each item, most of the food were left untouched.
The sweet items are made of poor quality ingredients and are more comparable to something you would expect from a local bakery not a pastry chef from a five star hotel.
The tea pots were cafeteria style stainless steel ones, plus old and dirty. The tea were blend and tasteless, even the milk was watery.
Only blackberry jam in buffet breakfast portion jars for the scones, which is bizarre and again missed the mark.
I have to say this is the worst high tea I had in five star hotels or anywhere, wouldn’t recommend.

Such a beautiful high tea experience. I was so impressed with how well they catered for a vegan diet! The service was fantastic and the staff were very helpful and accomodating. Highly recommend

We had high tea for five.
The food is beautiful, but it was served on thick, brown stoneware.
The tea was watery and tasteless and again served in thick, brown stoneware.
High tea is supposed to be served in and on white fine bone china only. It can be vintage or new fine bone china.
Anything else just isn’t high tea.
So disappointing.

High Tea on a Saturday afternoon was a very enjoyable experience. The table was set up nicely and well in advance of our arrival (I arrived early due to allowing extra time because of the nearby protestors). The staff were very attentive and helpful. The food was very tasty and there was plenty of it for each of us. Our staff attendant came back often enough to check if we needed anything else, but not often enough to become intrusive on our experience. The setting is beautiful and relaxing. The only issues were the protestors trooping through the tea lounge to use the toilets - subsequently making the toilets stink like a public toilet - but what could the staff do about their use? When the horrible protestors have proven they get both unreasonably antagonistic and abusive when challenged, and the police were over-committed elsewhere, I don't blame the hotel at all for allowing them to use the toilets if they didn't cause an issue. The tea menu was extensive, however like previous reviews, it would have been helpful to have a description of the flavours, as 'Australian rainforest' doesn't really help you choose. One star lost for lack of detail in the tea menu as well as toilet cleanliness. But highly recommend this high tea otherwise, when there aren't a pack of incoherent protestors ranting like whiny children nearby.

Food was excellent.
Drinks were prompt and plentiful.
Service was excellent.
Atmosphere (lowered due to protestors) was good.

Fantastic start today - sharing high tea at Hyatt with my Sweetness and Rosie! Thanks again Ladies, I hope you enjoyed today!

We have been to the Historic Hyatt many times, either to have lunch, dinner, or a cocktail. Unfortunately, it has been going downhill in the recent past and after our last two experiences, our patience is exhausted, we won't return any time soon. They used to prepare the best cocktails. Last time though, we ordered a dry Martini and they served us a sweet Martini. When we told the bartender, he gave us a lecture on cocktails and informed us that if we wanted a dry Martini, we should have ordered an extra dry Martini. We would have loved to enjoy our cocktail in the Tea Lounge, as we had done many times before, but they told us it wasn't possible to sit there, because they had dinner reservations. In the end the place remained quite empty. Recently we had dinner in the Tea Lounge and the food was dreadful, or, as our daughter put it, "it tasted like the food on the hospital ward. " Not surprisingly, the place was almost empty again. While we were there, we received a video call from a friend overseas and had a lovely chat until the waitress interrupted us to tell us to be quiet and not to disturb the other (4!) guests. The bill was incorrect and nobody apologised. For the amount we were charged, we could have had a seriously nice dinner elsewhere in Canberra.

I attended the Tea Lounge for a high tea with my family for my father's birthday. It is a beautiful, elegant space with the most decadent food. The staff who served me and my family, Riya and Binod, provided incredible service and were very accommodating to allergies. My father was even brought a birthday cake completed with a candle!
Although I have been to the Tea Lounge before, I would without a doubt say that the service and food/drink quality is the best I have ever experienced.
I would definitely recommend the high tea experience to anyone.