Zealong Tea Estate - Tea Room — Restaurant in North Island

The Tea Room on the Zealong Tea Estate is a very special setting for wonderfully decorative and creative taste sensations!

The Tea Room can be found in a charming rural homestead located on the Zealong Tea Estate The Tea Room offers appealing indoor dining then opens onto a broad outdoor dining terrace The terrace is sheltered from the sun and wind when required by a series of clever screens Surrounding the terrace is a most attractive homestead garden and a view of the magnificent Zealong organic tea plantation We dined on the outdoor terrace

On the day of our visit during the Festive Season the Tea Room was offering two different culinary menus There was also a most impressive beverage menu that included the Zealong range of global award winning teas All teas are grown harvested and curated on The Zealong Tea Estate

The choice of culinary menus was :

1. A prix fixe 'High Tea' menu
2. An a la carte 'Light Lunch' menu

We chose the 'High Tea' menu 'High Tea' is the more robust cousin of 'Afternoon Tea' with a stronger focus on savoury items however also includes some sweet treats During certain other times of the year the Tea Room will be offering a classic 'Afternoon Tea' menu

Our 'High Tea' was a journey of culinary Wonder and Joy Amazing flavours coupled with exquisite presentation on a traditional curate stand gave us a sense of the dedication which is a hallmark of the Zealong Tea Estate

Conceived and created by an internationally trained Executive Pastry Chef with Michelin Star experience our 'High Tea' was a triumph! A favourite was the Ora King Salmon Feuillette enhanced with a herb mayonnaise Another delight was the Duck Mousse and sour cherry chutney crowned with a Festive Season gingerbread wafer

The service during our visit was excellent - - - so very welcoming friendly attentive and knowledgeable

As our visit was during the Festive Season the Tea Room was about to be enhanced with Festive Season decorations

Our warmest thanks and appreciation to everyone at the Tea Room and the Zealong Tea Estate

PS: The notable 'Camellia Restaurant' - - - an exquisite dining experience in the Waikato region- - - is also located on the Zealong Tea Estate

The Zealong Tea Estate also offers tours of the Estate - - - - has a most tempting Retail Boutique - - - - and offers exclusive accommodation in an Estate Guesthouse

Special Events also take place within the Zealong Tea Estate during the year and are posted...

What a massive disappointment. We were there in April when the tea room was in the restaurant and had an amazing experience. We came back again and everything was terrible!

When we arrived, we were seated and given a glass of water. Then no one ever came back or explained anything to us. We had to go hunt someone down to take our order. There were people at three other tables, but all off the staff were hiding in the kitchen area on their phones. They seemed annoyed when we wanted to order something.

We got high tea, and luckily we already knew how it worked, because they staff had no interest in the menu, what was in the high tea or the tea selections.

When the tea came, the server dripped hot water all over my kid's plate, napkin and almost on his lap. Without even apologising she just kept pouring water. We had to move our child away to avoid a burn.

After about 25 minutes they brought out the platters which were very sparse for $70. Everything was ice-cold except one thing which had clearly been microwaved.

We had to find the server again to come back and tell us what was on the platters. She was very unhappy that we were asking any questions.

We never saw any of the wait staff again after that, though I could see them talking and on their phones through a half closed kitchen pass-through window. I did have to go beg them for more water in our kettle so we could drink more than one cup of our $12 tea. They were startled when my head popped through the window - as if they were surprised someone would need service in their restaurant.

At the end of our high tea, I didn't have to search for anyone because for the first time they came to our table - to tell us we would need to leave as they were going to close in 30 minutes.

When asked how things were - I was frank with the staff and told them that it was not a good experience and why. With all three wait staff huddled around the only response they gave was "oh, sorry, I guess."

We spent almost $300 on this high tea and received service like we were a major imposition on them, food that was clearly old and straight out of the refrigerator, and tea that was fine.

We will not return and I highly encourage others to find another high tea to avoid a very expensive...

We wanted to do a tea tour but due to a glitch or some hiccup somewhere my booking was put in on the wrong date, nor did I get an email confirmation for it. I had friends coming up to Auckland from Wellington and we wanted to do a day trip together, so it was quite disappointing. However the lady I spoke to on the phone was excellent about it and I was happy how she approached it, despite the result being disappointing as the Sunday tour we originally wanted was already fully booked. She suggested we book in at the Tea House is we wanted to go for that as it would get quite busy on weekends.

The tea house itself is quite cute. We got seated at the tables which was right on the edge of shade so we had the afternoon sun streaming into our eyes. It was a very good idea to provide suncreen for the outdoor dining area as boy, that sure did save my skin (literally, lol). The waiters and waitresses were quite attentive, and came to take our drinks order quickly. However after a short while we were informed the iced tea beverages had all run out.... oh... okay. It was quite a hot day when sitting in the sun so it was a bit of a shame about that, we were looking forwards to trying the iced lemon tea and feijoa mocktail too. (When I think back on my last visit in Dec 2013, they didn't have any meat dishes on the menu that day at all; and didn't tell us why, until we overheard staff talking to another table it was because their freezer/fridge broke and thus why). After we ordered, 40-45 mins later, our food finally came. As a result our lunch became quite late.... at 2:30pm. They also had Shoo Away fly fans, and it came in very handy after asking for one since the flies started having a party around our table once our food came. Having these were a great idea! For dessert, at least it came around 15 mins after we ordered!! We were worried it was going to take a long while too. It might as well as have been a high tea since we finished eating at 3:30pm LOL

For the teahouse... Pros: staff were attentitive and service from them was great. The view is great. The building itself has a nice atmosphere. Food is quite delicious. Cons: Food came 45 mins after ordering. Ran out of iced tea drinks on a...