Latest Reviews
-
Had a quick lunch here after visiting exhibition.I ordered Gnocchi & apple cider. The gnocchi were way to hard .. they should steam or cook gnocchi a …
Sam
The Tea Room
-
This place was such a great find, one of new favourites. The prosciutto pizza was fresh and delicious. It had an amazing crust and they used a great q…
Kirsty Haggerty
The Tea Room
-
Honestly, the rudest staff I've ever had the displeasure of meeting. The woman who led us to our table didn't even acknowledge us when we thanked her.…
Livirz
The Tea Room
About
The Tea Room is open for Café. The Tea Room serves Coffee and Tea dishes.Incorrect or missing information? Make a report, or claim the restaurant if you own it!
Details
Feature List
wheelchair accessibleindoor seatingReviews
Leave a Review
You must be logged in to post a comment.
10 Reviews on “The Tea Room”
Four of us wanted a relaxing pm tea and chat. We ordered tea for 4 and 3 cakes. When the tea arrived, we poured 2.5 cups. We had to interrupt our chat, approach the counter and point out our problem. It definitely became OUR problem and fault. I could see that the tea would be cold if we needed to wait for an additional pot. The staff attitude was unhelpful to say the least. when I insisted, the male staff member topped the pot up slightly and the remaining 2 of us got three quarters of a cup of tea. A very D grade experience indeed. We offer the following tips for improvement. All tea should be served with an additional pot of hot water, as a matter of course. All staff should be trained to know the capacity of the cafes tea pots and to recommend and serve the correct quantity when taking the order, not when the customer discovers that there is not enough to get 4 teas out of it. Staff should get training in customer service i.e. we are there for tea and a nice time, not a hassle about fulfilling a basic order. Needless to say, we left NO TIPS in the tip jar. You never get a second chance to make a first impression. Its a premier venue which needs properly trained staff.
The coffee here is well worth the treat after looking through the NGV. The coffee was smooth, the staff were polite and well presented. The menu in general is very expensive.
Update to my previous review (see below):
I returned to the tea room today for afternoon tea with some friends as I had enjoyed the venue in the past. Well today was a disappointment to say the least, for many reasons;
1. I rang to make a booking, no answer their phone line didn’t even connect – I proceeded to book via the email booking address on the website. I received no confirmation as to whether my booking had been received or even an automated message! Hence, I was greeted with a very blank stare by the staff upon my arrival requesting my reservation (my name was on the list wtb!)
2. It was incredibly busy as it was school holidays – fair enough. However we had to wait an incredibly long time for someone to even take our order and the wait staff needed a boost of personality.
3. Once our order finally arrived I thought they had gotten the order incorrect – I thought I had ordered ‘scones’ not two rock cakes that would hardly fill up a toddler they were so small! Scones were not like my previous experience at all, which is disappointing considering scones are at the cornerstone of a tea house I would imagine.
The texture of the scone was wrong and tasted like a stale biscuit rather than a fluffy scone.
3. We requested milk to have with our tea, we were presented with a miniature vessel of milk to share between 3 people for 3 large tea pots.. clearly an inadequate quantity.
The sharing theme continued as only 1 tea strainer accompanied the tea rather than one per person. Only minor I know but just highlights the lack of attention to detail.
Very disappointed as it is not a cheap venue so I would have expected more for the price they charge. Overall was a rather embarrassing experience as I had recommended this venue for the outing as I had previously had such a positive experience as per my review below.
Earlier review; Went here for the first time today for a Uni catch up. At first I was somewhat unsure as it is located directly as you walk off the escalators – however the furnishings and staff were lovely & created a cosy atmosphere. We had the Devonshire which included 2 scones (both of good size) and a large pot of tea for $17, good value! The scones were fab, freshly baked and the cream had a lovely hint of lemon (not out of a can!!). One downside – they don’t split bills. Other than that I’ll certainly be back – what a find!!
Finally tried the high tea in the tea room. When my uni friends and I checked this place out, it was very busy. We already made a booking a few days ago, so that was helpful. I didn’t have much expectations coming to this place for high tea. In a way I was glad. The experience was average. I wasn’t impressed at all. I had been to a few high tea places here in Melbourne and this was not one of the best one I have ever been. The food was average, don’t get me wrong. It looked beautiful but it didn’t deliver. The customer service was good but nothing exceptional. Maybe the place was busy and because we were tucked around the corner we were neglected, I don’t know. I don’t think I will ever come back or even recommend this place for high tea enthusiasts out there.
Went in for afternoon tea as a treat for my mum before the current Andy Warhol show. Called ahead to book, and checked out all the info on the website beforehand as I wanted it to be a special occasion.
Firstly, I was struck by the setting – the space is quite close and not especially well designed with some tables out on an internal mezzanine, all under a relatively low roof making it somewhat noisy. The setting was not what I had expected given the interesting architecture and design of the NGV.
The next thing that surprised me was the service; I had to ask three times to get a glass of water. When we finally managed to order, I asked about High Tea and that we wanted their vegetarian option (I asked about it when I called to book). The server was very vague and didn’t seem to know what I was talking about. We then opted for tea instead of sparkling, but then the server wandered back over a good 5m later to ask what kind of tea we wanted … but without bringing the list of teas. I will not fault our servers on their attitude though, they were all very polite and friendly, just quite disorganised. We had to look around for a while to get anyone’s attention any time we wanted to ask for something, and nobody asked us how our meal was.
The food was nice, but not exceptional. They advertise their high tea as being in some way designed to correspond with the current exhibition – if this was in fact the case it was hard to tell in what way, and certainly nobody attempted to tell us anything about it. Their supposed vegetarian option was just more of certain sandwiches and leaving out meat options which is always a disappointment. The scones were really lovely, probably the highlight, along with a miniature baked Alaska in the pastry tier that we both really liked.
After making a lunchtime reservation, the entire thing was so dragged out that when we went down to see the exhibit that we had come for, we had not made it half way through before being told that the gallery would be closing shortly. So we hurried through the rest of their fantastic Andy Warhol / Ai Weiwei installation and couldn’t quite appreciation all of what seemed to be a really brilliant show.
In short; nice staff but not great quality of service, mediocre food for the price, and a not especially nice setting.
The tea room was a nice experience and had a relaxing ambience compared to the cafe on ground floor. We had the chicken chorizo sandwich and the scones. Such a nice combination, freshly made and the food is of great quality and the coffee was great! Service was friendly and efficient and they topped up our jam and cream. Glad to enjoy a brunch or afternoon tea in the tea room.
Nice little tea room at the gallery. Nice food. I had soup of the day which was beetroot. The soup itself was very nice. Spot on. It promised garnish but had almost none, sadly. The little cheese type sandwich which came with it was lovely. I had a cappuccino to finish and it was excellent. Creamy, tasty and very well made. Service was polite and efficient. My three colleagues were similarly happy. The cost was rather high but such is life. I’d happily return.