Truly Scrumptious Tea House — Restaurant in England

A beautiful setting with a disappointing outcome. This is a long review so if you want the TL;DR version - don't bother coming here, especially for those with dietary requirements. You can get better food, better service and so much more for the same price at nearby Woburn Coffee House. Also don't trust reviews on their Facebook page because they can delete them off their own page to make it seem far more positive.

This was my second time coming to Truly Scrumptious - my first time being a few years ago where we had a relatively good experience. Unfortunately, I can't say the same for my second experience here. Without a doubt the setting is the highlight - a beautifully done outside area to have welcome drinks on a sunny day. Inside is quaint and nicely decorated.

We were shown to the area we would be and it was a little tight but it was nice to be all in the same area. There were small cups of soup on the table. Very nicely presented but it appeared to be a cream of tomato soup - not a problem for most but for those with a dairy intolerance or vegan it wouldn't be suitable. This should have been my forewarning for the remainder of the time I'd spend here.

The tea came out in beautiful teapots and we started to enjoy the time. We started to see tiers of sandwiches, scones and cakes come out too and some bowls of crisps but it didn't seem like a lot for the groupings. We had a large group and there were some groups of four that had to share two scones - the food was not evenly distributed between the tables and, even if it was, it seemed like a very small amount considering the money paid.

There were a few people with dietary requirements (gluten free, vegetarian, vegan) in our group and some dedicated food tiers came out for the gluten free and some different sandwiches for the vegetarian but the vegan didn't get anything. It was flagged to a member of staff and they said it would be out soon. Shortly after, the owner, came up to the group booker and very abruptly said "It's not on the paper trail, the vegan is not on the paper trail". The group booker said dietary requirements we stated in the email with a couple phoned in prior to the event. The owner was very rude to the group booker but then said to the vegan "We are trying to get something together for you". It felt like such an inconvenience for them for something they'd already been told out.

Around 30 minutes later, when most people had finished their tiny afternoon teas, the vegan was presented with a tier... Of ham, egg and coronation chicken sandwiches. It was clearly gluten free but not vegan. The most concerning thing about this is, it's one thing to (supposedly) not know about a dietary requirement but then to specifically say they are pulling something together that's vegan and actually deliver something gluten free is shocking. It made me question if anyone who was actually allergic to any food types would have a reaction due to poor handling of allergies and intolerances. Despite, at the end of the session, the owner insisting a vegan meal came out, it clearly didn't go to the right place and no care was taken to ensure it was.

There was also meant to be a dessert course which never appeared as we had to leave the table at the 15:00 sharp otherwise we'd have to pay additional monies for staying... Considering we sat at 13:00 the service was that slow they couldn't even bring out all the dessert. Instead the owner claimed "you had all gone outside" - which we had to avoid paying more money because of their slow service. To top it off, the owner then tried to charge for additional time for us being outside with absolutely no warning.

Considering the price paid, it was not worth coming here. Small portions, intolerances and allergies not catered carefully for and, to top it off, a rude owner. Many of the reviews on Google are either incredibly positive or incredibly negative. The more recent ones are incredibly negative and, if you're thinking of booking here, I wouldn't. Woburn Coffee House down the road is a much...

*Complete disappointment *Rude staff/management. *Incompetent ability to cater for allergies and intolerances

When I initially arrived, I was so excited as the aesthetic of this venue is beautiful. However, that is where the positive experience ended.

For context, we were a very large group attending a baby shower - a day that should be entirely beautiful. This was not our experience at all.

Our afternoon tea began with some (cold) tomato soup in a miniature teacup. Then, traditional looking tiers of food were delivered in miniature amounts: on a table of approximately 14 people, we were given only 9 scones and about a tablespoon of cream and jam to share on each stand; I don't think we would be unreasonable to expect a scone each during afternoon tea?

Later, after we'd finished carefully dividing our scones (perhaps some 40 minutes later) our vegan guest was finally brought their food and this was when the venue's incompetence really came to light.

Our organiser had called the venue to alert them about additional allergies/vegan requirements not previously stated, the day before. Despite this, our vegan guest was presented with a selection of ham, cheese and coronation chicken sandwiches and a chocolate pudding - gluten free, but clearly no regard for veganism or dairy intolerance! When challenged the owner(?) stated in a rude and sarcastic tone that they had 'a paper trail' before telling our vegan guest to 'just eat' what they could before walking off. This particular guest paid £35 to eat precisely nothing other than a handful of crisps. Frankly, this makes Truly Scrumptious at best: a rip off and at worst: a danger to anyone with an allergy or intolerance.

I had seen pictures of the food here, many featuring a course of desserts which never materialised for our group. When challenged (post-event) the venue have argued that we weren't given them because we'd gone outside. That's right - the venue, who asked us to leave our table promptly at 3pm, decided to withhold a course we (some 30+ people) had paid for because we were in their garden, as directed. We, who were still purchasing drinks from the bar! I will add that I paid £4 for two small glasses of lemonade which was poured from a Lidl bottle.

Overall, entirely appalling service and I will have no reservation in sharing my opinion with anyone thinking of wasting...

It is with great sadness that I write this review. Having attended Truly Scrumptious pre lock down I had a wonderful time and it was very reasonably priced with an abundance of food. However, this visit in July I was Truly disappointed.

We had booked four weeks prior to attending as we had a large group with some dietary requirements and these were specified at the time of booking. Unfortunately, in the days up to the booking 50% of our guests could not attend due to isolation however we could not get hold of anyone 72 hours before to adapt our booking as they are only open Friday and Saturday. So when we finally got hold of someone to inform them of the change, we were told we would still have to pay full price (not just lose the deposit) as the food had been prepared and it would be boxed up for us. So we thought ok fair enough we will help a local business and pay. This was before we saw what £30 of food per person was…

So we arrived and the guest with the dietary requirement was bluntly asked ‘well what can you have then’ (by the owner) even though they were told way in advance. They had no milk alternatives for the tea and were given a rock hard scone and a bowl of fruit FOR £30!

It wasn’t much better for the normal afternoon tea, one scone, one strawberry a couple of sandwiches and the smallest pieces of cake. Such a small amount of low quality food for the price (see picture of cake stand for TWO PEOPLE). To make matters worse they boxed four people’s afternoon tea that we had paid £120 in ONE BOX and refused to separate into individual boxes for us and gave us paper plates and cling film to do it ourselves!

Overall, I would say that if you are after a QUALITY afternoon tea with QUALITY service that cater for all dietary needs then go to The Woburn Coffee house ( it’s a similar price) and NOT Truly...