The Savoy’s afternoon tea in Gallery, under the glass dome: prices, the menu, dress code and booking

Tea has been served at the Savoy since 1889, when, as the hotel tells it, fashionable London came for sandwiches, patisserie, thés dansants and live bands. Today it is taken in Gallery, which the page describes with «peach-lit interiors, sculpted palms, a marble-lined catwalk» under a stained-glass dome; OpenTable’s listing adds that a pianist plays through the service. The kitchen is the Savoy’s own, led by its executive chef, Gerald Quadros.

The traditional tea opens with 4 sandwiches: Coronation chicken with macerated raisins on granary bread, British salt beef with pickle mayonnaise on rye, St Ewe egg with wholegrain mustard on white, and beetroot gravadlax with a cured lemon cream cheese on spinach bread. 2 savoury bites follow, smoked duck with orange cream on brioche and a butternut squash tartlet with aged cheddar. Then 4 pastries: hibiscus and blackberry mousse, Kent mango with jasmine tea mousse, a 46% milk chocolate ganache with salted caramel and macadamia, and a buttermilk Scoff cake with pear and ginger. The scones come with Cornish clotted cream, strawberry jam and lemon curd.

The same menu carries the other teas. The Prestige adds a glass of Laurent-Perrier Héritage, a lobster and caviar tasting and a Velvet Scones cocktail of rum and scone liqueur. The High Tea adds a hot dish, on the September menu Cornish monkfish with Riverford organic cauliflower, passion fruit and miso; the questions page gives Orkney scallop or a pearl barley risotto as other examples. There are vegetarian and plant-based teas, the second with vegan cream for the scones, and a children’s tea of ham, cheddar and egg sandwiches, a chocolate choux, a blackberry tart and a raspberry lolly.

The teas come from JING, with a Darjeeling collection made for the Savoy: The Savoy Breakfast Tea, a Savoy Afternoon Tea blend of Sri Lankan black tea and Darjeeling second flush, an organic Darjeeling second flush, and greens, oolongs and whites from Gyokuro to Jasmine Silver Needle. The hotel speaks of over 30 teas. Champagne runs from Laurent-Perrier and Nyetimber to Krug and Cristal, and the cocktail list has an Elderflower at £21, a Rose Royale at £20 and 2 alcohol-free drinks at £18.

After 6pm, Twilight Tea is the evening version: sandwiches, a Scoff scone and a drink, which the hotel’s page names as a Berry Royale cocktail. OpenTable sells it from £49 a head.

What guests say is uneven. A guest writing in September 2026 found the vegetarian tea «really nice», the cakes original and the scones perfect; another, in July 2026, called it the finest afternoon tea their family had had in London. Against them, a reviewer in April 2026 thought it «very overpriced for what was offered», one in July 2026 found the piano «far too loud» and waited too long for fresh tea, and a party at a Christmas high tea in December 2025 had eaten half the food before the first pot arrived.

The Ritz serves tea in sittings at 11.30am, 1.30pm, 3.30pm, 5.30pm and 7.30pm, from £95 for adults and £73 for children, with a glass of Champagne from £26; gentlemen wear a jacket and tie, and jeans and sportswear are refused.

Claridge’s serves daily from 2.45pm to 5.30pm, from £95, books online only, and from 3 November to 3 January serves only its festive tea.

The Dorchester serves on the Promenade from noon to 5.30pm, from £95 on its tea menu, with a pianist from 2pm; it asks guests to avoid shorts and sportswear.