My wife and I went to The Conservatory for their new Nightmare Before Christmas afternoon tea, and we had a great experience. We were seated in the lobby bar area, and the table was decorated with Nightmare Before Christmas and Halloween decor. It was cute and playful. Our server was Sophie, and she was great! Very friendly and attentive.
The tea service includes a glass of prosecco, which is a nice way to kick things off. The food was largely very good, with some standout items being the truffle egg sandwich, the house made jam, and the coffee eclair.
The sandwich service comes first and was generous with four different tea sandwiches - truffle egg salad, roast beef, smoked salmon on a petit everything bagel, and ham and cheese with tomato jam. Each sandwich was well made, fresh, and had a good ratio of filling to bread.
There was only one scone (which was truly more of a biscuit, but who's counting) flavored with thyme and bacon. That was served at room temperature (boo) with real clotted cream (yay!), lemon curd, and their homemade orange jam. I was worried the savory scone would clash with the citrus accompaniments, but they worked quite well together. I only wish there was also a plain scone as we had a lot of cream and jam left.
Dessert was a selection of sweets that were also quite generous including a square of cranberry cheesecake, a fruit Madeline, a fudge filled macaron, my favorite coffee eclair, and a bourbon pecan tart. All the desserts were good, and a bit more than I could finish.
My only complaint - and it's small - is that there is only one tea for the entire service, and you do not get to pick. The tea they served, which comes in a pot already brewed - was lovely, but I would have liked a black tea with the savory items and the herbal tea they served with the sweets. I do appreciate that our server poured out our first cups for us.
Overall, the tea is a lot of fun, very tasty, and perfect to get into the mood for spooky season. I can't wait to come back to try their other seasonal afternoon tea offerings! read more