The Mary Cassatt Tea Room Pours Its Last Cup This Sunday. Rittenhouse's Holiday Tea Now Runs on a Weekly Schedule

The Mary Cassatt Tea Room at The Rittenhouse serves its last afternoon tea on Sunday, November 15. Counting today, Thursday, November 12, four days of seatings remain, and then the room closes for a renovation that runs into 2027. For years, holiday tea on the Square meant one room, one reservation and one hotel. Starting next week it means a calendar. There are weekday afternoons at a pub on 18th Street, a few Saturdays at the Ritz-Carlton, a festive tea at the Sofitel in December, and two outdoor events in the park and on Walnut Street that hold the season together.

The hotel told us the direction itself. In January, a spokesperson told The Philadelphia Inquirer that the changes reflected a dining scene becoming "less formal and stuffy." The neighborhood's tea options are moving the same way.

Four Days Left at 210 W. Rittenhouse Square

The tea room runs Thursday through Sunday, with seatings at 12:30, 1:00, 3:00 and 3:30 p.m. Reservations are required and go through OpenTable on the hotel's tea page. Each month's book opens on the 15th of the month before. That makes this Thursday through Sunday the room's final run. This year's menu has four tiers priced from $70 to $275.

Two other changes inside the building came first. The Library Bar, known for cocktails, rare spirits and live music, poured its last drinks on October 31. Scarpetta, the Italian restaurant that spent nearly a decade in the hotel, closed on January 31. Lacroix stays open for breakfast, lunch, dinner and cocktails. Construction is limited to 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and overnight stays continue as usual.

This weekend lines up with something across the street. On Saturday, November 14, Friends of Rittenhouse Square holds its fall Love Your Park Day, planting bulbs in the Square from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Planting runs until 2 p.m., and the tea room's last two seatings that day start at 3:00 and 3:30.

What Replaces the Room

The hotel's plans, announced on its transformation page, center on Ruxton Steakhouse and a new, intimate bar. The first new spaces are scheduled to open in late spring 2027. Billy Penn reported that the steakhouse comes from Baltimore-based Atlas Restaurant Group. It will have 220 seats, three private dining rooms, two bars and a seasonal patio overlooking the Square, with Jazz Age interiors of velvet, walnut and Murano-style glass.

The hotel's statement to Billy Penn describes where the public spaces are headed:

"We're thinking more intentionally about how guests can interact with the bar, lounge, and courtyard space to make them more accessible for events and socializing."

The Rittenhouse opened at 210 W. Rittenhouse Square in 1989. Its plans for spring call for a steakhouse, a bar and spaces designed for socializing. A quiet afternoon tea room overlooking the park is not part of that announcement. For this holiday season, the tea moves elsewhere.

The Tea Now Runs on a Weekly Schedule

Three options sit within a short walk of the Square. Each runs on a different day, at a different price, in a different style.

Weekdays belong to The Dandelion. The British pub a block and a half from the park serves tea tiers from 3 to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. "Who Stole the Tarts" is two tiers of house-made pastries and tarts for $20. "Down the Rabbit Hole" is two tiers of petite sandwiches for $30. "A Royal Occasion" brings three tiers of sandwiches and pastries with a four-cup pot of tea for $60. Every tier is meant for two guests, and a glass of house Champagne or a rosé mimosa adds $8. The full spread at The Dandelion costs less for two than the Cassatt's entry tier did for one sitting.

Saturdays move east to Aqimero. The Ritz-Carlton's restaurant runs Boozy Tea on three more Saturdays this year: November 21, December 5 and December 19, from noon to 2 p.m. It includes a teapot cocktail, a four-course menu and a live DJ, so it plays more like a cocktail event than a quiet tea. Tickets are $95++ per adult and $45++ for children 10 and under, and reservations are required.

December brings Liberté back into the rotation. The restobar at the Sofitel on 17th Street has announced that afternoon tea returns this December in a festive edition with seasonal flavors. Reservations and full details are coming soon, according to Liberté. It sits a block from The Dandelion, which puts two of the neighborhood's three tea services within a short walk of each other, just east of the park.

Put together, they cover a weekday afternoon on 18th Street, a Saturday celebration at the Ritz-Carlton and a seasonal sitting on 17th Street once December arrives. The Cassatt covered all of those from a single room, Thursday through Sunday.

For a Pastry and a Pot Without a Reservation

Two fall openings fill the gap between a planned tea and a walk around the Square.

Somedays Bakery opened at 1601 Walnut Street by early October. It serves hand-laminated croissants and pastries, breakfast croissant sandwiches, lunch sandwiches and salads, soft serve, coffee, matcha and tea. The bakery is taking Thanksgiving orders now for pickup on Thursday, November 26.

KYN, at 1807 Chestnut Street, comes from Young Nam Kwon, the founder of Mari Mari. The Philadelphia Inquirer describes it as a Korean-inflected café. It serves hand-whisked Uji matcha, hojicha and mugwort drinks, including Einspänner-style lattes topped with house-made matcha or hojicha cream. KYN is a block north of Walnut, and the Square is a two-minute walk away.

Neither replaces a tiered tea service. Both fit the shorter, unplanned afternoon that a closed tea room leaves behind.

The First Weekend of December Fills Three Days

With the hotel's public rooms under renovation, the season's set pieces move to the park, the street and a hotel restaurant a few blocks east. The first weekend of December stacks three of them back to back:

1. Friday, December 4: Holiday Tree Lighting. Friends of Rittenhouse Square and CBS News Philadelphia host the lighting in the Square at 1800 Walnut Street. Giveaways and games start at 2 p.m., and the official program starts at 4 p.m. with cookies, hot chocolate and musical performances, running until 6:30 p.m. CBS3 also broadcasts it.
2. Saturday, December 5: Aqimero Boozy Tea, the one indoor event of the three, from noon to 2 p.m. at the Ritz-Carlton.
3. Sunday, December 6: Open Streets: West Walnut. Center City District closes Walnut Street from Broad to 19th and 18th Street from Chestnut to Locust to cars from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. It is the program's last date of 2026, produced with support from Rittenhouse Row and the City of Philadelphia. Santa visits from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., carolers sing from 1 to 2 p.m., and Ice Sculpture Philly sets up an ice piano at 10 a.m., with a live performance at 1:30 p.m. Mini golf runs all day, bubbles run in the morning, and Philly Girls Jump teaches double Dutch from 2 to 3 p.m. Cross streets including 15th, 16th, 17th and 19th, plus the 1700 and 1800 blocks of Sansom, stay open to cars.

The Open Streets route runs along Walnut past Somedays at 16th, crosses 18th a few steps from The Dandelion, and passes the Square. Liberté's December tea, once its dates are posted, sits half a block off the route on 17th Street.

Jamie Smith Raphael tracks what opens, closes and changes around the Square as part of advising clients who live here or plan to. If you would like to talk through your own plans over a weekday tea on 18th Street, Philly Luxe Living offers a private consultation, along with off-market access when the time is right.