Tea at The Empress — Restaurant in Victoria

I was excited when I learned that the Empress offered a gluten-free afternoon tea upon request; lots of tea houses don't have this option at all. They charge an extra $5, but this is nothing considering the tea is already $90-100 (Canadian).

I'm going into detail here because I could find very little info about the gluten-free menu when booking this. You can view the regular menu online, but the dietary-needs offerings are a mystery, perhaps to give the chef flexibility since they don't seem to keep these items in stock. Also I was on the fence about whether the price could possibly be justified when I made the reservation (the prices I normally see for tea service are around $40-60), but it also made me curious. What if it was so expensive because the chef was just that good 😂?

The treats are served on a three-tiered tray, and the bottom & middle tray offerings (the scone tray & the sandwich tray) follow the regular menu. The scone was baked with golden raisins, had perfect texture, & was delightful with the clotted cream & preserves. It raised my expectations for the rest of the tea! Unfortunately, the sandwich layer suffered by comparison because though the sandwich fillings were nicely seasoned, the bread was dry & flavorless. Admittedly, baking good gluten-free bread is a challenge. But it's not impossible, and I think this bread was chosen more for appearance (it had a tidy, close-knit structure) than taste.

The dessert layer is where the gluten-free menu entirely broke from the regular menu. This is what I found most baffling because the regular menu promises a macaron (which are made from ground almonds, not wheat), a madeleine & a jaconde (traditionally made from ground almonds; modern recipes sometimes use wheat or a mixture), a cremeux, & a yuzu-pearl tart. These items are so light on wheat anyway that it seems like it would have been easy to adapt them to be gluten-free, if they even NEEDED adaptation -- the macaron and the cremeux were probably gluten-free already.

But instead the gluten-free menu had 3 kinds of cake, a jelly, and a blackberry/blueberry puree in a chocolate shell. I think the jelly was also blackberry, as it had that same fruity punch. The shell dessert was sensational & tied with the scone for my favorite thing. There was an orange cake that was a bit dry but had good flavor, and something I'm going to guess was blueberry cake (solely because of the blueberry perched on it), but it didn't taste like anything & was so dry I couldn't finish it. Also a beautiful ganache cake dusted with what looked like powdered raspberries. So while most of the desserts were good, they were on the dense side, and they leaned so heavily on the chocolate berry flavor profile (except the citrus cake) that it came off as pretty one-note. Especially compared to the variety of flavor & texture (pistachio, banana, pear, cream, bergamot, rosewater) promised in the regular menu.

As far as I could tell, the teas on offer were all from the Metropolitan Tea Company, which is pretty mid-tier. They had a rolled oolong and a pu-erh (for an $18 up-charge), but I stuck to flavored teas since in my experience, that's what Metropolitan does best. The teas turned out nicely, and the waiter paid attention to the steep times & brought out a sand timer to monitor them. The candle heater worked great at keeping the pot warm.

Overall, I have to say there was nothing in the menu that justified the steep price. Everything at the Empress is expensive, but I could have gotten their 8 oz smoked sterling silver tenderloin and probably thrown in a glass of wine for the same price as the tea service.

But it was still a memorable experience, and I loved the architecture, the atmosphere, the live piano player, and the excellent staff. I appreciate the effort they put into creating a special afternoon for everyone, and only went into exhaustive detail here because when you're dining out with dietary restrictions, it's so hard to know what you're getting yourself into. Hope this review helps some fellow...

After always dreaming of experiencing the Empress for Tea. We were expecting an elevated experience where we felt like royalty.. and were left sadly disappointed.

Ok buckle up because I do want to mention the positives as well.

We arrived for our reservation and were met by three women at the desk. One took our name with no other instructions. So we just awkwardly stood there with goofy smiles because we were still very excited. She motioned our attention to another hostess who came around the counter with menus. We started to group with her until she bluntly said "No. I'm looking for that other lady." And searched around. At that the original hostess rolled her eyes and took us along to our table. We sat down and she graciously put our napkins on our laps and gave us an explanation of the menu. I couldn't help but notice the table beside us had an irritated/impatient energy and soon understood why.

Our server was Todd. He seemed like a kind man. But everything was very automatic, rehearsed and inauthentic. He seemed flustered as it was very busy. He asked us where we were all from individually but did not actually absorb our answers. We had wished that we made up pretend places just to see if it would make a difference. We waited about twenty minutes before he even came back to take our tea order. I had to comment and say "we are glad you came back.. we are getting quite parched." That didn't seem to absorb either.

The food and tea was delicious and the perfect amount. However the desserts were underwhelming. Dry brownie. And I'm a dessert fan, I didn't finish any of them. Which is very unlike me..

The man who dropped our food off at our table was the friendliest of the bunch. Kudos to him, I hope he gets a portion of the tip out..

Two of our party had a great view of a blank wall for the entire tea. As we were packing up we suggested a mirror be placed on the wall forothers in the future. Todd finally cracked a smile said "or maybe some nice art work." Literally anything.

Also what's with the dusty glass case behind the front desk? It looks like an old cafeteria fridge. They just use it for storage by the looks of it.. and is very out of place for this beautiful venue. Time for an upgrade.

Our time at the Empress cost approximately $550 for 4 people including gratuity. I was expecting an elevated and special experience and we recieved better and friendlier service at the Brewhouse we went to later on that evening and we made sure to mention it.

We won't be back for Tea at the Empress. I hear Butchart Gardens...

The reason for the two stars is because the food was very good. I had to make this review because of our disappointing experience. I made online reservations for two of us to attend tea in May. We arrived at 3:26pm for our 3:30pm appointment. They sent us away because they were not ready for us. When we returned at 3:31 pm, the tables were almost filled. We were placed at a seats by the hallway entry. I asked if we could sit at a table that was closer to the windows but I was told that table was not available.

While we were being seated, my friend noticed crumbs on her seat and asked them to clean them off which they did. As we were sitting, we observed jam on the menu, and the cutlery was not clean. I asked to speak to the manager because I was going to ask to just leave and get out of my reservations. The manager came over and said, “I understand you want to move to the table closer to the window.” I told him I had but the reason I had asked to see him was to point out the soiled menu and dirty cutlery. He apologized and offered to both move us and give us a complimentary glass of champagne.

The manager moved us to the table I originally asked about. The waiter came to the table and told us he had waited on Queen Elizabeth in the past so we felt like we were in good hands. Unfortunately, after the initial taking of the order and talking about himself we did not see much of him.

The food was very good. We ordered a couple teas, one of which had to be replaced because of an allergy. The waiter said he would be back to ensure we were happy but he did not ask us about the teas. Again, the serving pieces were soiled. The white tea warmer had tea drops on it as if it was not washed between servings and one of the tea pots had a heavily tea stained spout.

This was disappointing for at least two reasons. The first reason was that my friend was visiting from Scotland and I was aiming for her to have a great experience as she has been to Balmoral for high tea. Of course this experience was not even close. I also expected better from the Fairmont Empress. The lack of attention to detail was saddening. The wait staff also seemed sparse. Everything seemed cheap.

In summary, except for the food, the experience was awful and I would...