Judiith Taylor
User's reviews
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The Shoppe at Shady Gables Tearoom
I can say the service has truly been excellent each time I've been there. The owner and staff are very gracious. This makes it harder to write of my disappointment with the rest of my experience. On our first visit (with a reservation for their most costly version of High Tea) I expected, as advertised, an English style high tea... it wasn't. The tea itself was somewhat weaker than I expected. In England, scones are plain or made with currents, not all these other fillings. And what was supposedly clotted cream was a whipped butter. Yes, there is a very large difference. A proper high tea is a stout meal with lots of food, and what we were served was small amounts of very daintily (though very well prepared) cut sandwiches and cakes. It's been over a year since that first time, so I don't remember exactly what was served, but I do remember the keen disappointment we felt about the lack of quantity! My suggestion to the shopkeeper is to offer a more expensive version for hearty appetites, not just the dainty ones for ladies who are watching their weight. The atmosphere is interesting, though rather overcrowded due to the gift shop motif, with the tables shoehorned in amongst the goods for sale. Overall, charming, but definitely not an authentic English style tea room.