Harmony Tea Room — Restaurant in Westwood

I found this place online. I wanted to buy some teas for my friend as a birthday gift, saw their tea list, and thought they had some great selections my friend may like. Came here on a Saturday around 15:30 and didn't notice they were having some kind of private party until after I had walked through the door. There were no signs to indicate that they were closed to the public, and believe me I looked, so I walked in anyway to the back area where I saw staff members, thinking that was the register area, where three of them stood there looking at me dumbfounded until 1 asked how she could help me. I politely responded that I wanted to purchase some teas as well as apologized for walking in on their party.

Instead of simply saying, "oh sorry the entire store is closed for the party right now. Could you come back tomorrow?" The girl asked if I knew which ones I wanted, I said yes, and told her said ones. (She was very nice so I give her 5 stars for her great customer service skills). The price for the 2 teas wasn't bad, so I asked her for a few extras.

As she was going to get the others her boss, or supervisor, walks up to me and rudely says something to the affect of "look we can't give you everything you want right now. We'll just give you what we have and figure out the rest later." And walked off as I was trying to apologize.

I was stumped. While I of course feel bad for interrupting someone's party, most tea rooms I've been to have a separate area for parties and then the register where all the teas are located so even if they are having a party, people can still come in to purchase tea.

Again, there was no visible signage that stated they were completely closed for business and I came in nearly two hours before the closing time displayed on their site. To sum it up, the girl who was nice to me gets 5 stars. However, for disrespecting a paying customer, when there is an actual polite way to handle the situation, you get 1 star and...

So much to unpack here. I just wrapped up a baby shower here. First, the other reviewers are spot on: Maryanne is horrid. I'd love to say I'm being hyperbolic, but I'm not. Even before we booked the venue, she was rude to us, to the point of me not wanting to book her place. She was unhelpful, to the point of ending up sabotaging the event by NEVER TELLING US THEIR ITINERARY. Even a month in advance, and then a week before when we were confirming our menu, she refused to give us even approximates of how long it would take for them to prepare certain tasks on their end. After years of being in business, surely she could give an approximate. She would become cagey and dismissive each time we asked, so we knew how to plan things on our end. Not only was she rude, dismissive and unhelpful, she was negligent of our food concerns. On the day of the event none of the staff engaged us, or as friendly in a personable way. One or two (Amanda?) Had a sort of games friendless, which is better than being cold and dismissive like Maryanne.

Above all, THE PRICES ARE NOT WORTH IT. We spent over 1500 for a party of 19 and were charged for ten people who never showed. The tea is good, but the sandwiches were bland, RIDICULOUSLY tiny, and all the desserts were miniscule as well. The scones were good though . Please, save your money. If you want a good cup of teabags elsewhere or brew your own. The food did NOT warrant the high cost, especially when the service was poor (I was at the table with the mother to be, and we waited fifteen minutes longer than everyone else to get our food) and the owner was such a dreadful and depressing character. You'll leave hungry if you're attending an event. It...

I went here twice with my friend, and both times were horrid. The other reviews don't lie: the service will ruin your afternoon. To start, the restaurant had ants, and the waitress seated me RIGHT NEXT to the ants, so they were crawling everywhere. When I asked to move she made a huge deal about it.

The second time I went there I ordered a sandwich and it had no lettuce. I asked for a leaf and she told me "it doesn't come with lettuce". I asked her to put it on anyway, and she told me no. Then I asked to talk to the manager, because it's ridiculous to say no to a request like that, then she angrily took the plate (by the way, we were the only people in the whole restaurant so it's not like she had anything else to do) and brought it back with lettuce and left without a word.

THEN I heard her and the cook talk about us while we were seated, saying we are "horrible" and "rude". GUYS IT'S A PIECE IF LETTUCE. SERIOUSLY. YOU GAVE ME SALAD ON THE SIDE IT'S NOT LIKE YOU DON'T HAVE ANY.

My friend also has a nut allergy and asked the waitress to take out anything nutty, and the waitress comes back with a peanut butter topping on the dessert we order. My friend said there are nuts in peanut butter, and the waitress said "Oh, well, I'm allergic to nuts too and I can eat peanut butter."

We never went back, and I suggest you never go either. They treat you like scum under their shoe. I suggest Alice's Tea Cup. It's in New York City, but worth the travel. Prices are great, food is amazing, and the wait staff treat you like...