I had some time to kill following a meeting in the city and walked past this little tea room on my way to another cafe - I thought it looked quite cute, quaint and interesting with the tiered platters and various patterned tea pots as decoration.
I was approached to be seated and the waitress headed in the direction of outside the shop, I asked if I could be seated indoors and she answered that they had a few reservations, but would somewhere in the middle be ok? She repeated this standard phrase to anyone who asked for inside and I did not see anyone come in for their reservation in the time I was there, so I think the busier it looks from outside the better for business!!
I was bought 2 menus these were once very nice, but now worn, stained and ripped. The pretty sugar bowls were glued to the table (surely no need for that in the QVB). The selection of teas and food was good, but once bought they did not return to top up the tea pot with hot water, or see if I needed anything else.
I waited for some time to try and catch the eye of someone to bring the bill, to no avail, when o went to the counter a waitress was inappropriately engaged in personal conversation quite loudly. She paused and said if you go wait over their - pointing near the front, I'll be there in a minute. She did come down quite quickly after that.
So sadly, the potential was great, but he reality not so great. read more