My friend Kelly went to every cherry blossom tea in DC to find the best, so you don’t have to suffer through the rest! Today’s blog post was written mainly by Kelly (with one section written partly by me, because we went together), and details the experience at Cherry Blossom tea at the Mandarin Oriental, the St. Regis, and the Watergate—all in Washington, D.C. Spoiler alert: St. Regis was the best, no contest! But be sure to read this rundown if you’re considering any of them.

Mandarin Oriental

Kelly writes: I was so excited to experience the cherry blossom tea at the Mandarin Oriental—especially after my friend Jen said how the nice the one at a different Mandarin Oriental (in Tokyo) was. But before we get to the actual tea, we had to get to the actual tea. It was not as easy to get to as the map would make it appear. The Mandarin Oriental is a prominent building in a prominent location. Still, we ended up driving in concentric circles around it looking for parking. We found street parking and were right next to it, or below it…but we still walked in more concentric circles to find the main entrance.  I lost count of how many times we asked each other, “Isn’t it like right there?!”

When we finally found it—marked by flags and a fancy doorman—we walked in the door. The first thing to greet us was a stupidly large but gorgeous flower display on a tiny table in the center of the lobby. Behind that was a wall of glass looking out into a small courtyard with cherry trees. Between the glass and the lobby was the restaurant. Things were looking good.

We were right on time for our 1 p.m. seating, and there were plenty of empty tables set for use. I was expecting/hoping for a table with a view of the gardens, but I must not have been dressed fancy enough (no, I didn’t wear athleisure wear!) because the hostess led us in to the dining area and made a sharp right to seat us at the farthest to the right seating one could have. The arrangement was one of those long benches with lots of small tables—where one member of the party has a chair facing the high-backed bench and the person on the bench is sharing it with many others.

I let my tea companion (TC) have the bench so they could look out over the dining room and see a bit of outside. So my view was my TC and a wall of fabric on the back of the high-backed bench.

There was no one sitting to our left or right, which was a good thing, because the seating to my right was a little close…the bench makes a sweeping curve like a banana and the tables in the sweep were a little cozy. As my TC and I settled ourselves in and exclaimed over the place settings (so cute!) we reviewed the menu and discussed our tea options. I did raise an eyebrow over the amount of seafood in the savory portion of the menu, and was slightly apprehensive about the oyster/cherry combination for one item, but committed to try everything. For the amount of money it cost, nothing was going to go untasted.

We mentally made our tea selections and decided to opt for the sparkling wine as a further treat, and then we patiently waited for our tea selection to be taken.

We waited.

And waited.

A person finally came over, and we thought it was to take our drink order, but no—they asked us to move our table over a little to the right (closer to the sweep!) to make room for…something? So we lifted our table and moved it over a little, my companion scooched down on the bench, and I moved my chair to the right. The back corner of my chair was now touching another chair—but no one was in it, so it was fine.

People were soon seated to our left; by “soon,” I mean about 20 minutes after we had been seated. They were not having tea; they ordered from the menu. I am intimately familiar with what our table neighbors (TN) ordered, because their drinks arrived before our tea order was taken, and their food arrived and was consumed before our food was delivered.

We eventually gave our drink order by flagging a waiter down. Our sparkly wine came first and it was delicious (it had a strawberry in it!). We clinked glasses and tried to keep the slowly mounting irritation at bay.

When our tea came, they failed the first (of two) tests: they did not bring any milk. I had to ask for it. I also had to watch my tea steep, finish my wine, and fiddle with my place setting while I waited for the little jug of milk to come. By then, the table to our left was finishing their meal and a couple had been seated to our right. They were very close. Our chairs were touching. So my TC and I decided to move our table back to the left so we were equidistant between our two table neighbors.

We now were settled back in our original spot. We had finished our wine. Our tea was there but inconsumable as we waited for milk. And the table to our left got their food…their tea food. That is, the table that had been seated AGES after us got theirs before we got ours. I could feel the mother of all pouty faces appearing on my face.

I was starving—I hadn’t eaten all day in preparation for this extravagant treat of cherry blossom tea at the Mandarin Oriental. More than an hour after we were seated, our tea food finally arrived. I tried to shake off this feeling of supreme irritation that was draping itself around me like Dr. Strange’s cloak. I took some deep breaths to get back into the spirit of being excited and hopeful. The food wasn’t bad. There were some interesting combinations of things, the cakes were lovely, the scones were delicious, and they passed the second test—the scones were served with clotted cream, not butter. But it was no use…all I could think about was how long we had been there and how slow the service was. At this point, we both became very attuned to how bad the service was for the other tables, too.

Mid-way through eating, I needed to use the restroom. What a treat. When I stood up, the first thing I noticed was the gorgeous painting on the wall behind the high-backed bench. I walked down the fancy hallway to the bathroom. It was everything you would expect in a venue like that, from full privacy stalls to the marble floor, AND it had a cherry scented salt rub for your hands once you had washed them. (Jen note: The Mandarin Oriental in Tokyo also has an incredibly nice restroom, with a fantastic view of the city). My spirits raised as I walked back to the dining area and continued rubbing my hands in joy at how soft they were from the salt scrub.

My spirits stayed high as the absurdity of the rest of the afternoon melted my feelings from irritation to amusement.

There was a couple eating to the left of our left table neighbors. They also were seated long after us and had food brought out around the same time as us. A waiter came to them—while they were still drinking—and told them they had to give up their table because the next seating (3 p.m.) was approaching.They looked at her incredulously and asked if they could just move to a different table. They ended up moving to sit to the right of the people on our right.

By this time, we were patiently waiting for our check. The couple who had been moved and the couple to our immediate right were then told they had to leave, because their tables were needed for the 3 p.m. seating. Then we were told we had to leave because of the 3 p.m. seating. We said we were just waiting for the check, and they told us we had paid when we made the reservation. So, that was that.

I am sure the food was fine, but all I can remember is the table moving, the slow service, and the salt rub in the bathroom. Oh yes, upon leaving, I wanted to depart on a good note, so I made my TC go to the bathroom with me so we could rub the salt into our hands.

P.S. Feeling adventurous with our full bellies and soft hands, we decided to try to walk a different way to the car that was “just down there, right?” We followed a walkway that hugged the building, crossed over a road, and deposited us on the opposite side of a divided-by-a-guardrail road from the car. I figured we would have to walk all the way around, but my TC had scurried across the road and hopped two guardrails before I could propose doing so. That was the final end, me in non-athleisure wear darting through a break in traffic and climbing two guardrails to get back to the car, which was seemingly parked right up next to the Mandarin Oriental.

St Regis

Kelly’s take: Chef’s kiss to everything.  The cherry blossom tea at St. Regis was perfect.  I drove right up to the front door, I was greeted upon entry to the lobby, I was shown to a lovely seat next to a window. Jen was minutes behind me.  She waltzed into the lobby swaddled in the most pink confection of a dress I have ever seen her wear—and that’s saying something for Jen!  She received a compliment on her dress by another table as she made her way to me.

Jen hadn’t been there for very long when we both were toasting with champagne poured from a cherry blossom themed bottle.  Our tea order was taken and delivered (with milk!) within 15 minutes.

The only hiccup was neither of us had cash for the valet.  There was an ATM down the stairs near the restrooms, but it was out of cash, so we had to walk a block to find one and get money.

Jen’s take: It was wonderful! We had beautiful sakura-themed champagne, the food was served on an incredible cherry tree display, and everything was delicious.

St. Regis had several different types of tea to choose from, which  I always appreciate, and each item of food was gorgeous. I also loved that we could see an actual live blooming cherry blossom tree from our seat next to the window. But there weren’t any bad seats that I could see.

One of my tests of afternoon tea at any location is the scones, and these were delicious and flaky. No hockey pucks here. And all the little details—from the gold leaf on the maraschino cherry to the pale pink chocolate shavings nestled around the pastry—made it extra special.

Though this cherry blossom tea is definitely pricey, it was worth it—the whole experience was magical.

The Watergate

Kelly writes: Meh.  My TC and I pulled up to the front door to valet Wilhelm (my car). We walked through the lobby of the Watergate and found the Kingbird, where a host was guarding a completely empty dining area.  I had a moment of panic about not booking the right day or the right event or the right location—but she confirmed that we did have an appointment for an “experience.”  She then said our table was not ready and asked us to wait for an unspecified amount of time. We just sat at a table right behind her.  We did a small amount of people watching. A couple who was staying at the hotel came up to the host and asked to be seated for lunch. The host said they weren’t serving food. This caused me to panic slightly, and I wondered again if I had booked the right thing.

My TC visited the restroom and I checked out my phone. There wasn’t really anything to see since I was waiting in what amounted to a darkened empty restaurant. By the time my TC came back, the host was ready to show us and one other recently arrived party to our seats.

The menu was not as nice as the other places in that it was just printed on non-fancy paper. But the service and food was great and the tea selection had some interesting items. My TC wanted to order the tea where the flower blooms in the water, but the waiter talked her into a different selection—she said the blooming flower tea looked cool but didn’t taste as good. My TC changed her tea choice BUT the server still brought her a cup of water with the blooming flower tea so she could see/taste it. It was cool.  It did not taste good.