Disappointed former customer
User's reviews
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Alice's Tea Cup, Chapter II
I have been to Alice's on the West side many times and have taken international visitors on several occasions, all very pleasant experiences. However, we had a very bad experience at the East side location of Alice's when they tried to overcharge us for sharing. In our party of five, we ordered a tea set for two of us to share while the remainder ordered desserts and drinks (one of which never arrived). The entire time we were there, one of the staff (not our waitress) periodically hovered in the vicinity of our table and stared at us to the point that we were uncomfortable, and when we were given the bill, we found that we had been charged an extra $10 for 'sharing' the tea set amongst the five of us. Since this was not true, we informed the staff of this but were still treated as if we were being dishonest. I absolutely would not return there after seeing the overzealous focus put on charging patrons extras for (perceived) sharing, and I have told my friends and colleagues, especially those who have young children who might actually end up sharing with their kids as a part of their dining experience, about this incident. The staff at this Alice's location were very rude to us and seemed more intent on 'policing' their customers--and inaccurately so--rather than providing hospitable service and allowing their customers to enjoy the dining experience. Needless to say, we won't be going there again.
Tearoom response:
We are truly sorry to hear about your negative experience at our newest location! We are doing our best to make our east side location run as smoothly as our west side location, and feel that we are almost there! Our staff is trained to only charge the sharing fee when something is truly shared, not when the other parties order their own meals - your server that day must need re-training to know when it is appropriate or not and that desserts count as meals as well. As for your bus boy, we can only hope that he was watching your party in an effort to assist you and not to leer at you. It would be extremely helpful to us to know who your servers were that day (which we could obtain from you by description and date of service) so that we can continue to rectify problems we encounter and ensure good service! We love getting feedback, negative or otherwise, because it enables us to grow and strengthen our service, so please don't be bashful. In addition, we would love to offer you a free breakfast, lunch or dinner on us at any time of your choosing! Please give our new location another chance!
If you would be so kind as to email me at Haley@alicesteacup.com, I can get you your gift certificate as soon as possible!
Thank you for your feedback and loyal patronage,
Your friends at Alice's