As a general Peninsula fan in other countries, this is a disappointing review for me to write especially given the high level of service one comes to expect from quality Japanese establishments.
Last weekend my friends and I dropped by The Lobby for the first...time to try a late breakfast at 10am. After arriving without a booking although noting that the place was almost empty, we were happy to be accommodated at a table but were advised we might only have it for an hour due to lunch starting at 11am, and that our chosen Chinese breakfast (the billboard stated it was 'dim sum, noodles and congee') would take 20 mins to be served to us.
When we ordered, we were immediately asked what tea or coffee we would like, we responded politely with a request that we decide on tea/coffee once we had finished our meal which was greeted with a seemingly annoyed look from our waitress. 33 minutes later and the food did arrive which, although tasty, was very underwhelming in terms of portion and service vs price. 4400++ yen for a freshly squeezed juice, 3 dim sum pieces + tiny tea cup-sized bowls of noodles and congee.
Subsequently we asked for more juice, 3 congees and 1 more set of 3 dim sum pieces. The 2nd round of congee and dim sum took another 20+ minutes to arrive, in the meantime one of the staff politely reminded us that we had to leave shortly due to lunch commencing (this reminder while most of their tables were still empty, and I also noted a few other patrons that were already there when we arrived still seated at nearby tables chatting away).
Before finishing our meals, the bill came which indicated every item of extra dim sum, congee and juice was not covered in the 4400++ yen. After our meals were paid we asked if coffee and tea was included in the bill, which they confirmed. The manager, who took our coffee and tea order, was rude and abrupt I can only assume because we had not vacated the table in the time frame they had initially gave us (it was 11:55am and still they had about 50% of their tables vacant). Our coffee/tea came out within 2 minutes of ordering - clearly so that we would be on our way as fast as possible.
I’ve had a few breakfasts across Tokyo’s best hotels in my time. Having said this, despite me finding this particular breakfast relatively sub-par in comparison (3 people paying 22k yen for what amounted to a mildly satisfying breakfast), I could have lived with and not have anything to say about it IF the service accompanying such a bill was top notch corresponding to the Peninsula’s worldwide brand.
Unfortunately the service in this instance could not have been more the opposite.
Peninsula Tokyo Management, your consistency is now in question according to this Tripadvisor traveller. I hope you take this feedback constructively and do something about it.More
