The Palm Court, The Plaza Hotel, New York City, NY USA

The Plaza is a shadow of its former glory days – this is obvious upon walking through the halls and taking in the ambiance and service. It saddened me. I have fond memories of staying at the hotel, living in its history, yet those days are gone.

Eloise is definitely no longer prancing through these hallways making mischief.

Harry met me at the bar of The Palm Court, which was the only area crowded of a massive dining hall that encompassed the lower lobby. High ceilings, aged prominence, and classic New York City vibes emanated from every corner of this room.

I was expecting hospitality from Plaza team members that embodied the property, what I received was stale exuberance, unkempt attitude, and just a plane lack of respect for what I personally feel The Plaza is.

Harry and I were on a mission to share a club sandwich at this property, followed by The Ritz Carlton next door, and compare and contrast the experience of dueling 5-star-hotel lobby-lounge club sandwiches.

I ordered the club sandwich, and was immediately asked if I wanted bacon on it. “However the chef prepares it,” was my response. Which was met with the same question. I was a bit dumbfounded – I didn’t see bacon on the menu, I am not the chef, why is this waiter asking me twice how I want to prepare The Plaza’s Classic Club Sandwich?

Confused, I push the decision back on her, and she recommended the bacon, so we went with it.

Harry and I caught up over a drink, while eavesdropping on the conversation to the left of us, which centered around using Ozempic as a weight loss supplement, followed by the conversation to the right of us where a gentleman was trying to pickup a woman using the line “if you had a time machine and could travel, where would you go and when would it be?”

Classic New York City banter.

Our club sandwich arrived on tired, overused Plaza-branded dinnerware, decently plated although completely unimaginative. We divided and conquered, each of us talking a half and diving into our first bite down.

Confusing, complacent, mediocre, and simply sub-par, there are few positive words one could use to describe The Plaza’s Classic Club Sandwich. Taking the less-than-appealing ingredients to the side for a moment, what chef on earth thought it was a good idea to layer a thick portion of muenster cheese under a somewhat soggy middle/third slice of bread? This gave the sandwich a terribly chewy texture while totally overpowering anything else included in this meal. This decision made the sandwich not only challenging to eat, it was taxing to enjoy.

I was so disappointed. How could anyone truly enjoy that sandwich? Imagine if it hadn’t come with bacon – what would be the actual allure in relishing the moment?

Harry and I both agreed this didn’t even come close to our hopes and expectations. At $30 + tax + automatic gratuity (I always tip 20%+ anyway – what could be the reason The Palm Court had to force us to tip a minimum of 18%, would love to hear that story one day) the value wasn’t there, it wasn’t even close.

We did, however, enjoy the nicely crisped French fries, but these simply weren’t enough to detract from the experience.

I will never be back for this club sandwich, and after the hospitality we received throughout our visit, I’m not sure I’d ever be back to The Plaza. My only hope is that Eloise has also moved onto another property, and we could read about her adventures elsewhere..