The Poppy and Parliament — Restaurant in Huntsville

Ok we visited here on a slow Thursday after lunch. I'd like to say I am a foodie and lover of all things exquisite and do not mind paying good money for good food.... I have heard a lot of friends and family rave about this place. It's quaint, has a great location, the place was cute warm and inviting. Our server was very pleasant and attentive. We ordered the French onion soup, fried green tomatoes, crab cakes, and Shepards pie. (All seemingly safe choices). The soup.... I fought with the cheese half way through the bowl then was over it, it also lacked a rich flavor like I am used to with French onion soup (I have had better French onion soup at Panera Bread). Ok fine, maybe it was just not right for me. So here comes the two apps we planned on splitting for lunch and my child's Shepard pie.... the tomatoes were.... flavorless, especially considering that they were fried.... and the sauce... was not ketchup, but something tomatoe based, a hint of mint? I'm sure there was a detailed description in the menu, but the sauce was weiiiiirrrrdddd and didn't make the tomatoes taste any better. I am southern so maybe it was the batter or lack of salt and maybe I have a great pallete but not for English sauces, so I carried on. The presentation was great, along with the service. Then here were these crab cakes. Big, juicy, looked like mostly meat, with some cream sauce drizzle... I was like ok well this is what I needed. Ummm.... the crab was super dark and grey, not whitish pink like I was used to but I though heh, maybe I'm used to eatting some fake crab stuff and this is straight up just pulled of a crab that was killed this morning meat. So ok, I tried it..... the texture was there, the flavor.... was weird! The sauce was almost unpallatable.... idk what it was but I was not here for it and I am a sauce girl and love creamy stuff... I made it through half of one and gave up bc I couldn't put my finger on the weird, muted taste of the sauce and the grey crab meat. I make Shepards pie a lot, prob the cheapest easiest way.... just cooked hamburger meat, drained, seasoned, sautéed garlic onion mushrooms, a pack of Mccormick brown gravy, a bag of frozen peas and carrots. Cook down simmer. Put in a pan, make a batch of random instant mashed potatoes if it's for the kids, if it's for guest I might go the extra mile and make real mashed potatoes with heavy cream butter salt and pepper, spread over the meat gravy and veggies like an icing, then top with shredded cheese and bake... my kids and me LOVE IT. Now I am from Alabama, not England, so idk how "authentic" that is but it's good enough for us. Her shepards pie.... she liked the potatoes, the meat barely had any veggies seemed like mostly meat and.... baked beans? She isn't a fan of baked beans but I am. I tried it.... it was also super weird. Didn't even smell like beef.... maybe it was some sweet baby lamb or deer or goat idk... but it smelled strange. It wasn't unedible, but I was hungry so I tried a few bites and just left it at that.

Again the atmosphere and service were great, the food all sounded good, and I'm not picky at ALL! I did not complain or ask for something different, I left a 35% tip on our $75 lunch.... I will probably not be back though sadly. We left and went to Jack Brown's to get mu daughter (who turned 7 on this day) a burger fries and fried oreo to go bc Jack Brown's always hits the spot and never disappoints... for a third...

As a disclaimer: this review is for the "High Tea" service, not the regular menu.

I visited with my daughter today, in celebration of her birthday. I'm so sad to say that our experience was wholly unsatisfactory, start to finish.

For starters, despite the fact that there were several empty tables, we were seated at a table in very close proximity to three other tables where patrons were already seated. This, in spite of that fact that we made advance reservations. That just didn't make a lot of sense to us.

After being seated, we were presented with a selection of tea bags. There was no white tea, no green tea, no chai tea. But more importantly, there was no loose leaf tea at all. This "High Tea" service consisted only of a notably limited (given the event was billed as a "High Tea") selection of bagged tea.

We were then presented with a three varieties of crustless sandwiches. Those were the highlight of the menu. I tried both the cucumber and "prosciutto" (which was suspiciously more like American ham than actual prosciutto) and both were tasty. The accompanying tower of sweets was, well, just laughable. It included a small selection of clearly store-bought cookies, a few pastry items (which we also suspect were store-bought), stale scones, whipped cream/jam and an overripe strawberry and orange slice.

I've had the pleasure of experiencing afternoon tea in London, Paris, Canada and New York. At those events, guests are offered a wide selection of high-quality loose leaf tea and the tiered tray of sweets was clearly made in-house. The offerings put forth by The Poppy and Parliament this afternoon were dismal at best. If I were "Chef Kristen" I'd be mortified.

In spite of being there for an hour, we were never offered additional hot water for our bagged tea. We left most of our food untouched, with the exception of the sandwiches. The server seemed not to notice and never once asked how our experience was. Had he done so, we would have provided this feedback in person.

I cannot speak to the regular menu at this establishment (I won't return), but if you are contemplating "High Tea," know it is...

Saturday brunch. Outside table.

We placed our order and we waited, and waited, and waited. Finally after 45 minutes we received the orange juice, but it had some sort of inorganic contamination, not unlike the aroma of drain cleaner. Had to send it back, too much of a risk. After another long wait of another 20 min the coffee and latte came. My daughter said that the latte had a peculiar taste. Coffee was OK, -just plain coffee, but it made no sense that it took nearly an hour to brew it.

After another 10 min the food came. The mushrooms on toast was good except the bread was not toasted. The daily special salad had brown leaves. I felt sorry for the server at first, but after asking for a check 5 times, and then receiving one that had no itemization, and finally having to go inside to get my card so we could pay & leave, I left her with a minimal gratuity. I usually give generously because I sympathize with the situations a server faces. But this time the service was just way too bad, with little or no accommodation or empathy.

Three strikes: poor service, poor kitchen, and specifically poor management. So we are not going back. We had been before and liked, but the Poppy truly fell off the cliff this time. No way to treat customers, much less repeats.

The couple with the little baby at the table behind us was no better treated, maybe worse, since they were there before us and were unable to leave either, maybe suffering the same problem. The couple next to us, who came in after us, had their order lost. They were the lucky ones, since they just gave up and left.

Two hours wasted at a place that claims to be upscale. Even low-scale restaurants are not guilty of these kinds of shortfalls and abuses. Evidently this place thinks of their customers as a commodity and treats them accordingly. We went to the other side of the courthouse square and had some ice cream, and were tempted to go back and recommend the same relief to the other...