A spot of vintage for you?
Friend G and I have covered most of London’s afternoon tea spots between us. Finding a place that neither has been to can be a real mission sometimes. Then a colleague asked if we’ve tried Soho’s Secret Tea Room.
No, we haven’t…
Brilliant. Next thing it was booked and G and I found the secret location and went in.
Instructions
I want to tell you I loved the place. But I didn’t. So I’m going to tell you what I liked and what I didn’t like. I think G would quite easily be in agreement here.
I liked:
The decor
Charles and Diana cake stand
The coffee cake
The tea (but not the pot that had a case of leaky-pot when poured syndrome).
I didn’t like:
The sandwiches. They were just a bit m’eh.
Being charged for tea refills even if it was just 50p per refill. I’ve never seen this anywhere else before – it’s just water. Tea pots are meant be re-infused several times…
And being told that we had to leave immediately – even though we were still drinking our tea and still eating food that we’d paid £17.50 for. No notice given whatsoever.
I think if they’d just warned us that they needed the table in 10-15 minutes then we would have left relatively happy and this review would have been a lot friendlier. But there was no apology or explanation just “you have to go now, we need the table.” When I raised this they didn’t apologise, just said something random about the table beside us.
All in all, a disappointing experience at somewhere that has great potential. We both agreed that for the price, there are places around with much better quality food and exceptional service. However, if you are in the area, and you fancy somewhere a bit quirky with a quintessentially English experience, then by all means give it a go. The pub underneath is also brilliant and filled with a mix of locals and theatre going tourists.
Soho Secret Tea Room can be found deep in Theatre Land. I will leave you to find its location here.
See, this is what we need – real reviews of places! The table situation really is a shame. Fails in the arena of customer service, oui? PS I just linked you on my blog
ooh! Thanks Jen! I need to update my blog roll and will add in some of my lovely new friends with their fabulous blogs asap.
Such a shame – poor customer service really winds me up!! It can totally ruin an otherwise good experience, and it’s really not that hard to smile and be kind to people.
At least the coffee cake was good!
Yes, the coffee cake was definitely good! The UK could really shine with all its originality if they could just pick up the service!!
Customer service in the UK can be appalling and if they had just given you a bit of warning you’d have been fine. I like the idea of high tea and the tweeness of this place but… well it’s a mixed review.
Mixed review, yes! Customer service is one of my number one bug bears – this would have been a great review if they hadn’t been so rude (and if the teapot wasn’t leaky).
Oh dear. For me, nice decor and a decent cake doesn’t make up for being turfed out without notice or the penny pinching 50 pence charge for more hot water!
There are so many great options for tea in London.
You’ve probably already tried Beas of Bloomsbury, which does the most fabulous cakes and sweet and savoury treats.
And recently, I fell for the chocolate afternoon tea at Chancery Court Hotel, not much more at £23.50 and sandwiches, scones and tea are served as normal but then one helps oneself to a buffet of patisserie, as much as one likes and it’s good.
Am hoping to try some others in London soon.
Yay, it’s Kavey! The Chancery Court sounds awesome and I am putting it on the list now. My friends and I are Bea’s biggest fans! If you haven’t checked it out already, I would highly recommend a visit to Orange Pekoe in Barnes which we visited recently. Fabulous and really good value.