The English Tea Room & Eatery — Restaurant in Covington

Last Friday, our group of ten had reservations to celebrate before a special occasion at English Tea Room. We let the manager know when making the reservations that we had a time constraint, as we were headed to graduation for our daughter-in-law with her PhD from the Baptist Theological College right after brunch. Our reservation had even been moved to 10am to make sure that we could make it to the College (about an hour away) for 12:30. Upon arrival, we were seated promptly at a quiet table outside in the side courtyard. We received our menus right away, but no water. About ten minutes later, we waved down our server so that we could place our orders, since she had not returned to the table. She was completely unprepared for her position... she did not know what was out of stock, she did not know what the daily specials were, she was completely unfamiliar with the different teas, and she could not offer any information about the choices. We placed our order and again asked for water. She came back about five minutes later with water... and then after another ten minutes, showed up with the first round of tea. Given that two of us had ordered the high tea, which is supposedly unlimited, we had anticipated starting with our tea MUCH earlier. At the time she finally brought our tea, she informed us that she had "just put in our food order"... Ummm, what?!?! We had a time constraint, which we had told her about, and which the manager knew about. An hour and a half should have been plenty of time to get a brunch... but NOPE. It did not happen. Half an hour later, she started bringing out our food in shifts... one person received their meal, then another, then another. This entire time, we had not seen ANYTHING but tea for our "high tea" and our two preschoolers were starved and ready to leave. The server told us that she was "rushing the kitchen" (which, of course, would not have been necessary if she had put in our food order when we gave it to her) and the result was overcooked eggs benedict (zero runniness), charred edges and an overall poor quality. When the high tea items finally arrived, AFTER half of the table had been served and completed their meals, but the other half were still waiting, there was zero explanation of what was being served. Overall, this was as far from a high tea as I've ever experienced. The last person's meal was finally being served as we were leaving... so my husband grabbed a bite as we left... half an hour after we needed to for our daughter-in-law to arrive on time. We paid the full bill, but left a sparse tip because frankly she deserved ZERO. As the rest of our party left in their cars, I stopped in to tell the manager about our experience, and she was shocked to see that we were still there more than two hours after our reservation time. She was very apologetic, said they would address the situation, took my name and phone number and said that she would have the owners call me. She assured me that this was an unusual happening. She also gave me the owners' business card. Well, it's been a week. I have not received a call from the owners. I tried to call them on Wednesday, but no one answered... so I left a message with my phone number. I called again on Thursday, again with no answer and again leaving a message. I still have not received a return phone call... so I am now leaving an appropriate review. I have been to the tea room before with a large group and had a much better experience. It is disappointing that they now clearly do not care whether patrons have a bad experience, and they are not even courteous enough to follow up or return calls when horrible experiences occur. If you do decide to go, make sure to ask for an EXPERIENCED server and don't let them put you in the back corner of the courtyard to be forgotten about and overcharged for a horrible meal and a tiny...

So unhappy with our recent visit. We've been traveling across the lake from NOLA to the Tea Room for years. We've done tea for the last two Christmas Eves, as well. I am very familiar with the menu and generally get the Prince William High Tea, which is $39.95. It's a huge meal of soup, salad, scones, 6 finger sandwiches, 6 savory pastries and 4 sweet pastries with 2 chocolate dipped strawberries. When we arrived for our reservation, the table saved for us was the table directly at the doorway. Since it was such a lovely afternoon, we requested a table outside, rather than sit in the doorway. We were shown to a table off the patio, beyond the parking lot, next to the sidewalk. A bit private, but not a concern, initially. The menu stated that the Christmas High Tea was still available, for $40. Considering it was the same price as the Prince William High Tea, I assumed (my mistake, I admit) it would come with the same items as the PWHT, just more christmas-y. My boyfriend ordered the bangers and mash, which comes with a savory scone. I was asked which scones I wanted and ordered one of each of the sweet scones. We ordered our teas which arrived promptly. Shortly after, my tower arrived, which I thought odd, since the soup and salad nor the scones had arrived. I also noticed that there were only 5 savory pastries, and the sweet pastries consisted of one macaroon, one small gingerbread cookie, 1 strawberry and three pieces of candy - a lindt truffle, a perrier rouchet, and a ghiardelli square. About 10 minutes later, my booyfriends bangers arrived. The server did return to our table one time, asking how everything was. I inquired about the soup, salad, and scones. I inquired what made this particular tea service worth $40 once he told me that this did not include soup or salad. He apologized for the lack of scones, and returned to the kitchen for the scones. The savory scone was undercooked. I again asked what made the tea service $40, surely it wasn't the three pieces of candy that is available in any supermarket. He didn't have an answer and returned to the main dining room. He did bring me a complimentary bowl of soup and the gesture was appreciated. However, another 20 minutes passed before a different server came out to our table, telling us our server was too busy inside, and sent her out to check on us. It had been my intention to restock my tea supply of queen Catherine, Queen Mary, Abby Road and Downton Abby. Instead, we simply paid and left for the hour long drive across the lake. We've gone numerous times, even went to the Downton Abbey dress up dinner. I voiced my disapproval to the server and expected a superior to address my concerns. I was so disappointed...

the food freaking amazing. the tea is so damn good. will deffo go back. the service is pretty bad when the place is packed, partially because it's really obvious the kitchen can't keep up.

We had to ask repeatedly for things, including food. We ordered the Prince William tea and also the a la carte scones, we asked for the sweet scones as the appetizer and the savory ones for the tea. We were brought out the savory for the appetizer and never got the sweet ones despite waking 4 times. We also weren't given the soup that comes with the tea service initially and had to ask for it. The fruit and cheese selection was also missing from the tea service.

The Prince William Tea was not worth the price, $50 is an excessive amount for what you actually get, but it's kind of like part of that amount is the experience. Also we didnt get the fruit and cheese that was supposed to be on it nor the sweet scones, so it was short of items. Even if we had gotten them this tea service didn't stack up to multiple other placed I've had tea. They also call all the teas "high tea" when they are actually afternoon/low teas; high tea is actually just dinner served with tea, not the small plates type tea.

It's a little bit of a pet peeve of mine and a tea house should know the difference. Low and High refer to the table everything is served on. Wealthy people sat in nicely appointed parlors and tea was served on low tables (think the modern coffee table), high tables are dining room tables and the working class would take their tea then with a hearty meal.

The charcuterie board was really good, one of the best we had. The shepard's pie my husband got was delicious and my bangers and mash were fantastic. Both came with more savory scones and the best tasting mashed potatoes you could ever ask for. The salad dressings were also tasty, my husband absolutely loved the ranch.

If you wanna do afternoon tea with all the cakes and stuff go to Windsor Court (or Sucre if they ever start doing it again).

We went at 3pm, it lightened up A LOT around 4pm. So in the future well go much earlier in the day for like breakfast or something or closer to 5 for an early dinner, but Fridays and Saturdays are always packed.

I've worked in resturants, in front and back of the house so i know the struggles. Our waitress was incredibly sweet and engaging. the place is just horribly understaffed for busy times.

We had a similar experience at hands down the best Italian restaurant ever (Vincent's) when it was a busy mad house. So, i mean it happens. Having waitress/waiter stay friendly qnd engaging despite knowing everything is going to hell in a handbasket goes a...