Royal Gorge Mansion — Restaurant in Cañon City

This review is specifically of their “Afternoon Tea” experience. I want to mention given the advertisement on their site of this being a “British tea time” experience that I am actually an English man.

For context: my wife and I booked afternoon tea for a price of $135 not including tip to celebrate our anniversary.

To speak first to the positive elements, the grounds are beautifully kept, and the atmosphere did remind me of proper British tea houses which was quite unique to find in a place like Cañon City. The tea itself was fairly good, and the food was done quite well. The servers were friendly.

Upon arrival, no one was present to show us to our table. We found it ourselves, and a server arrived about a minute or so afterwards. Not a big deal, but at $67/ person I’d expect staff to be prepared especially given they suggest arriving 15 minutes early which is precisely when we arrived. Next, on their site, comes a glass of champagne as part of the reservation to enjoy while perusing the tea selection menu. This never came. When my wife asked a question regarding flavor notes of one of their teas, the server didn’t actually know and had to go off and ask someone. Again, at the price point, I’d expect knowledge of the limited menu to be a baseline expectation of the staff.

The tea arrived still steeping which was not mentioned by the staff, so you’ll want to let it sit in the pot to steep properly. Up to this point and continuing through the experience, the atmosphere inside was fairly awkward. It was very quite, no music, and given that this is an “experience” held within a historic mansion, you’d think staff would be giving some history or something. I want to be clear, this isn’t advertised. However, to again consider the price, you’d think the staff would guide you through history of the mansion and/ or a presentation of the tea and food.

Now, as a lab English man, the biggest surprise of this “British” tea time rather expensive experience: the tea IS NOT loose leaf. They specifically advertise loose leaf tea. The teas are large sachet (bags) served inside tea pots. This was quite surprising, and obviously not in accordance with their advertising at all.

Next, the food came out on a two tiered curate as opposed to the advertised three tiered curate listed on the site. The food was plenty, but this was strike three of advertisement vs experience.

Finally, checks were placed on all tables listing the value of service (your reservation cost plus any extras you purchased on site) with math done to give you a suggested 20% tip option to add on the spot. These checks came out to signify the end of the experience 45 minutes into the listed 90 minute experience.

Overall, I’d say this is a unique experience especially given the area it is offered in. However, you’ll want to go in with realistic expectations as much does not match what is listed in their advertising.

To the Mansion itself, I’d strongly suggest altering the advertising or the experience such that the two align. I’d also suggest that a 90 minute tea time (or even a 45 minute) charging as much as you do, and held in a historic mansion, ought to come with highly trained and knowledgeable staff and should include at least a minimal presentation on the mansion’s history as well as the teas and refreshments...

The food was horrible i think they must have baked/ cooked them or purchased them days and days before i just couldn’t believe how something tasted so horrible it was so old looking, the jelly on the desserts was hard and old the sandwiches were brown im not exaggerating i paid almost 300 for me my husband and my 1 year old they didnt want to give us a house tour said they weren’t offering them at the moment so you pay all that money for 30 min of tea and nasty food ugh it was just awful i wish no one would go here its just such a rip off can’t believe people do this to others after 30 min the lady starts cleaning up like for us to leave there are no changing stations so she asked if i could change her on the floor. Still after all that money you spend she ask you to leave a 22% tip its just bad the food was the worst part it was awful. Some bites i took were sour tasted as it was bad looked nothing the websites everything was hard i think we might of had leftovers from days before. Wish i could get...

OOF! This place is AMAZING. I will dream about the day I get to go back. The staff was very friendly and attentive. The food and tea was fantastic. The scones and desserts were to die for. It’s a little bit of a mistake to come here immediately after riding the train because we were already so full from breakfast. If you are coming to visit I would recommend making it a 3 day visit. One for the train, one for the mansion, and one for the bridge. If you must do two days try to do it on one of the days in which you can take the train at 9am and go to the mansion at 3pm, then do the bridge on the second day. If you only have one day I’d 100% recommend the train and the mansion or the bridge and the mansion. A bit of a side story: I accidentally left my leftovers by the gazebo while I was taking pictures when we arrived at the Airbnb and realized we had no leftovers WE WENT BACK. Unfortunately, the leftovers were gone (probably in the trash) but that’s how bad we wanted those leftovers. That’s how...