Jolie Tea Company — Restaurant in Salem

I was super excited to try this when I was in Salem! I was met by a young boy & right off the bat he was rude. I walked up to the counter and immediately he goes “what do you want?” I should have walked out right then, but I told him “this is first time in a high tea place & I’m not sure what to expect, can you tell me about it and different options?” He huffed and sighed, he was holding onto some menus & slam them down on the counter next to him. I jumped back, shocked. He practically tossed me the menu and said “fine, take a seat where there’s not a reserve sign & you’ll come back up here to order.” Okay, I looked over and saw one table was reserved so I headed over to look through the menu. There was a few more people who arrived after me, but the thing that started making me upset was those people were getting proper attention. They got full plate settings, wait staff to their tables, the fancy mugs, three tiered trays, and I was told to sit and come back up and order. So, after two tables were seated and tea orders placed between me, plus the reservation, I went back up to order. I got the La Pettie Tea option that came with Lemon Scone, Choice of French Macaron, Choice of Madeleine, & a pot of tea. I told the young boy which tea I’d like and that was all he asked me. I paid and went back to my table, then it hit me he didn’t ask about which macaron or madeleine I’d like. I have some food sensitivities that I was nervous about. I flagged down one of the other waitresses (she was the only kind person in the shop), and I apologized for not knowing how high tea works, but do I get to choose which macaron I get or if it’s a basic flavor? I told her I was treated very rudely by the young man when I asked him if he could explain it to me & he got all upset and didn’t explain it. She apologized for him, he never once apologized. She told me she’d go check on the flavor and let me know. About 10 mins later the young boy comes over to my table and goes “so do you know which macaron you wanted?” I told him “you never gave me the choices.” He turned around and said “well you can come pick your flavor.” After I picked my flavor the young kid drops off my tea, even spills some of it with how hard he put it on the table. I had the tea pot and a basic ceramic mug. This threw me for a loop. It’s high tea where’s the fancy cup and still had yet to get any place setting. I asked the girl again, apologizing again for not knowing how it worked and I asked “is there a different price point to get the full service compared to what I’m getting?” She apologized and said “so those are all reservations (but there was only one reservation when I got there), so reservations get the full service while walk ins you order and pay at the counter.” If the kid would have told me this from the start it would have been fine but the fact he didn’t bother to tell me a thing, instead got upset and rude toward me when I asked was not okay! I thanked her for explaining it to me. I got my little treats. They were good just wished I could have enjoyed them under different circumstances. Then she must have told her manager because a lady came over asking if I needed anything. I was upset, I had a rough day and was trying to do something to make me happy only to get a rude attitude worker who made me feel even worse. I told her I needed a minute to calm down, she never came back and checked on me. It didn’t help when she came over it created a scene and all the tables around me went hush. I finished my treats, went up to the tea counter and asked one of the older ladies if the tips are split between all employees or if they’re separate. She told me it’s split. I asked if I could tip only the young lady who helped me. She said no because it’ll be split between all workers. I told her I received extremely rude service from the young man and she was like “he’s so friendly, he would never.” I left then and will never be back. I was so looking forward to this experience and to grab some tea for home, but this...

The cafe itself is very cute! The desserts were absolutely incredible. I'm honestly not a huge tea lover but the SoHa Blend was pretty good. I wish I had the chance to ask for cream and sugar but the whole experience was...confusing. We were immediately greeted and seated upon our arrival but never told to select a lunch entree from the little menu. It honestly wasn't very clear because most of the entrees were quite fancy (lol) and had things I didn't understand. I couldn't tell if they were appetizers, entrees, or what. I got some sort of salad that came with little slices of toasted bread and warm goat cheese. The bread was delicious but the salad was awful. A big plate of weird greens and hardly any dressing. My sister got the red pepper soup which literally just tasted like pasta sauce, super weird! I guess the girl was a server, since she brought our appetizers, entrees, tea & desserts, but she never checked on us and was always in such a hurry. She was the only person serving maybe 3 or 4 small tables and I also think she had to make some of the food and drinks. It was just weird, we had never been to anything like this before and I guess I just expected them to be a little friendlier and helpful, especially since Salem is a huge tourist spot in October. I also have to admit that I accidentally ordered the full lunch when I only meant to order the high tea with 3-tiered desserts, but when I made our reservation months ago, it was very unclear on the website. I couldn't find a menu or anything describing what we would be getting. They have obviously updated it since then because as I was watching the other tables get their tiered trays, I went onto their website and immediately saw all of the descriptions. And I truly don't think I just "missed" the info on their website all those months ago. I did my research to prep for our two days in Salem! I guess I just should've checked back more recently, that's on me. Anyway, as I said, the desserts were incredible, but unfortunately other than that, I was disappointed. We already have another Salem trip booked for September next year and I plan to book another reservation (the right one this time!) for high tea. Now that I know what to expect, perhaps it'll be a better...

I came here for afternoon tea with friends. The store itself has a nice vibe and comfortable decor. The booking was seamless. Environment 8/10

The people working there were not as attentive as I was expecting, but they weren’t rude. I walked in and wasn’t sure where to go to check in for tea. I stood around for a few minutes before I had to ask someone for help. When we were seated, our server was nice, but their weren’t enough checkins to see how everything was going. At one point my friend had to walk up to the counter to ask for something. Service 4/10

The tea options are top tier and it is excellent for a tea shops to have so many options! Tea 10/10

The food was bad. The salmon sandwich was the best sandwich! Everything else was stale. I had the Catherine High Tea, so I also had the strawberry sandwich- it was too sweet, had old tasting strawberries and the bread was stale on this too. The scone had a thick layer of sweet sweet icing. I peeled the icing off because it was so sweet. The scone itself was good. My friend ordered a pumpkin scone and it was very dry. The macaroons were dense and hardish. We didn’t get to choose our flavors, and the ones they gave us (peppermint and gingerbread) were not great. The madeleines were okay but stale. The swan had a good filling, but unfortunately it was on the same madeleines. All of the desserts were too sweet - something a child would enjoy. There was no sugar on the table, so we asked for sugar. The sugar came in a cute container, but it had large clumps as if there was a lot of condensation or moisture in the sugar bowl. For a $38 base service and $48 Catherine service, I would expect more quality. There is a lot of potential here! But it would seem they need to hire a new baker to make this high tea worth the price. Food 3.5/10

I have gone to about 5 afternoon tea spots in New England. The location of this is great, but there need to be some significant changes in the food quality and attentiveness. Overall...