The Palace Hotel, rebuilt in 1909 after a fire/earthquake, is a historic San Francisco landmark. When it was originally built in 1875, it was San Francisco's first luxury hotel and the largest hotel in the world. The Garden Room is described as "unprecedented opulence" with it's glass ceilings and vast number of glass chandeliers.
Signature Tea takes place in the Garden Room on Saturdays between the hours of 12:00 and 2:00 PM. The Garden Room in on of the first things you see when entering the Palace Hotel and is so stunning it will literally take your breath away.
The beauty of this room includes large marble columns, Victorian-era glass ceilings, and a number of chandeliers that line the top of the room. It is almost like being in a palace, and is an excellent place to feel fancy as you sip on high tea during the afternoon.
The room was decorated for Christmas and there was even a harp player present to accompany the tea ceremony. Reservations are through open table and will be required in advance if you want to dine in and enjoy the beauty of their afternoon high tea ceremony. When making a reservation through open table, I highly recommend stating any event you are there for - while my sister and I were there for her birthday, they brought her a beautifully plated brownie with a chocolate "Happy Birthday" sign on it. I also saw young girls that got princess crowns, as well as a couple celebrating their engagement that got a king and queen crown and special dessert. The hotel goes out of their way to make sure their guests feel celebrated.
Since my sister and I were there during the holiday season, we got to choose between their holiday tea ceremonies or their standard Tea for Two service. We chose the tea for two service, which came with a pot of tea for each person and two mini bottles of sparkling wine (one served with each course). For tea selections (image above) they have a number of choices ranging from varying caffeine levels to different tea types. My sister and I chose to try two different teas - the Nutcracker and the Legacy Blend.
The Nutcracker Blend actually ended up being our favorite, with a lighter taste for a black tea, it had nutty and fruity flavors and was very easy to drink. The Legacy Blend was creamy from the vanilla, but still strong for being a black tea.
The first course was the savory plate served with Moet and Chandon Brut. The savory plate included 5 finger sandwiches - free-range egg and winter truffle salad, english cucumber with poached pear and minted cream cheese, rosemary ham and boursin cheese with maple caramelized delicata squash, fennel smoked salmon and leek cream topped with smoked trout caviar, and turkey galatine topped with honey mustard apricot relish. Everything was amazing and perfectly sized. Even they bread, which can sometimes be dry or feel old and forgotten at tea ceremonies, was all soft and pillowy.
The sweet course was served with a Moet and Chandon Rose and included 4 scones (2 different flavors), chocolate covered strawberries, pumpkin cheesecake, coffee opera cake, macarons, raspberry tarts, and bite-sized pecan pies. The desserts were very sweet, while the scones were buttery soft and served with English clotted cream, raspberry jam and lemon curd. While my sister and I were full at this point from fruit, tea, scones and a lot of sparkling wine (3 glasses!), we did try a little bit of everything.
Overall, the experience at the Palace Hotel is worth trying if you ever find yourself in San Francisco. If tea isn't your thing, the Palace Hotel is worth stopping in to just to see the Garden Room at the least. Let me know if you've visited the Palace Hotel in the comments below and drop in any recommendations of places I should visit in San Francisco!
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