The Kraken's Cup Tearoom — Restaurant in Knoxville

Very cute place. Unique concept with lovely decor that someone obviously put a lot of thought and effort into. Good service from polite and friendly server. That's mostly where it ends, for me.

There were three of us, so we got two of the "Old City" tea services ($29.00 each) and and one "extra person" add-on ($10.00). So this is $70.00 before tax and tip, for tea and food for three people. I thought it was a bit much but maybe we're in for a really nice experience. Worth it? In execution, not so much.

The tea was good. Probably the best part of the whole thing. Had to ask for milk but that's not a big deal. Most people around here aren't used to putting milk in their tea. The server brought a scone for each of us, with little dishes of condiments, while the rest of the food was being prepared. Those were also good. Finally, after a bit of a wait, this cornucopia of finger food delight arrived. My first thought was, "Where's the rest of it?" I would have voiced that question if I wasn't trying to be polite.

They advertise "tiny sandwiches" and that's the truth. Two bites, max. They advertise "a variety of finger sandwiches and savory bites". Technically also true. $29.00 gets you two finger sandwiches (one open-faced cucumber and one ham salad), two tiny crackers (one topped with cream cheese and one with smoked salmon spread), a little edible bread spoon filled with a couple bites of chicken salad and a deviled egg. This is, of course, in addition to the pot of tea, a scone and dessert.

Ah yes, dessert. For dessert we were offered a choice between berries with lemon cream and an assortment of pastries. We chose the pastries. The "assortment of pastries" was one (tiny, of course) macaron, one tiny (like 1" wide) chocolate cake cup filled with whipped cream and a strawberry slice and some kind of little shortbread cookie shaped like a lobster. Not really what comes to my mind when someone says an assortment of pastries.

Oh, and the extra person add-on consisted of two more tiny finger sandwiches and one of the little chocolate cake cup desserts. For $10.00.

Going into this I knew we were paying more for the experience than the actual product and I didn't expect to be gorging myself on a pile of food. HOWEVER, it just seemed a little... sparse. The place is beautiful and in a bigger city with a more urban (HCOL) environment I might expect to pay that much for that little, but not in the back of a shopping center in North Knoxville.

We will probably go back and try the regular lunch items but most likely won't be doing the afternoon tea service again. The Ploughman's Lunch sounds good and seems like a more reasonable price for the product and I do want to support a local business that actually seems to be trying to do something special. Honestly, I was torn about posting this review but feedback is important even if it's negative. Maybe more so if it's negative. I can't be the only person who...

I had one of the worst dining experiences I’ve ever had at this tea room and it unfortunately happened on my birthday. From the moment we arrived, the service was chaotic. Our waitress seemed completely scatterbrained and disappeared shortly after seating us, claiming an “emergency.” No one even noticed our table was unattended for over 30 minutes, until we flagged someone down for help. Once we did, our new waitress had no idea what we even ordered. When our tea finally arrived after a 45 min wait, it was cold. Not lukewarm, not room temp. COLD. As if it had been sitting out for ages. Another 30 minutes later, we received what they called a “cheese and fruit tray,” which was laughable: one small triangle of brie, three grapes, and two crackers. Almost 40 minutes after that, the rest of the food showed up: two finger sandwiches (one tuna, one chicken), two tiny cupcakes, and two macaroons. When I inquired about what is taking so long, the response was “we have to make things from scratch”. WHAT in the world could warrant something taking that long? For the tea experience this and the price we paid, this was an absolute joke. The food itself was bland, uninspired, and honestly disgusting. To make matters worse, the tea policy is bizarre. At most tea rooms, you get unlimited tea served in small pots. Here? One pot per person. One member of our group did get the unlimited tea option, and the staff made them feel completely uncomfortable about it by repeatedly asking, “Are you planning to share?” and “Are you sure? Because you’re not supposed to.” It was rude, unnecessary, and made the whole experience feel awkward. In over two hours, not one staff member checked in to ask how things were, offer a refill, or make sure we were doing okay. There were only two other guests in the whole place..how is it possible the service was this disorganized? This was an absolute letdown. Not worth the money, not worth the time, and definitely not the experience I was hoping for. I will not be coming back, and I’ll be warning my friends and family to stay far away. What a complete disappointment! Listen to the other reviews saying the same thing about time, staff and food quality. I didn’t believe it and wish I didn’t spend 100+ dollars here. Waste of my...

I was so looking forward to visiting this establishment! The customer service before hand was excellent in scheduling my reservation and answering questions via email. However, my actual time in the tea room was not as enjoyable. First of all. It was an absolute ice box in the dining room. And I don’t mean cool I mean absolutely freezing. It was so cold that halfway through the very long service my kids went outside to warm up. The table beside us did the same, and towards the end of my time in the restaurant a table of older women seated adjacent to us all went out to their cars to get jackets. Personally if I was running an establishment meant to be enjoyed leisurely for a few hours at a time I would put some thought and care into it being comfortable in more than just the decor but the temperature as well. I brought it up to my server it was freezing and I heard the other tables mention it as well but it did not change. Second, the cheese and fruit add on was literally store bought cheese, one strawberry, and like 5 grapes. Thirdly, as I mentioned we had children in our party, we had been there over an hour before they were given their food. I inquired when it would be out at the hour mark and it came shortly after that. The kids were so disengaged by the time they were served anything they didn’t enjoy this experience. And lastly, my kids ordered a macaroon plate for their desert, when the macaroons came out the server let us know that the desserts for the adults would be out momentarily. 20 minutes goes by and the server comes to check on us and I ask for the bill and the adult desserts to go because I was absolutely freezing at this point and couldn’t stand to wait any longer. She apologized and was very kind however we spent 137$ before tip on this experience and it fell short in more ways than one. I would love to give this business another shot but I think they have some staffing and customer service challenges they need to address before I would be willing to. The whole experience felt very unorganized...