Tea at Hillwood House

[Anonymous]

Has anyone done afternoon tea at the Hillwood House? They call it "Royal Tea." Can you give me your impressions and how it compares to afternoon tea at a fancy hotel? I'm looking to treat a friend and want to make sure it will be a nice experience. Thanks!

[Anonymous]

I have done many afternoon teas at various places, and I would say Hillwood is lovely and the food was good and the price was reasonable. It is best to sit outside when the weather permits and enjoy the garden views. Plus you can then tour the museum! If it is too hot or cold to be outside, some of the hotels will have a nicer ambiance than Hillwood's interior spaces, if that's important to you. My favorite hotel tea in DC is at the Mayflower- reasonable price, gorgeous setting, and good, plentiful food.

[Anonymous]

I didn't think the Tea at Hillwood was very good. The pastries were commercially made (and not very good), there wasn't very much food (I know, you're not supposed to stuff yourself at Tea, but still...) and the ambiance was lacking. Very noisy small space indoors, very utilitarian outdoor seating... there was a garden hose running across the patio that my chair kept getting hitched up on, and the groundskeepers' golf carts were parked about 15 feet from our table. It's not like the outdoor seating is in the midst of a garden or something... more like the back half of the administrators' parking lot.

A nice hotel would be a better bet, I think.

[Anonymous]

I loved tea at the Willard.

[Anonymous]

It's fun, but not on the order of a fancy hotel. Agree with the PP that it was somewhat utilitarian, but touring Hillwood is fun. So it just depends on whether you're looking for something different, or just a really nice tea. If the latter, the Ritz at Pentagon City has a nice tea, and the Ritz in Georgetown is less traditional and in a trendy setting. My favorite here in DC was the Hay-Adams, but they stopped doing it. Oh, wait, another really neat tea is the "Tour and Tea" at the National Cathedral up in the tower.

[Anonymous]

For a little extra, you can also tour a Frank Lloyd Wright house, which is next to the Hillwood Estate. I thought the tea was lovely. The tour wasn't that great.