This weekend is the Mary Cassatt Tea Room's last. The Rittenhouse hotel says its tea room serves its final afternoon tea on Sunday, November 15, two weeks after the hotel's Library Bar closed on October 31. Both rooms are making way for a renovation of the hotel's public spaces, and the first of the new rooms aren't expected until late spring 2027.
That leaves a gap of at least one winter. For as long as many neighbors can remember, the formal version of tea on the Square has meant a three-tier tray, a harp and a window over the park at 210 W. Rittenhouse Square. Through the renovation, nothing like it will be served on the Square itself. Tea and the quiet nightcap that went with it don't disappear, though. They move a block or two away, into smaller, more casual rooms, several of which opened only this fall.
Four more afternoons at 210 W. Rittenhouse Square
Billy Penn's October guide to afternoon tea lists the Mary Cassatt Tea Room Thursdays through Sundays, 12:30 to 3:30 p.m., until November 15, at $70 per person. It describes a light-filled room with live harp music and a three-tiered tray of treats. The hotel requires reservations and lists seatings at 12:30, 1:00, 3:00 and 3:30 p.m. That leaves today, Thursday, November 12, through Sunday, November 15.
The room has deep roots on that land. The Rittenhouse stands where railroad executive Alexander Cassatt's mansion once stood, and the tea room is named for Mary Cassatt, the Pennsylvania-born Impressionist painter. The hotel opened in 1989.
If you're in the neighborhood Saturday, the Friends of Rittenhouse Square hold Love Your Park Day on November 14 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., planting spring bulbs in the Square. You could plant bulbs in the morning and still make one of the last tea seatings across Walnut Street.
What the hotel says it is building instead
The hotel hasn't framed this as a simple closure. In January, a hotel spokesperson told The Philadelphia Inquirer that the changes were meant to keep up with a dining scene growing "less formal and stuffy." In October, The Rittenhouse gave Billy Penn a fuller version of that thinking:
"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 plan, as described so far:
- Ruxton Steakhouse, from Baltimore-based Atlas Restaurant Group, is planned as a 220-seat restaurant with three private dining rooms, two bars and a seasonal outdoor patio overlooking the Square. It takes the place of Scarpetta, which closed January 31 after nearly a decade.
- The interiors draw on the Jazz Age, with velvet upholstery, walnut woodwork and Murano-style glass chandeliers. Corporate chef Aaron Taylor will oversee a menu built around steaks and seafood.
- An "intimate new bar" appears in the hotel's own announcement alongside the steakhouse.
- Lacroix stays open through construction for breakfast, lunch, dinner and cocktails. Work is limited to weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and overnight guests are not affected.
One longtime guest told Billy Penn the closing was "a huge loss for the city," adding, "We're losing a jewel." So this winter, the full sit-down tea service has to come from somewhere else.
Where the tiered tray goes this winter
Four places within easy reach of the Square still serve some version of the formal ritual. Each has its own schedule, price and feel.
The Dandelion, 124 S. 18th St.
This is the closest tray to the Square, about a block from the park's northeast corner. Billy Penn's guide describes a British afternoon tea served in the pub's dark-wood rooms. You choose a two-tier or three-tier service of sandwiches, pastries and tarts, plus a pot of tea. It runs weekdays from 3 to 5 p.m., with menus from $20 to $60 per person. The weekday-only schedule is the big difference from the Cassatt room, which served Thursday through Sunday. A weekend tea near the Square now means walking a little farther.
Liberté Restobar and Lounge at Sofitel, 120 S. 17th St.
For years, as Chez Colette, this hotel restaurant ran weekly afternoon tea seatings, then paused them. According to Billy Penn, tea comes back in December "for a special festive edition featuring seasonal flavors and festive touches." Reservations and full details for the festive edition will be posted on Liberté's experiences page. Of the four, it comes closest to the hotel-lounge setting the Cassatt room offered, two blocks east of the Square. If you just want a drink, Liberté runs happy hour Sunday through Friday from 4 to 6 p.m., with cocktails listed at $12.
The Rosenbach, 2008-2010 Delancey Place
The library and museum on Delancey Place has hosted themed teas built around the works of Jane Austen, a Vampyre Tea, and a run of tea parties with Fishtown's Elwood, including one tied to the Philadelphia Orchestra this October. These are scheduled events, not a standing service. Upcoming dates go up on the Rosenbach's programs page.
Aqimero at the Ritz-Carlton, 10 Avenue of the Arts
The farthest of the four, at Broad Street, and the least traditional. Aqimero serves "Boozy Teas" on weekends in the Ritz-Carlton lobby: a teapot-sized cocktail with a four-course tasting menu meant for sharing. Tickets are $90 per guest, and reservations go up to six people.
| Spot | Walk from the Square | When | Price per person |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Dandelion | About a block | Weekdays, 3–5 p.m. | $20–$60 |
| Liberté at Sofitel | About two blocks | Festive edition in December | See the experiences page |
| The Rosenbach | A few blocks south | Scheduled events | Varies |
| Aqimero, Ritz-Carlton | About six blocks east | Weekends | $90 |
Day, time and price details come from Billy Penn's October 2026 guide and the venues' own pages.
The cup without the tray
The bigger change this fall happened at the counter. Within a few weeks, three daytime spots opened within a few blocks of the Square. None serves tea on tiers, and two of them made a cup of tea or a pastry the main event.
- Somedays Bakery, 1601 Walnut St. The New York croissant shop opened October 2 on the former Republic Bank corner, its first location outside New York and New Jersey. The franchise owner lives in Philadelphia. A glass-walled kitchen lets customers, and anyone passing on the sidewalk, watch bakers laminate the dough, 127 layers in all.
- KYN, 1807 Chestnut St. A Korean coffee and matcha café from the team behind Mari Mari, it opened October 22 in the former Taylor Chip space and is the team's first café. The matcha is ceremonial-grade from Uji, Kyoto, with 4.5 grams in every cup, whisked by hand to order. The menu also has hojicha cream tops, a caffeine-free mugwort latte, and an Einspänner topped with a thick layer of sweet cream that you drink through rather than stir. Doors open at 7 a.m.
- Call Your Mother, 262 S. 19th St. The Washington, D.C.-based bagel deli opened on the corner Metropolitan Bakery held for more than 32 years, so there are ovens running there again.
Call Your Mother fits the same pattern as the tea room. This fall, two long-running daytime fixtures within a block or two of the Square changed hands. The newcomers are counter-service businesses that open earlier and ask for less of your time than the places they replaced. This season, the formal version leaves the Square for at least a winter, and a hand-whisked matcha on Chestnut Street is what the neighborhood added.
The nightcap, after October 31
The Library Bar offered cocktails, rare spirits and live music in a tucked-away setting. In the hotel, Lacroix carries the evening drink through the renovation.
A few blocks east, Bar Caviar sits inside The Dwight D, an 11-room boutique hotel in an 1840s rowhouse on 16th Street. The couple behind the hotel modeled the bar on the counter-style champagne bars of London and Paris. The full menu planned for its public opening lists 50 champagnes, 15 of them by the glass, with nonvintage pours from $15, plus five caviars, oysters, crudo and small plates. It's a small room meant for a short, special-occasion stop, closer in spirit to the Library Bar than to the 220-seat steakhouse coming to the hotel.
Spring will bring the next change. The Rittenhouse expects to reveal the first of its new spaces, a group that will eventually include the Ruxton dining room and the new bar, in late spring 2027. Until then, afternoon tea near the Square means a weekday pub tray on 18th Street, a December hotel tea on 17th, and a hand-whisked matcha on Chestnut that's ready at 7 a.m.
If the hotel's renovation has you wondering how the changes around the Square affect your own address, The Eric Fox Team follows these blocks every week. We'd be glad to prepare a free market valuation and a tailored selling plan for your Rittenhouse home whenever you're ready to talk.
