Susan
User's reviews
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The Peach Tree Tea Room and Gift Gallery
I really wouldn't call this a tea room, but it's good to have on the map anyway. It's really a restaurant that leans heavily towards the kind of food that women eat. They have the usual variety of traditional salads and lighter fare (compared to the very heavy German and fried foods in most Fredricksburg eateries), but it's not especially memorable. As a restaurant it gets decent marks, but real tea and afternoon tea lovers shouldn't get their hopes up.
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River House Tea Room
This is really a restaurant oriented to women rather than a tea room in the traditional sense - more of an iced tea and fancy salad place than a hot tea and white glove place. The decor is restaurant-feminine. Men are comfortable here, but it's mostly women. The food is GREAT. In case you're wondering, it DOES make a difference that they have a real chef, and the prices are not hiked accordingly. I'm surprised every time I go that they haven't started charging more. The menu is interesting without being frightening to the cautious, and there's enough variety to suit the whole family.
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Madhatters Tea
I second the coffee shop comment. The atmosphere is straight coffee house with a Mad Hatter theme. The teas are quite fresh, which is a nice change from par. The service is coffee house, though - students with love lives, etc. This is not the place for a fru-fru pampering event, but it's a good place to have a pot with a book.
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The Tudor House
OK, Dany and Dame are both right. Tudor House service is very much like a mid-level restaurant rather than a high-end hotel. The tables in the tea room are not private and the decor is neither fluffy/busy nor hotel-elegant. It's quite pleasant, though, and you don't need reservations. I highly recommend their meat-pies (curry chicken, steak and kidney, etc.) and Scotch eggs (weekends only). I actually buy the pies by the dozen ($2.50 each) and freeze them.
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Ye Olde Kings Head
As Alma mentioned, this is a room attached to a pub, so it smells rather like fish and chips. You really need to make a reservation, and the hours are short, which is surprisingly inconvenient since Tudor House is across the street. Despite the fishy inconvenience, the tea room has high-backed comfortable booths with a nicely private feel and flowery wallpaper. They serve on a 3-tiered trays with nice presentation, which Tudor House doesn't. The food is very traditional English, fairly heavy on the sweets, but quite good.
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Chado Tea Room
If you actually want tea, this is the place! The atmosphere is Indian-style British. Not fluffy, so men are comfortable here, but it's elegant enough for the fru-fru crowd. The tea selection is fantastic. The sandwiches and the soup are great! The scones are weak, and the desserts terrible. The tea and sandwiches make up for the sweets, though.
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Paddington's Tea Room
I've been to Paddington's several times over the years - I lived right in the neighborhood. Every time, I decide not to go back. The atmosphere is charming, but neither really oriented to children nor to adults. The service is always poor, though once we had a young man who tried very hard to make us feel like royalty. The food is not memorable. They do have a decent selection of teas, though. Chado has 300+, but you can get Assam at Paddingtons. Have a pot here, but not afternoon tea.