Afternoon Tea in Chicago [Allis at SOHO]

A friend got tickets for the Dressing Downton exhibit at the Driehaus Museum and wanted to go for tea after. She checked out the usual places like the Drake, the Peninsula and the Langham, but wanting to try something new and a little less expensive she came across The Allis in the Soho House hotel. I haven't been there yet and I wondered if they were too "hip" to do a good tea, but I came away very impressed, I should have known with the hotel's English pedigree they would know what they're doing.

Their afternoon tea is $34 which is less then the Drake's $45 and $60 for the Peninsula, but you don't get quite as much which was actually fine with me. There were 3 sandwiches, a smoked salmon, an egg salad and a cucumber and all were really good, not an afterthought. The egg salad was the standout with a nice herby mayo. The raisin scones were crumbly and fresh, served with clotted cream and what seamed like a house-made raspberry jam. The sweets consisted of a glorious passionfruit tart with merengue, a caramel chocolate cake bite and a sour cream almond pound cake slice with dried cherries all of which were stellar. There was a pumpkin loaf slice and a blueberry macaroon which were alright, but didn't come up to the level of the other sweets. I don't know if Eric Estrella is still the pastry chef there, but I'd love to taste his croissants after trying what I had for tea.

There are the usual tea choices, but also a selection of flavored teas from Rare Tea Cellars. I usually don't care for flavored teas, but I'm a big fan of Rodrick Markus and his choices are usually on point so I decided to try an Italian Green Almandine, which was Chinese green tea blended with fresh pressed Italian almond oil & Seville orange and I quite liked it. It was a lovely for a very hot afternoon, the almond and orange undertones really complimented each other.

The Allis is in the lobby of the Soho House, it's a long space running the length of the building and has a shabby chic industrial look with exposed ducts and chandeliers hanging from them, comfortable couches and chairs are arranged around low tables, the Chicken Shop restaurant occupies one end of the space. It was a lovely to while away a couple of afternoon hours watching beautiful people head up to the private club.

thanks for the report- i've been wanting to check this place out, for a meal, or for tea for awhile. the GM is a condo neighbor of mine, so i have an added interest. the pics of the place are very appealing. years ago i did the rounds of all the hotel teas. not a lot of variety among them....

Stopped by for afternoon tea on a recent Friday mid-afternoon. The food was very good; in fact, we were taken with the scones (something we ordinarily don’t enjoy much because so many bakers don’t seem to know what a scone is). So we bought some to take home. All the baked goods we were informed, a little to our surprise, are made in-house. I’m not sure who’s doing the baking, but they would be smart to keep her (or him).



There were downsides: the server, who was perfectly pleasant, seemed to be a college student who believed that there was no difference between working here as opposed to a fast-food place. She seemed to think that her only real obligation was to take and deliver an order. We also found the atmosphere a little…curious. It’s hard to tell whether it’s a coffeehouse or a restaurant. The website says “A relaxed and welcoming social space for meetings, a quick bite, an after-work drink or late night cocktails, the Allis is a lounge and bar.”



There are lots of high-end appointments and touches and yet there were also many tables filled with (very) casually dressed folks nursing a cup of cofee (or tea) typing away at their laptops. Definitely far more casual than most places you’ll have high tea. Other quibbles: a few of the sandwiches had been sitting out too long and the bread was getting dried out; we were surprised at the small number of quality tea choices, most of which are off-beat. We also thought that there was a definite favoring of sweet over savory. The sweets were not overly sugary but, on balance, we would have preferred a more balanced number of savories.



We enjoyed it, though we were expecting a higher-end “experience.” Our fault, I guess, for not knowing more in advance. Still, the baked items were uniformly of high quality and the price hard to beat. Given its location, it’s a tempting place. Next time I’ll just drag a book and camp out.

SOHO House
113-125 N Green St.
Chicago, IL 60661
(312) 521-8000
http://www.theallis.com/