Erika’s Tea Room And Gifts — Restaurant in Clermont

You know how some people add joy and light to whoever they meet? Well, that is not the case with Erka's tea room and the owners there. It had been a couple of years since I had tried to take people there and my last experience had been a very poor one. I had been treated very rudely by Lila - the mother/owner and had decided that I would not return. However, we had friends in town from Seattle and I figured since it had been a couple years it might be worth a try again! The beginning of our visit went well and we were pleased with our scones and tea. Our waitress, Cecilia was absolutely lovely! However, once again Lila decided to show her extraordinary rudeness once again. After my friend had asked the waitress if she could keep her plate with the clotted cream and getting the okay - Lila came over and snatched the plate. My friend tried to explain she was hoping to keep it to use on the rest of her meal and was told very rudely that she didn't need it and there were plenty of other things on the table. I expressed to her that perhaps since my friend was the customer and wanted to keep the clotted cream that perhaps she could be the one to make that decision. I received no response from Lila. When Lila came back a few minutes later I asked if perhaps my friend could get a bit more clotted cream. Again no response. So we asked our waitress who explained that she was not allowed to give us anymore. When Lila brought out some more of the food I figured I would go to the top and ask one last time. She gave me a very strong "no" and then walked away talking badly about us to the waitress where we could hear her. I was appalled at her poor customer skills! It was extraordinarily rude and inexcusable. At this point I decided I would quietly go speak with the other owner/daughter - Erika. I waited until I was certain there were no other customers and went out and quietly explained that I would rather communicate directly with her as opposed to posting something on social media. I explained each of the issues to Erika and could tell I was getting absolutely nowhere! She said that it was their policy to clear the table. I explained that I thought maybe allowing a customer to retain a small amount of clotted cream wasn't such a very big deal. As I was getting a stone face and minimal "I'm sorry you feel that way" responses from her I thought I would explain our last big frustration of her mother actually being rude about us within our hearing. Her apology was possibly one of the worst I've ever heard! Her apology was exactly this - "I'm sorry you heard what you heard." Are you kidding me? If only the story ended here. But no! On our way out we decided that we were not interested in eating the dessert there and asked for it to go. Again Cecilia was lovely and boxed everything up for us. It took a moment for my mother-in-law to get her dessert in the bag and for us to get out the door. In the meantime my friend was looking at some of the jewelry in the front of the shop. Erika said to her "If you're not going to buy something don't even bother looking!" Seriously? When my friend expressed that we would not be returning, Erika said "That's fine with us." I had spent nearly $200 on our visit there. With food and purchasing some of the items in the gift shop area. I promise to absolutely positively never go back to Erika's again. I had heard mumblings about rude behavior over the past few years but I really had honestly gone in there with high hopes today. If you're looking for a tea house - I recommend you...

My wife and I came here from Vero Beach for the afternoon tea experience on 01/13/23. Our curiosity about this establishment was piqued after reading all the negative reviews. Overall, we had a good experience. Our server was a very nice lady. I had the winter spice tea and my wife had the raspberry almond tea. We both enjoyed our teas. The drawback was that they do not have honey to go along with the tea. The scones were delicious and they did not taste microwaved. I am not a fan of onion soup but it was passable. My wife enjoyed the onion soup very much. The quiche was very good and along with the teas was the best part of the meal for me. That said, the bread used for the sandwiches was not the choice I would have made and the cream cheese overpowered the cucumbers. As for the negatives that prevail these reviews, some are maybe founded but others are not. Erika, assuming it was her, I can sense that she is the hovering type, although she did not hover over us when we were browsing merchandise but one definitely got the feeling that one cannot necessarily touch or hold items to feel them out. She walked us around to explain what the items were etc, so at least she was informative. We did not experience any type of rudeness from either her or her staff. The ambiance of the place is nice and comfortable but yes, I think she can do something about moving the boxes out of sight in the main dining area and do a better job of concealing her little office space. Furthermore, yes, the door appears to be locked and not just anybody can walk in on the fly to look around. That is a little weird and she can do a better job by making it clear by posting a visible note on the door that it’s open with reservation only. Lastly, to address the racism rumors, not sure she can be labeled a racist when one of her servers was a dark skinned lady. Granted it may be for optics but ultimately, I believe it’s just people who enjoy playing the perpetual victim by using the race/victim card any chance they get because that is all they have in life. I will come back to Erika’s for another test run...

Horrible Experience. Bad food, bad service, rude owners, and very overpriced. We ordered the highest priced tea package on the menu and yet, the only brought us one serving of cream ( there were two of us) when we asked for an extra serving, the lady walked away from us and screamed "absolutely not!" as she walked away. My daughter and I were so confused. When she came back, my daughter insisted only to be told that we would have to pay extra. We were OK with paying extra, but the meal was pretty expensive already (it's not even a real meal). When I mentioned that, the woman screamed at us that we would have to pay. I said that I would like to speak to the owner and she said she is the owner. I said, then you are getting a bad revue because this is such an unpleasant experience. Then she proceeded to put her finger in my face and yell, "You don't threaten me, you don't threaten me." This angered my daughter, who felt her mom was getting assaulted. We ended up not eating anything here. We left everything untouched and went to the Windsor Rose Tea Room in Mount Dora. What a difference! The service, the atmosphere, the food, and the prices were so much better. The two of us order the same thing for half the price they were charging at this place. I don't recommend Erika's Tea Room. Really nasty experience.

**Note: The Owner responded that these were lies to promote the competitor. How very dishonest of her when she knows exactly who I am and what happened that day. I warned her I was going to give them a bad review because of how rude and disrespectful they were. There were also a lot of witnesses. And furthermore if anyone wants to see the difference, go visit the Windsor Tea Room. You will have a much much better experience. My only motivation for telling you this is the truth. The quality of the food, the staff, the atmosphere, the service is way way better at the Windsor Rose Tea Room. Also the prices are much...