Laura
User's reviews
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The Empress Tea Room & Event Dinning
I am beyond disappointed and don't even know where to even begin to tell the story of the 'Bridal Shower that almost wasn't'... thanks to the Empress Tea Room in Tampa. My name is Laura and I am the Made of Honor for my best friend Melanie. Many hours went in between the Bride, the Bridal party and myself in choosing a venue that would make the Brides shower one that she will never forget... this is an understatement, The Empress Tea Room is a place that I wish we could forget, lets face it, the entire guest list of 30 guest will never forget it either and probably wish they could. There are some reviews listed below that are actually from our 'shower that almost wasn't' and therefore urge you to read the other reviews listed so I will not bore you with details that have already been mentioned. What I will mention is some of the details that only myself and the owners Kim and Mike know from the phone call that started four days before Melanie's big day when I called in with the final head count of 27. I was informed that when the deposit was put down on 8/9/08 one of the other bridesmaids Michelle and the bride Melanie were told that in order to ensure a private room we would need to have a minimum of 30 people. Not being there at the time of the deposit I had informed Kim (the owner) that I was not aware of this detail and would call Melanie to confirm this. Well it seems that this little detail was never mentioned to either one of them. I immediately called back Kim the owner and told her that in fact this was not what the bride was told. Kim had said that if we did not want other people (complete strangers) joining our party that we did not have a choice. (FYI...Could you imagine being seated in the middle of someone else's bridal shower) I with a bit of my Jersey attitude agreed but was not happy. should a have known then to trust my gut that something was not going to go well. Fast forward 51 hours before the official start time of the shower. I receive another call from Kim (owner) advising me that she had a problem. She had told me that she just got off the phone with the bride (which I find out later was a call that was made in error) and she had told the bride that all was well (which was an outright lie). All was not well because Kim had advised me that they had a booking error and that the time period and that a party that was set just before us will run into our time that we booked. I got a little bit more of an attitude when she had mentioned that she just spoke to the bride and told her all was fine. Great, now I get to tell the bride a little thing like her shower will have to be moved but only around 30 minutes...30 MINUTES seemed like a lot but what were we going to do. Kim advised me that there is a good chance they can turn the room in around 15 minutes or so and brought extra staff in to hopefully make the transition smooth. So now 30 people were invited but I trusted in the words that were told to me by the owner. Kim and I had more words about how was this error not caught only 2 days prior when you told me about the minimum amount of people that we had to book, they did not notice this on Tuesday for a shower on Saturday? The bottom line was it was pretty much a battle of attitudes. She had my deposit and it was less that 51 hours to go so whats a made of honor supposed to do? Again, if you read the below reviews you'll know what happens next, but another tidbit or two that was missing was how when after nearly an hour, the prior party was still in the 'private room' that we reserved and that still did not allow the time that would take to have the room set for another party. I said to Mike (owner) that perhaps it be better if we left (30 guests in all) that Mike (owner) said and that even if I moved the party to something like Outback I would have to wait at least another hour (with quite an attitude I will add)... I lost it... 'I did not put a deposit down at Outback nearly 6 weeks ago!!!' At this point my blood was boiling, the bride was in tears and the guests, well over half of the guests had pretty much went next door for ice-cream to get out of the sweltering lobby area. At that point myself, the bridal party and my 30 guests were asked to leave... I could not believe my ears, after all of the promises that were made to me by Kim the owner, how this was pretty much going to be a day the bride will never forget, well as I had mentioned earlier SHE WILL NEVER FORGET... and neither will the other 30 guests that were treated like we were just a number...oh by the way, speaking of just number, that was what Kim had mentioned in her parting words... we were JUST 30 people of the over 100 guests she had served that day... so there we have it, she did not need us nor want our business and she made that perfectly clear in her attitude. If you told me that I could have stayed and have the whole thing free, I would have NEVER stayed. The attitude and arrogance in which these new owners have is one that I still shake my head over. 'Treat others as you would like to be treated' must be something that they throw out in the dumpster at the end of the day. So just think about it, do you really want to take a chance of having this happen to you, friend or a family member?