The Kate Pearl Tea Room on Main — Restaurant in Sykesville

Disclaimer: The Kate Pearl Tea Room formally owned by Robyn and named "Sweet Simplici-Tea." The wonderful reviews you see on here are adopted from all the hard work of former owner Robyn who was absolutely our dearest friend and we truly will miss her kindness.

Overall experience: Will not return and would not recommend!

Service & Experience: The service was less than subpar. We have been valuable customers of the previous Ownership for many years and have made this our traditional place we host our annual Tea Party for the "Habiscus Tea Club." This club is comprised of generations of women whom we take part in celebrating our traditional Tea party as we would normally do like back home in Jamaica. For many of us we travel from all over the world for this meet up every year. Traditionally we come together on Good Friday. We have had very successful events here and made this little tea shop very popular as many people see us come dressed for the occasion every year. We have always been welcome and usually have the location automatically booked by previous Ownership. To our surprise our dear friend sold her business and we were not informed which we totally understand her moving on. However, after informing the new owner of our yearly event we were welcomed back! We enjoy an elephant gift exchange which the manager said it was okay. We had a party of 24 guests and not informed that we would be separated in 6 different tables all over the dining area which made communication very different than past years.

At the conclusion of our event, most of us left 30 minutes early due to the slow service and unwelcome attitude by staff. Also I was later informed that a woman whom I initially thought was perhaps worked there in the kitchen who sat by herself for over 20 minutes. My assumption she worked there was because of how she was dressed in combat boots, oversized white shirt and black cargo pants. I only assumed this because my brother attended culinary school and usually they dress like this for the back kitchen. I was later informed this was in fact a patron and she approached one of the elders and stated "she wasn't a part of the tea party. " Her hostility and the way she looked seemed off. Again this was not the experience we are accustomed to receiving. Most of us kept receiving bad looks by staff and the mangers and decided we were leaving. When my mother exited outside she informed me that one of the staff members held the door and didn't say thank you, but in fact her mannerism expressed showed she wanted us to leave. She didn't say a word! In disbelief I thought perhaps my mother just felt a way and not thinking they would be this bold, rude, and disrespectful. However, after reading the rebuttal from a review of one the other guests in attendance from the manager, she stated that we were asked to leave. This is not true at all and was a lie! We were never asked to leave and in fact we left early on our own.

This confirmed to me and every woman in our club that this appeared to be racial. All of the women come from generations of educators, doctors, lawyer, nurses, and scientists. We are not a wild party people as if we cannot behave. We are highly educated individuals and just wanted to drink tea in celebration of Good Friday. Not only is this concerning that the Manager felt so comfortable in her response to say that they asked us to leave, but she felt comfortable to say: "she understood if we didn't return."

If this happened to me I wouldn't pursue any further action, however, you not only disrespected my mother but the elder women of our community. This is shameful and I really pray that you think about a response and the way that you treat people. You can't buy customers nor can you purchase great...

Had our annual teaparty gathering at Kate Pearl tearoom, formerly Sweet Simplici Tea. Our reservation was made over the phone and in-person.

We discussed the time allotted, the fact that we may be a bit noisy because of the white elephant game played, and also discussed the number of guests in our large party. Clearly there are communication issues between staff because we were told this would be no issue at the time of discussion.

The 1st thing that was disappointing was the seating arrangement, we were seated all over the room apart from each other.

Secondly, while we were playing the game, we were told by one of the servers that we should keep quiet, even though we were scattered all-over the room.

Thirdly, one of the servers told one of our tables that they will need the table soon at 2 :30 even though we were given until 3 o'clock

The final thing that happened, one of the customers, who was not a part of our group, stood up, came over to us and told us to be quiet.

That was it for me. I told my group we are finished and we should go. I believe they were still serving us. I paid our bill and left.

At no time did a manager come out and speak to us or offer any solution to the situation. We set our expectations and verified that this would not be an issue. We were completely caught off guard with the lack of care to us as just even general customers.

I was hoping we could build a relationship with the new owners as we did with the previous one, however, this is no longer possible. I've come here for 10 years at least and it's so disappointing to say that we will not...

The food and tea is good, which is why my daughter wanted to have her Bat Mitzvah party there. So I reached out at the end of last year. The manager, or whoever it is who does thei bookings was from the beginning not very friendly, but told me that she one takes bookings 4 months out, though they already had a booking for a party that morning. She said she'd mark their calendar and to call back in 2025. I had mistakenly written in MY notes that she'd reach out. Last week when I realized I hadn't spoken to anyone I called and left a message beforethey opened. And then called at the end of the day. And then the next day. And again earlier today stating that if I didn't hear from them I would have to find another place. I also put a note on their Facebook page. I FINALLY got a call after 5pm today. Same woman. She said there is nothing available and she never said she'd hold the room. She didn't care at all about our previous conversation and told me she gets 100 calls a day and mine wasn't important. My kid had her heart set on a tea party there. I'm fortunate that there is another tea room the same distance away from our house who is much friendlier and accommodating. I called them right away and they said they'd hold the date for me if I can get there by next Saturday.

Not sure we'll ever set foot in or recommend the Kate Pearl again. I miss Sweet...