Tea With Tracy — Restaurant in Seymour

I don't usually leave bad reviews for restaurants unless I've had a really bad experience or encountered exceptionally poor service and rude staff. I have been a loyal customer at Tea with Tracy in Seymour for many years. I went for tea with my friend here this week, as we so often do. Our server was Tracy, the owner. While taking our orders she seemed somewhat agitated and unfriendly. When she returned with the food, my order was incorrect and the new dish I received was unappetizing. After taking a bite of the egg salad sandwich which was very nasty, I respectfully informed her that the egg salad had too much mayonnaise. She only replied, “that’s because I made it quickly” as if that was the reason why the sandwich was overly dressed in mayo.

Despite bringing these issues to the attention of our server Tracy(again the owner of this establishment), there was no effort made to rectify the situation or make it right. I just paid the full bill and left hungry.

To make matters worse, as I completed the payment transaction, she had the audacity to ask me in a stern voice, “did I leave a tip on the table?” I looked at her in disbelief, and she AGAIN repeated and held up my payment slip saying, “I noticed that you didn’t check off for a tip on the receipt, so did you leave a tip on the table?”

I have worked as a waitress in my past jobs and I have compassion for servers and I always, always left a tip even if the service was not up to par. However, after hearing those words come out of her mouth, the display of tip shaming and poor service, you can bet she didn’t get a tip and I will never visit that establishment ever again!

Overall, my experience was EXTREMELY unpleasant and I would not recommend this restaurant to anyone anymore. I am so disappointed in the lack of respect and decorum from the owner. Save your money and go to any other tea house for a better...

I wanted to love it. I did. The food was ok, not as overpriced as I had expected. What was bad was the attitude and lack of professionalism. From my phone call to make a reservation to my aunt getting there before me and being told there was no reservation for us...the place was empty...the girl there told my aunt that she really should have made a reservation. We were there over an hour and NO OTHER customers came in. Our waitress didn't come over for about 10 minutes. And honestly given the size of their menu I can see why. I didn't get a vibe from the waitress or the owner that they are bad people, just that they lack common sense and business-savvy. I worked in the restaurant industry for a long time. During this experience at tea with Tracy, I assumed that since there were about a hundred tea options listed on the menu that the waitress was probably just giving us time to look it over, but the right thing to do in this service role is to greet your table and let them know that you are available should they have any questions and offer them something to drink. The first question I asked her when she came over was are you out of anything? And she listed off about 10 teas that they were out of. That would have been great to know ahead of time. My mother who was also with us said that happened to the last time she was there too. Even though they are seemingly unprofessional and the service is not great and their personalities were a bit stuffy, I probably would go back. Isn't that funny? It's a pretty little place with a really nice selection of tea and food is not bad. It's a good place to meet up with friends. And it's the only place of this type around. Definitely look at the other reviews though as I think on a busier day it's even more...

We went to Connecticut to spend the day with my aunt. Listing your establishment with Groupon offering a discount certainly works, because that is how we found this quaint little gem that was so perfectly suited to our needs. We made sure to call ahead and make a reservation, and were easily accommodated with that (perhaps some luck). When we arrived, we were able to use our Groupon without a hitch. We did not get to choose our salad (they had run out of the strawberry arugula), but hey, I was happy to be getting a salad along with my “afternoon tea.” It was all just the right amount too! The sammies and scones were scrumptious, the tea tasteful and tranquil, the desserts DEVINE! The variety was enough too. All exceeded our expectations just enough to make us returning customers...at full price if we must!

Thank you Tracey, for giving us a wonderful afternoon.

P.s. the missing star was unfortunately for the service. While service was great (and we tipped very well on the full price of our bill, not the discounted rate), a few more smiles and some shared excitement or enthusiasm when we told them it was our first time at an afternoon tea and we had been wanting to do it for so long. A shared delight and some genuine smiles would have sent it over the top, and additionally, we asked for a container (for a small piece of apple torte my aunt just could not fit in her tummy, but was too good to leave behind) and then waited and waited a little too long. We didn’t mind much, it was a pleasant place to wait, but I don’t think the server we asked cared much for the wait and being asked if she could provide what the other server had...