The Empress Tea Room & Bistro

I attended a birthday party at the Empress tea room recently. I enjoyed my experience overall and I would come back. Pros1) We got two teapots of a ginger and strawberry kiwi tea for the table to share. The tea was served with sugar cubes with small tongs. 2) The two tiered tray of food was good. It included croissant sandwiches, cucumber sandwiches, scones and mini cupcakes. There was a jar of clotted cream and jam shared by the table. However, the tray of food was shared by the table and served with one tong. We had to all wait our turns for the tong. Why not serve it with 2-3 tongs? 3) There was TV projector screens of images on the walls and the instrumental version of "My heart will go on" song from the Titanic played every 10 minutes. Cons1) No forks. We only had a butter knife and a spoon. It made watermelon, fruit and chocolate covered strawberries messy to eat with my hands.2) The restroom stall doors had no hook to hang up my purse. Most places have these hooks. There was no place to hang or set down your purse in the restroom. 3) There were small knat bugs on the table and in the teacup when I was about to pour my tea. 4) We had two pots of tea for our table to share but it was barely enough for 6-8 people to have one cup each. I think three pots of tea would have been better.

I came here this past Saturday for Higher Tea for Two. It was an amazing experience and the perfect brunch place to have for a girl's day. It's a cute tea shop with elegant decor and fancy silverware. When you arrive at your table, there's already a tea set placed. Each teacup is different with it's own character and a napkin precariously folded inside like oragami. You start off with your choice of tea that they bring in a fancy tea pot that's accompanied by a bowl of small sugar cubes. We ordered the crab soup as an appetizer which I must say surprised me by how savory and well seasoned it was. Next came the tiered stand with an assortment of finger sandwiches & scones on the bottom, and fruit & desserts on the top. The scones came with jam and some kind of amazing "white fluff" we never got the name of. I was worried it wouldn't be enough food at first but it was a sufficient amount as I walked out completely stuffed!Our waitress was on her 2nd day so she wasn't sure if there was a tea menu. If there isn't, I highly recommend the Paris tea by Harney & Sons. When I heard they had this, I was ecstatic. I discovered this tea a few years ago thanks to my roommate and have been obsessed ever since. It's a blend of black tea with vanilla, citrus, and fruit flavors. The aroma is divine and the taste is exquisite. My friend who is not a tea drinker said she absolutely loved it! Yeah.. it's THAT good...!They also have a boutique shop in the front that's sectioned off with decent prices and unique finds. Overall, I enjoyed my first visit and will definitely be coming back. I was highly impressed with the calming atmosphere and high quality ingredients used to prepare the food!

I've always wanted to try this place, and have been following on Facebook for a while. Came across one of their specials during this "social distancing" phase we're in and thought what a great idea to change up the boredom at the house. I sent her a message on Facebook in reply to the post and received a reply back almost instantly! Upon arrival at the tea room (stayed in my car), she had the order in hand right away (with gloves), took my payment and I was on my way. Completely safe take out experience. Couldn't have asked for a better afternoon treat! The Order: Kim is very attentive to the details. The Afternoon Tea spread was awesome, I honestly don't know which one of the sandwiches I could say was my favorite, because they were ALL delicious. I received 4 tea sandwiches, scone and toppings (can choose to have it raw and bake at home or pre-baked), mini cupcake, chocolate dipped strawberry, fresh fruit and she put together a lovely tea combo for me (strawberries, pineapple and coconut). ***I added my own glass of champagne to top off my wonderful afternoon (pictured). ;-)I will certainly be recommending to friends/family, and can't wait to come have a real experience in the dining room soon. Thank you again Empress Tea Room, wonderful service and scrumptious treats!

I went to this place in its old location on Fowler and then again after it moved to Dale Mabry. Neither time was I impressed. And, honestly, I feel like their old location had way more charm.My more recent visit was lackluster. The service left much to be desired. If the food hadn't been good, I'd give them one star. But when it FINALLY came out, I liked the spinach salad and the tiered tray of snacks that came with high tea. I just don't understand why it took so long to bring out a salad. Are they popping over to the local farm to harvest the spinach? Shelling the nuts? I don't know. My stomach was not happy waiting 20 minutes for a salad.And while I did enjoy the pastries that came out after maybe 40 minutes, they were not worth the wait. I've been to high tea in Tokyo, Bangkok, Sweden, and even gave Disney World a try (it was GREAT, by the way). High tea is something I LOVE to do. And everywhere I've been has put this place to shame. Not all of them were fancy places either.My recommendation is to skip this place. Go to Oxford Exchange, or anywhere else, instead.

My mother and I had the mimosa brunch and tea this past Sunday and it was delightful! This was my first time to empress tea room. I bought a tickets at work coupon for a brunch for two.The place is super cute and decorated nicely. The owner served us and she was friendly and attentive, and nice conversation! Upon arriving we were asked if anyone was vegetarian (this NEVER happens for me!!) I was so pleased that dietary restrictions are considered when you walk in. The brunch is prix fixe, and everything was so yummy. We had an awesome time drinking our tea and mimosas. We are planning on returning shortly!!

I am a teatime exclusive. I live in New Port Richey FL and frequent The White Heron there for my teatime. I found this teahouse online and decided to visit it with a good friend of mine, we always love tea adventures! At first sight it was quite impressive. But, never judge a book by its cover! The tea here was bland, one I tried tasted like mushroom soup, not at all goodThe waitress seemed to snuff us in favor of better dressed guests...note I am an Actress and purposely dress down when I go out to see if I am treated with as much respect if I was in my all dolled up way. Well, we were ignored. The food was not at all filling and the scones were like hokey pucks! I hope they can step up their game.

First time here. Came for a tea/brunch date with friends but was sadly disappointed by the unclear menu. We came for high tea which includes a selection of tea cakes, sandwiches and mini pastries, none of which I could eat. There was another person with me who is vegan so we searched for different options. Salad was being offered that day so I opted to order just that. Shortly after, I was told that I could not just order a salad. I didn't understand since the salad was listed with its own separate price. Whatever. We ended up only having tea which was nothing special. On a Saturday afternoon the place was pretty empty. There were a couple families with little girls having tea parties, it was adorable. In short, If you want to come here don't do so with any dietary restrictions, you'll be disappointed. With that said, I would probably return when I'm not so restricted to get the full experience.

Went in here with a friend not long ago and I will not be back. The lady at the front desk was rude. The service was awful. They did not offer us tea warmers, or full our water glasses. I had to get up and get another tea warmer from a table that had recently left. The atmosphere isn't worth the money. The food was average, nothing special to stand apart from any other afternoon tea.I worked at a tea room for 6 years and I know how it should be served. The quality of tea was nothing to write home about and the way sandwiches where average. Feel as thought they only want to cater to a specific type of person and if you don't fit their mold you are treated poorly. This place is a joke. I will not be coming back.

I made reservations on 9/23/2019 for a bridal shower to happen on 2/7/2020 with Kim, the owner, and she gladly took my $50 deposit over the phone on the said date mentioned. On October 18th we the party decided not to do a shower anymore for the bride and requested the money be refunded since it was beyond ample time notice. I reached out to Kim several times this day about my request via phone and email and she finally returned my call on 10/22/2019 to refund my deposit. I have not seen a dime refunded in my account and it has now been close to a month since making this request. I live out of town and will not be chasing Kim down for this refund anymore but what I will and am doing is warning others not to do business with this vendor. She is dishonest and does not practice fair business.

Firstly, everyone was very nice BUT, this is not a tea room. Also, the pictures on the website are old photos of where the tea room use to be. They have moved and the High Tea's are now held in a large event space. They also only hold High Tea once a month but they hold it in a big event room along with large events going on. The room actually looks like its the storage area for every decoration they have. I took my daughter and mother n law there to celebrate a birthday and we had to sit in a large loud tacky room with several birthday parties going on and one being a Sweet 16. One of the other parties were a group of loud women, laughing and screaming while doing jello shots. For certain celebrations or events, this venue would be perfect but not for a Tea House. A High Tea should be a relaxing time with conversations at a normal level of volume and not teens running around taking photos in from of fake plastic backdrops and babies screaming at the top of their lungs. The tea was good but the food was subpar and basic. They served small ham sandwiches and cold burnt scones with cream cheese and not Devonshire Cream. There were small muffins that were from the grocery store. The jam was actually Smuckers jelly. $35 per person was way too much for the experience. Very disappointed and I will not be going back or recommending this place.F