Val's English Tea & Pie Shop — Restaurant in Smithfield

My friends and I get together several times a year just to partake in afternoon tea. It’s what we love to do and have done for decades. We research to find tea establishments wherever and whenever we travel. Glad we found Val’s Tea and Pie Shop while visiting RI in mid April this year. It turned out to be an unforgettable, highly delightful tea experience.

First off, the chef and proprietor is British so you get the genuine traditional British Afternoon Tea experience here.

The location was in an ordinary street in an ordinary town and ordinary mini-strip mall but when you step inside Val’s Tea shop you are suddenly inside an extraordinary and unique environment. Their extensive bone china tea set collection was impressively displayed against the wall, and there were British paraphernalia all around plus a Queen Elizabeth and a Prince William life sized cardboard cutout in the corners. All the decorations created a unique,quirky, soothing, fun, enjoyable space to be in which made us very happy. As for the food and drinks, we chose 3 different tea flavors plus the traditional black tea. All were divine, robust, smooth, fresh and flavorful. They use only high quality teas. For instance, their standard black tea was imported from England (Marks and Spencers) and brewed at the right time and temperature so by the time you take the first sip, it is perfect. The food was excellent. Nothing but high quality ingredients were used for the meat pies, the sandwiches, the three kinds of scones and all the desserts.

The cook prepared each dish carefully and a lot of thought went into the recipes so what you taste is not basic or boring but truly gourmet and special. The chicken sandwich was super moist with fresh herbs, toasted golden pecans and sweet slightly tangy cranberries.

We love how the cook/owner takes pride in and cares about everything she serves to her guests. The scones were the best ever and the meat pies so addictively good, I had to buy more to take home. Portions were also generous and the desserts a great variety. Irish butter and jam are included in the prix fixe but they offer guests clotted cream from Devon UK for an extra couple of dollars, which we did not mind paying because it is authentic imported Devonshire cream. Overall it was around $45 for the full afternoon tea so your money is more than well spent. You get more than what you pay for in quality and amount. Excellent value. Totally worth every penny. This place goes above and beyond in every way. The server and staff are also extremely warm and friendly yet also very professional and attentive. I highly recommend Val’s English Tea & Pie Shop and will be returning for sure. Thank you Val’s Tea and Pie Shop! We had an...

We made reservations for afternoon tea and we were not disappointed.

I literally just wrote a raving review that Google decided was "far too long" and I had apparently "exceeded the character limit".

Feh.

So, truncated review:

The good:

Service is top notch. From making reservations through leaving the building, we were well attended and cared for. It feels like coming home. A million stars for service alone.

The chicken salad with cranberry and walnut. It was perfect. I have 0 complaints or comments, other than I could have certainly enjoyed more filling on these because it was that tasty. 10/10, would eat again.

The white chocolate scone. Paired with clotted cream and black currant jam, this was the 2nd or third time I found myself quite impressed with the food we were eating. I'm hard to impress, but honestly? The more I ate, the more happy I was with our decision to come here.

Fig and nut bars were delectable. Or was it date nut? What it was was sweet in a very natural way, plus it had a nice, chewy-but-not-gummy texture. This was a surprise hit. I thought I was just going to kind of like it, but I really loved it. It has given me the impetus to finally try the date roll recipe I have...

Chocolate chip cookies with walnuts in them. Yum. An abundance of chocolate and nuts, this is what I want a chocolate chip cookie to be these days - a dough-livery system for tasty fillings. They were baked just right.

Upon the completion of my meal, I was presented with a chicken pot pie to take home. THIS WAS UNEXPECTED AND VERY WELCOME. It was one of the best chicken pot pies I have ever had.

The Bad:

Ham and Munster was my least favourite. The cheese really didn't come through for me, and the ham was a little on the boring side. I would have liked to have seen either elevated at least a bit - perhaps something sharper OR creamier for a cheese (St Andre, Port Salut, even cheddar though that would likely be too strong) or a more robustly flavoured ham. In the end, if the meal had a low point, it was the hamwich.

However, with this being the low point, even then? It was still pretty good. Just not as good as everything else.

The Ugly:

The fact that the meal has to end. I am not fooling when I say that this was one of my top 10 best dining experiences.

In conclusion: Good tea selection, great food, nice atmosphere - one could not...

I'm always looking for new places to have Afternoon Tea, especially since the vibe and food can differ drastically based who owns the shop. So when I happened upon Val's English Tea & Pie Shop I decided to convince a small group of friends to go!

We arrived about 10 minute's early for our 2:15 time and were sat down. The table was still done up for Christmas, and everything was set up beautifully. I really loved the atmosphere, it felt cozy as it flurried outside. Then we were given cards from one of the owners, I believe his name was John, and he gave a brief explanation on the tea, explained the unlimited refill policy, and on what to do since we hadn't been before. (He also took a group picture of us on request at the end of the service! Thank you!)

I choose the Winter Spice and really loved it. But the Buttermint ended up being my favorite.

Once we ordered our tea and drinks and the food was brought out Sharon, the other owner, came and gave us an explanation on the name of the shop, how to have a proper tea. She was incredibly sweet explaining each and every item and once we dug in, I was really pleased to say everything was incredibly delicious!

The sandwiches were decently sized, and the freshly baked meat pie was savory. The scones and desserts were magnificent, and I was happy to try things I hadn't had before. The mousse was a great cherry to add on top of the experience.

Compared to the price of other shops, Val's has become one of my favorites based on the quality, customer service and amount of food. They do offer take out boxes if you don't end up finishing, which was extremely...