Northern Tea Merchants Ltd — Restaurant in Chesterfield

Impeccably decorated and furnished, looked really cute, and was excited to try some of the teas. I'm left really disappointed, however. When we walked in, we walked up to the front desk. A lovely brunette lady said, "Find a table, and someone will be with you shortly." We did so and waited around 20 minutes, but despite a couple of members of staff walking past us, and us being in clear view of the front desk, no one came to give us menus. I eventually went back up and asked a fair haired lady for menus and was asked, "Have you just arrived?", which seemed a little odd, but I said "no actually we've been here quite a while. " To which she responded, "If you don't let us know you're here, we won't know." Unfortunately, my partner and I just felt uncomfortable with this. It didn't feel right.

I can't think of a single cafe/tea room/ restaurant where you have to let not just one, but two members of staff know where you are and that you would like to have a menu. Typically, there are signs saying, "Please wait here to be seated," or staff acknowledge they have seen you. If customers here ARE required to let you know they have arrived, they should at least be told to do so, not "take a seat and someone will be with you."

I'm not typically one to write negative reviews, as you can see from my review history. I don't want this to come across as a nasty rant, but I do think it's worth highlighting for future learnings as it was just a huge...

Just popped into this tea room with plans of a nice cup of tea and a lunchtime sandwich for myself and my partner. It was about 13:00 on a dull Thursday. There was a table in the window that was empty another table for two in the far corner empty and a couple just leaving on the right hand side. . There were no Reserve signs in any tables. My partner joined another couple in the centre queue and I sat down. All very normal. We were then approached by a young man who said “ we are too busy so can’t serve you “ . The others couple in the queue were served and sat at an empty table leaving just us . Now stood in the centre of the tearoom with two tables empty but not being served . Very embarrassing and I could see no reason why ! We were smartly dressed and polite. I am at a loss as to why they didn’t want our custom. In these times of a so called recession this place is turning customers away when they are not even full. ...

For years I have wanted to come here and seeing as I had the day of work thought it would be a great opportunity.

However I left highly disappointed.

Pros: Plenty of selection of tea and coffee (as expected)

Cons: Quality of food very poor Cost of food high for what you get Atmosphere Unprofessionalism of staff Uncomfortable chairs

To give a quick summary, the approach of staff is very patronising, not necessarily to me but definitely of the older generation. It was abundantly clear that "Kim" didn't like a regular and made it well known that said regular "P*sses her off" This is unacceptable for any business and this alone I would encourage people not to visit.

In addition everyone seemed so disorganised, constant panic over having reserved tables and how busy they will be. It's only a small establishment why stress

I will not be going back, nor would advise unless you are of the older generation with lack of...