Charlie & The Chocolate Factory Afternoon Tea

We went here for the Gluten Free tea experience. Pio our server was very nice and helpful and made sure our daughter had a wonderful gluten free birthday experience. The maitre'd was also very generous and ensured we had a wonderful time. My only slight criticism is that if you are expecting whimsy and fun related to Charlie & the Chocolate Factory it really only comes through in the food. The decor and ambiance is classy, which is nice but a bit different from what we expected. Would definitely recommend the whole experience especially for those who are gluten free.

I thought there would be more décor connecting this place to the theme…not quite as “kiddy” as I thought. Food wasn’t really child friendly on the children’s menu. But, service was impeccable- they brought you whatever you wanted and didn’t charge extra (unless it was alcohol). Desserts were the best part!

Had an afternoon tea with champagne and I have to say it was fabulous. The food was both tasty and well presented. Our waiter was extremely knowledgeable of all the menu items and was so attentive to our needs that our teas were refilled before we even realised that we needed it refilled.

Really lovely birthday experience! The food was very tasty and the vegetarian menu also had lots of offer and replicated the other menu very well. I found all of the sweet treats very tasty too, I felt like the theme was lost a bit in the menu and it was more apparent in the decorations though.

Please note: After speaking with Finbarr, the food and beverage manager at One Aldwych, I've decided to change this rating from 3-stars to 4-stars. Fin was extremely nice and apologetic and he has said there will be lots of improvements to the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory afternoon tea in the next 3 months. There are several reasons for the low 3-star review: There were neither raisins nor fudge in the scones, there was nothing fabulous about the candy floss, two of the sandwiches used the same bread, and the sweet cakes weren't special at all. Only one cake was chocolatey despite this being a Charlie and the Chocolate Factory afternoon tea. The chefs really need to work on making better cakes and sweet offerings and the hotel needs to decorate the room in a tasteful way but with a fun twist to give it more atmosphere. Also, I've seen a chocolate fountain in some photos but we didn't see one. It would have been nice to dip some fruit or fudge in a fountain of melted chocolate. We also ordered two bottles of water, one sparkling and one still, and as I was asking whether they were 250ml or much larger bottles, the waiter ignored me, walked away, grabbed the bottles and came back to plonk them on the table. We really didn't want such large bottles because we were drinking so much tea. In the end, my husband hardly touched his water and I forced as much as I could down so as not to waste it. We think 250ml bottles should be offered instead when people are drinking tea or champagne. The waiter asked us whether we wanted to take the bottles with us when we were leaving but we didn't want to carry big glass bottles around London and on the underground. We also didn't think there were enough staff to manage such a busy coronation day. The staff were all very nice but rushed off their feet.The waiter also shoved our belongings out of the way when he placed our food on the table because he was in such a hurry to do everything. However, the service from the maître d' who greeted us and ran up and down the stairs all day was excellent. We've been to Claridges in London and their afternoon tea was exceptional. Unfortunately, this was a bit disappointing.The Rosewood London also offers an afternoon tea that looks incredibly creative and now I wish we'd eaten there instead.