Its foundations are sound, its decor impressive and its cuisine sinfully more-ish; my unease then, one might assume, would be unfounded.
However, dining at the Ritz Carlton assumed an atmosphere more resembling an exam room than an opulent palace. I cannot fault the Perriet-Jouet nor the Saddle of Lamb "Belle Époque" but the unnatural, inhuman and almost forced formality of those in waistcoats and tails made me feel out of place, out of era even, but I believe I was and am an anomaly. I spent the most of my afternoon wondering 'Shouldn't it be the reverse?' Shouldn't those with the highest culinary standards, knowledge of wines that nerdy Wikipedi-ors couldn't begin to contest, precision and cleanliness unrivalled, be receiving and critiquing the masterpieces that my taste buds are evidently too inexperienced and ignorant to appreciate?
The Ritz website boasts a "memorable occasion" but perhaps my experience was not precisely what the host of unseen website designers or agents or promoters or artistic directors had in mind.
Class divide is "so three centuries ago". We've moved on from the three-estate system that Louis XIV was happy to impose but why then did I feel that the waiting staff were so clearly separated from the customers? And the answer does not lie in the marked attempt by the Ritz to re-create 18th Century France. Because Belle Époque it was not. Well, not for 98% of the population at the time.
Archaic and pretentious uniforms, reverent "Yes Madam, anything else Madam" uttered at every available moment, laying of napkins on laps and holding doors and chairs. Of course it's a lovely quirk if your partner is so kind to carry out similar tasks but in this famous restaurant, this prestigious and exclusive British institution, it seems as though a class divide has been purposely implemented between diners and staff and is somehow arrogantly and ironically juxtaposed with the gaudy gold statues and oversized and perfectly polished 'miroirs'. Yes, customer service is important and it is something which even regulates bonuses for the staff at JD Wetherspoon but you won't see them lifting up a billowing silver flying-saucer style apparatus from your plate at the same millisecond as the rest of your party. A conceit, perhaps, but customer service goes so far and the Ritz experience is that of power and superiority over your waiter which in this day and age is outdated and pretentious.
Everything great in life comes at a price and for those who work hard, this seems acceptable. However, should the great things exploit those who work so hard to provide this service for the autonomous and unknown businessman upstairs?
It seems as though the staff at the Ritz are merely the manual, cheap and final cog in the prestigious and money making machine that the Ritz has become. We forget they are also fundamental. Quality of food, cleanliness and customer service expected from staff has become regulated, tested and monotonous, akin to many other things British such as the National Curriculum...and look how well that's working.
Although they are the face of the institution and are the reason for regular custom, the server's hard work goes, in my opinion, unrewarded. Not only is the feudal system implicitly implemented in the restaurant, giving an unnecessary and unfounded sense of power and status to the customer but it extends to the machine of business, where those at the top who provide the least transparent service to the public gain an excessive salary and those at the bottom gain the least and lose the most: they are subjected to performing as though they were servants of an ungrateful 18th Century King, an unfortunate yet seemingly permanent reflection of our society.
The atmosphere and service is a guilty pleasure, something which put into a larger context is universally accepted as archaic, unjust and intolerable, yet has been preserved for those with the money and "class" that the Ritz and many restaurants of the same calibre wish to appeal to.
Good food and elegance, a hallmark of the Ritz, may still be provided but no longer is the question at what price, but at whose expense…