Magic Hour — Restaurant in Ojai

We were in Ojai for my best friend’s bachelorette weekend and we made a tea time reservation at Magic Hour through Resy. The tea time includes tea and a platter of little sandwiches and pastries. When filling out our party information, I added gluten free for my own dietary restriction and shared the reservation with my friend so she could add vegan for her dietary restriction. We had two more girls in the party who had no dietary restrictions. When the waitress came by, I confirmed that I am gluten free and that my friend sitting across from me is vegan. When they brought out the food, it was all gluten free and all vegan. Soon after, we realized and told the waitress that two of the girls wanted the regular option and had not selected the vegan or gluten free options. After a lot of back and forth with the chef, she ultimately said there was nothing she could do. We asked how much it would cost to order an extra tea time service platter and she informed us that it would be an additional $110 (which is the price for 2 more complete experiences). We requested to order it even with the exorbitant price. She left to inform the chef. After about 10 minutes, she came back and for some reason went over the prices item by item again.

Her: “Ok, so just to confirm, the tea service is $55 each per person.” Us: “Yes, we know” Her: “And adding the extra platter is an additional $110.” Us: “Yes, you told us already.” Her: “So the total plus gratuity comes out to around $400. Is that price ok for you?” Us: “Yes it is.” Her: “Ok so you wouldn’t mind paying now, would you?”

First, they bring the wrong food and do not correct the mistake. Second, they question if we have the ability to pay. Third, they make us pay halfway through the meal. Like we were going to dine and dash. We paid as requested and were polite throughout the whole experience. But at the end of it, we were left feeling shocked and disrespected.

It was an unfortunate event that left a bad note on an otherwise lovely weekend in Ojai celebrating my best friend getting married. Despite the good teas and beautiful shop, I cannot recommend this place. I will not...

Three stars for the tea, 1 star for the execution. The tea is delicious, but let's face it, it's tea. I indulged myself and purchased a bottle of the Queen of Tropics tea. I've been eying the bottles for a while, and I LOVE her website. I received my shipment today, and sadly I'm disappointed & unsatisfied with my purchase. It's literally the worst feeling to be excited about receiving a product, only to be let down upon receipt. My bottle was barely above half full. This bottle is huge, so for it to be half full, is very disappointing. There was a TON of paper in the box, which was beyond wasteful and unnecessary. For example, each box comes with a poster size catalog. Why? I ordered online. I'm definitely not putting this poster on my wall... there was some other useless waste of trees included, but not a full bottle of tea, which is what I paid for. Lastly, and most disappointing, was the bottle. NONE of the website pictures show this ugly sticker on top that wraps around BOTH sides of the bottle. If you remove it, there's sticker residue on the bottle top. If you leave it, there's a huge ugly sticker on top of your expensive tea bottle. Save your money and only buy pouches from here. That's all your really going to get anyway. We'll see how customer service responds and I will update. Update The customer service was lightning fast, and that's commendable these days. They responded within hours, I was issued a FULL refund of my order. I'm happy about that, but disappointed in the overall experience. It's like false advertising at it's finest. It was a disappointing hour, not a magic one. Overall, though it is very great tea, I do not agree with the price point for the bottle if it's going to be ruined with that horrble sticker on top. Buying a huge bottle over the mail is porbably not as good an idea as I initally thought. Additionally, the hugeness of the bottle vs. the amount of tea given is a major disappointment. Also, 60- 70 cups per bottle is a HUGE overstatment. I will probably purchase from them again in the future because the tea is really...

They use AI for their customer service now, which DOES NOT help to find out if you have allergies and you need to know if there are allergens in their tea. Prior to using AI, they had people (who now I suspect might have been bots), that responded extremely poorly to customer service inquiries. For example, I once asked why the shipping had increased on their monthly subscriptions and I received a lecture about how they are not Amazon and do not offer free shipping - bear in mind, I never asked for free shipping, I asked when they had increased their shipping costs, since they increased them with no notice during one month and the cost of my monthly subscription went up.

Additionally, this location only sells their tea - you can't try their tea, you can only sniff and buy it here. I was expecting a tea house where you could order a cup of tea and buy their blends, but that is not the case here.

The company, overall, needs to decide what they want to do - either they are "magically" connected to their consumers, filled with "love" and "light" and "caring", or they are simply over charging for tea, with little or no connection with their consumers at all. Very disappointed with how their customer service has tanked in the last year, and now they are using AI.

Even more disappointed that they are now charging a monthly membership fee to have early access, discounted shipping and other stuff. Why would I pay $11 a month without getting a product? They want to charge you to have access to look at tea early? That is insane and greedy.

Please Note: Daniel has communicated with me via email as he promised here. He was able to assist me further with my allergen inquiry.

Back to one star - they are using AI still for customer service and as a result an order I placed was cancelled not once but twice. Using AI for customer...