The Empress Tea Room & Event Dinning

Our Bible Study has been visiting tea rooms for years for the annual holiday luncheon and found the hostesses to create the most memorable event EVER - the attention to detail was incredible, pre-ordering made our large group of 14 easy for them and us and we had a super amazing time!

The Empress Tea Room is one of the best tearooms that I have ever been to. Everything was just wonderful! My friends and I went for the Higher Tea and it was delicious! The King Crab soup is definitely my favorite soup. Everything on the beautiful three-tier tray was freshly made. OH! And their scones! They were warm and fluffy and so tasty, made even better by the devonshire cream which was thick and the rich Rose Jam...yummy!! Aside from the food, the service was impeccable and the staff made you feel as if we were lifelong friends. The tearoom itself was beautifully decorated and very peaceful. This tearoom is definitely deserving of your business. I can't wait to come back soon!

One of the finest tea rooms in the Tampa area. It is also one of the few tea rooms that I feel comfortable taking my granddaughter to ~ they have special teas plus delightful music and wonderful gift shop in the front. I have taken several friends to this tea room and each time I have enjoyed delicious food and tea. They also offer a great lunch.

Visited your new location Wednesday, August 17 with 10 seasoned citizen friends - some of whom had NEVER been to any kind of a tea room, etc. 4 of us had high tea and it was superb, as always. Couldn't eat my dessert (too full) but had no trouble giving it to the other 3. Everyone enjoyed her lunch choice. We all thought the tropical views outside were an added feature. I love the openess yet uncrowded area where we were situated. Your staff was way above my expectations....solicitous, caring, explaining everything to each person. Tongs for sugar cubes a plus....The only downside was the amount of time it took to pay the bill, probably because each person was responsible for her portion of the check. Next time I will ask for a different method. We shall return - SOON. Great to have you in this neighborhood as we no longer have that long drive to Temple Terrace. Thanks for an unhurried time with friends.

I have been to this tea room several times and each time was spectacular. I loved it so much I brought my sister! :) The owner Kim comes out to talk to the guests and she is a lovely person who is obviously passionate about what they do. The food is always perfectly made and the teas are out of this world. I sincerely believe that my boyfriend's new love affair with tea is a direct result of the visit to this establishment. What is especially nice about Empress Tea Room is that the atmosphere lends itself a relaxed experience without being stuffy. I cannot wait to go back again. :)

Dear Kim,

It has been curious that there is some individual who has been going to many of the tea rooms in the area and posting nasty reviews and spouting off her great knowledge of Tea, etc and thinks that she is the Queen of Tea Rooms! She does not leave her name and is very rude and cruel.
I do not know you...been several years since I have been there, but the point I would like to make to many who read Tea Map is that for some reason, this bitter person thanks she has the right to go from Tea room to Tea room and leave very bitter remarks but does not leave her real name. I think she should open a Tea Room as the world would love a perfect one and she could enjoy her own Tea Room everyday! Easy to complain until you have to do it for a living and make a profit too!

The decor of this shop and it's dining rooms is lovely. The front shop has a lovely selection of tea pots, cups and random tea ephemera with what I would call average pricing for these items. The decor in the dining rooms is quite lovely. We were seated in the Victorian dining room which featured nice linens, lovely paintings and beautiful china settings. The room next door had a lovely mural, and was decorated like a garden complete with iron patio furniture. Unfortunately, the decor was pretty much the beginning and end of the positives. My first issue with this tea establishment is the fact that they refer to their basic tea service as a 'high tea' rather than the typical afternoon tea that it is. With so much confusion over the tradition of taking tea, I would hope that they wou... (more)ld try to educate the public rather than perpetuate wrong information. Apparently, the shop typically serves one or two pots of 'featured teas' for the whole table, but neither of them were of interest so I asked for a strong, black tea. It was obvious at this point that the manager had very little knowledge about tea. I asked for an Assam or Prince of Wales tea, two black teas that are very well known and in the case of Assam, from a particular region in India, and not in any way 'brand names', but she didn't recognize either. Upon explaining to her what I was looking for in a tea, she offered up recommendations for something completely different that did at least turn out palatable, if not particularly good. While the tea sandwiches were quite good, I found the scones to be incredibly dry and crumbly, so much so that the jam and mock devonshire cream served did little to improve them. My final concern was with the way they handled the reservation for our party. We had fewer than our reservation and they planned to charge us for the no-shows. When we questioned this, the manager insisted that the policy was listed online, but further review shows no mention of this. They worked things out in the end, but it felt as though it was grudgingly done and I will not return to a place that makes me feel like they are doing me a favor to take my money. Ultimately, the mediocre food, lack of tea knowledge and poor service means I can not, in good conscious, recommend them for anyone.