Sweet Marie’s Tea Cottage — Restaurant in North Kingstown

Before you go here, take note:

My friends and I are passionate about Afternoon Tea/High Tea. We have been for many many years and have tried numerous establishments all over Europe and the United States. We were visiting Rhode Island so we decided to give Sweet Marie’s Cottage a try last month, April 18.

Although this establishment used to operate in actual cute, rustic cottage, it is no longer in that same location today. They moved a few blocks down the street and now occupy a former retail space in a commercial building with other commercial tenants. Even if their name still says “Sweet Marie’s Cottage,” remember, it’s no longer in the old rustic cottage. True, the cottage had much more charm and personality than the new location but the new location is pretty enough and well decorated.

Please read their menu carefully because the Afternoon Tea Prix Fixe of $36 does not include the cream or jam that you normally would expect to eat with your scones. You will have to pay an extra $2 if you want about a tablespoon and a half of jam with your scones and another $2 if you want the tablespoon and a half of cream. (I thought this was ridiculous because the cream and jam should have been included in the prix fixe price). Most people simply love to eat scones with jam and clotted cream. Period. I paid extra for both the cream and jam but was really annoyed because the amount of cream and jam was stingy, barely enough to spread on one or two scones—definitely needed more than what they gave, so I felt forced to pay extra for more.

The “complimentary” base tea selections they provide—are extremely inferior in quality. My friends and I opted for the complimentary teas and were really disappointed as the teas had no fragrance, no flavor, just bland, cheap tea. So of course you will wind up spending $8+ extra if you want a more acceptable or premium tea.

So then what “appears to be” -at first glance-, a reasonably priced $36 Prix Fixe Afternoon Tea menu experience, will actually and inevitably turn into a $52+ total expense (excluding tax and tip) for it to be an acceptable eating and drinking experience (because you paid extra $$ for the jam and creams and better quality tea). So please be warned if you have higher standards and have had a lot of experience doing Afternoon Tea.

My last critique is- the scones, sandwiches and dessert offering were ok. Nothing special to rave about. Pretty basic tasting sandwiches. I liked the banana sandwich, that was very good and more interesting, but the chicken salad sandwich was my least favorite. It was so dry that the mayonnaise could not save it. There were no distinct herbs or flavors or textures that came out from the recipe and ingredients so it was dull. The sizeand portions of food were very small and sparse. I know tea sandwiches are supposed to be dainty and small but in this case, it was tiny and you do not get enough variety, so do not come here hungry. Overall, the cost to value ratio from this tea experience was truly disappointing and lacking so I would not return nor...

Tea was good, sandwiches were very good. Service was very poor. We found ourselves needing something all the time we were there. There were only 8 tables seated and two ladies working. The lady who seemed to possibly be the owner was friendly enough but the other was not pleasant and seemed put out every time we asked for something. One word type answers to everything. There's no soap in the restroom...... "oh ok". The menu says after they bring the food they offer more tea but no one ever offered so 30 min after the scheduled time we had to ask. Also BTW you need a disgusting keychain to use the restroom like you're at a truckstop gas station. No one ever asked if we needed anything or how it was. Paper menus were all stained with tea. Paper menus are cheap, the cost to have tea here is very expensive.... seems to me they can afford to replace the menus when they get stained.

Edit: Let me also take a minute to clear up some of your misunderstandings. If in fact you are committed to attentive service you should focus more on this during hiring and training, in our experience it didn't show. We would never go out of our way to inform you if the soap was low, only that it was empty. My issue with your paper menus is not that they're cheap, but since they are cheap, you should replace them when they're stained and dirty. Dirty menus are never charming.

We too found it disheartening to have added you to our long list of one star restaurants. We had come in hopes of adding you to our long list of five star reviews.

The main point and cause of my review which seems to be lost on you...... is that your server is not attentive, is not friendly, and behaves as if guests are bothering her when they make requests. This should be addressed, if she was friendlier, and seemed happy to serve all of your guests, the smaller things would have absolutely been overlooked. No one wants to spend money at an organization and feel as though they're being treated poorly. We're more than happy to spend money at places like this, but we want to be treated as if our patronage is...

Sweet Marie's is one of the best afternoon tea experiences I've had in the area. While the service is on the slow side - it felt like an age passed between the time we received our tea tray to the time our specialty tea and drinks arrived - everything is well worth the wait.

The venue is a small cottage with some stone walls and exposed beams on the ceiling - it has the vibes of an English cottage, which makes it a very intimate place for tea.

Everything on the tea tray was good - there wasn't a single thing I was displeased with, though small quibbles could easily have been blown way out if proportion were there - this could have had more basil, that could have more lemon. But in the end? Those are quibbles.

What I want to focus on are the highs and the single low.

The prosciutto, fig, pear, goat cheese sandwich was great. It was a perfectly balanced little bite that I wish could have gone on longer than a few bites.

The pineapple matcha macarons? Perfect. Airy, tasty, just right. Count me as awed.

Lemon cupcakes? Airy and light - perfectly Springy and an ideal treat for this time of year.

The scones? I thought the orange cranberry one was underbaked. Not horribly so, but a little bit doughy in my opinion.

The cheddar one? Complete redemption. Just what I want in a savory scone.

The pomegranate blood orange non alcoholic drink I got? Foul. It was just bitter and sad.

I recommend checking out Sweet Marie's. It is a quaint place with a great vibe that does tea well. I could go on and on, citing pros and cons, goods and bads, but in the end? It would be thousands of words that add up to give it a try - the experience is...