Afternoon Tea at Crowne Plaza Reading
*We were provided with this experience for the purpose of this post however all opinions are my own.
At the start of the month we were invited to Crowne Plaza Reading on a spa day and as part of the day we were treated to afternoon tea in the hotel restaurant. It’s something we often indulge in to finish a spa day and couldn’t wait to see what the Crowne Plaza Reading afternoon tea was like.
Afternoon Tea at Crowne Plaza Reading
Afternoon tea is served in the Riverside Restaurant which overlooks the River Thames. It’s a beautiful place to spend time and the perfect setting for afternoon tea. Plus, there are tables on the terrace where you can enjoy tea in the sun – or shade – when the weather’s nice too.
The restaurant is lovely – and pretty quiet during the day too. With beautiful fixtures, nicely spaced out tables and comfortable chairs, it’s a really nice place to have afternoon tea. It’s a nice balance of relaxed and informal whilst also being a really special, intimate place to enjoy afternoon tea for a special occasion or just as a chance to catch up with friends.
The staff at Crowne Plaza Reading were really lovely and attentive. They brought our afternoon tea out almost immediately despite us being a little early and then took our tea orders. We were able to have any tea or coffee that we wanted and you can upgrade to include a glass of prosecco for just £5 extra. We ended up with lovely big mugs of tea to accompany our afternoon tea.
The afternoon tea was served on a beautiful, modern three tier stand that showed off the variety of sandwiches and treats perfectly. There were freshly made finger sandwiches, warm scones and so many sweet treats. It could not have looked nicer.
I’d mentioned that my friend was vegetarian when we booked and so all of the sandwiches were vegetarian ones. Cheese and tomato, cheese and chutney, hummus and roasted vegetable and hummus and cucumber.
The sandwiches were on really nice, soft bread and were a really good size compared to traditional finger sandwiches – nice and chunky! They were full of flavour and so filling too. A great way to start our afternoon tea.
This was followed by scones that were still lovely and warm. A selection of fruit and plain scones both served with clotted cream and jam. This is always one of my favourite courses with afternoon tea and it really didn’t disappoint.
We finished with a selection of sweets that were delicious! A mini Victoria Sponge cake, a chocolate brownie with frosting and two cheesecakes – a lemon one and a blueberry one.
The Victoria Sponge was slightly dry but the brownie was rich and decadent, one of the best brownies we have ever had. The cheesecakes were fresh, light and full of flavour. It was such a nice course to finish our afternoon tea.
We loved the whole afternoon tea experience at Crowne Plaza Reading and love that the menu changes seasonally. The only thing that could have improved it would have been either a menu listing what was on the afternoon tea stand or for a staff member to run through the sandwich fillings and cakes with us when they delivered it to the table. But, we had no dietary requirements aside from one vegetarian so this really wasn’t a problem – everything was a nice surprise!
Afternoon tea is available at Crowne Plaza Reading all year round with special seasonal versions offered at various times through the year. Their Mother’s Day afternoon tea looked lovely too!
You can find out more about the Crowne Plaza afternoon tea over on their website and for reference the hotel address is: Caversham Bridge, Richfield Ave, Reading RG1 8BD
