Italianate Drawing Room

I went with my husband for afternoon tea at Luton Hoo on our wedding anniversary. Positives: the food was excellent, delicious sandwiches and amazing cakes (see photo); super service too, Reena and Abdul looked after us well. The venue was light and airy ... but the place looks rather faded as if it has seen better days. I see that the hotel was reopened in 2008, if as I thought quite possible nothing much has been done since then, I feel some kind of refurbishment is called for, especially in view of the prices charged. A negative: we both have food allergies and intolerance issues, one of us having to avoid chocolate. I e mailed in advance detailing these and also mentioning the special occasion (wedding anniversary) and received a reply that these had been noted. But, alas, I think not. The staff were clearly unaware of them and initially (understandably) seemed rather flummoxed as to what to do (particularly regarding the no chocolate issue). Fortunately, the head waiter was able to resolve the issue and, all credit to those involved, a decent tea was provided and neither of us had any unpleasant after effects (fingers crossed). The fact that the message about the wedding anniversary also failed to get through, although a first world issue, did detract from the occasion wouldn 't have been too much trouble to have produced a cake or similar with 'Happy anniversary ' scrolled around, as has happened at other venues in previous years. Another niggle: on arriving by car, you are directed to a car park designated 'Afternoon Teas ' which is a bit of a walk from the venue, not too great for those of us who are not 100% on our pins and in the rain too. Yet bang in front of the main entrance there is a large space which seemed to be half fun of expensive cars, giving an impression (hopefully wrong) that afternoon tea visitors are regarded as some kind of poor relations to be kept out of sight. Maybe the signage could be changed to 'Car Park ' (ie for in front of the house, on a first come first served basis) and the one saying 'Afternoon Teas ' to "Overflow Parking ' ? I would suggest that whoever is responsible for taking the online bookings actually makes a note of the requirements of guests and I reinforced these in an e mail rather than relying on an online form and liaises with the staff accordingly, failure to do so is really letting the side down. For this reason (plus the air of faded gentility to which I referred) I am giving it three out of five: for the price charged (over £110 for two afternoon teas, with no alcohol), I think Luton Hoo needs to do better. A shame as it is, potentially, a great venue and could offer a really memorable experience.

Had a nice afternoon tea at Luton Hoo. Sandwiches and scones were delicious but sadly cakes did not taste as nice as they looked.Service was very good.

Just had afternoon tea, very disappointed no nice silver teapots as before. Had to ask for side plates to eat sandwiches from. clean knives, ask twice for extra tea etc. Very expensive for what you receive have had much nicer elsewhere

Family special occasion that was ruined by an extremely poor showing. Staff were ok, pleasant but limited experience showed. Venue is magnificent and setting is not matched with even a basic quality expected for such an expensive event. Afternoon Tea was very poor. Stale sandwiches out of refrigerated storage, cold tea, cakes were tasteless and unappealing to look at, scones cold, dry but one in particular was even raw. The scone was replaced and apology given but in a manner that was just insincere. Didn’t complain about the overall experience at the time because it felt as though it wouldn’t mean anything and would have spoilt the special birthday occasion for my wife. Just not good enough in all honesty.

This was like sandwichs from the supermarket and we paid more than we paid at Harrods for it so how the hell can anyone recommend this place for afternoon tea