The Empress Tea Room & Bistro

Empress Tea Room is in a convenient location. Quaint and cozy atmosphere. Tasty tea and food. Pleasant staff. I enjoyed treating my mom to tea for some ‘girl time’.

I came here because I had a travelzoo deal for a Sunday brunch. I rate this a four because I must say that the ambiance is very nice and great for a tea room setting and the food was pretty delicious for a reasonable price. I will say do not mistake endless brunch for buffet as I was informed by one of the owners. The downside to it being endless is that they serve you but for the amount of people that dine there the service is a bit slow in regards to getting your food. I will say the food was tasty and I recommend the waffles and the sausage and bacon. The sausage had a nice sweet sauce it was cooked in. The hostesses were nice and accommodating. The mismosas were delicious but I cannot comment much on the tea as I am not a huge fan of tea unless I am sick. Overall a pretty good experience and for anyone that loves tea time, this is a good place.

Had my daughter’s bridal shower here. Very lovely place. Was quite disappointed in the amount of food served, the quality of the food and The poor service we received.

This place is amazing! I went with a few friends and we enjoyed ourselves. They have a great selection in tea and food, we weren’t disappointed at all.

Always have a nice time with my little girl. We go for tea and end up back in time. Santa tea was great too. Sue

I am definitely more of coffee person than a tea person. But I do enjoy a well made pot or cup of tea on occasion. The Empress Tea Room delivers a well done food menu with a great selection of tea (they do have coffee as well).
The high tea menu is very diverse and the Buckingham sandwich is so good. It’s made up of Mixed Greens, Honey Maple Ham, Cheddar cheese, Dijon Mustard and Pecan Butter on a slightly baked Croissant. You can’t go wrong! Can’t wait to go back to try some more goodies.

I love this place. My go to tea place closed a few years ago and i have been on the hunt for a new one. This place is everything i could have hoped for. The atmosphere is amazing, its cozy and cluttered and makes you feel at home.
The food is next level good, and they have so much more that the typical scones and tea sandwiches (which are fantastic) they have a ton of variety and i cant wait to go back and try more of their food. The teas are also really good, i cant remember what i had now, but they had a great selection and they were super helpful when I wasn’t interested n their specials they brought me a bunch of different teas to smell.
I will definitely be going back here!

I will never associate myself with this company again. I experienced blatant homophobia from this company when trying to book a venue. I was shocked, offended, and saddened. I had very high expectations. I will look else where, I suggest you do as well!

Nice service. Had a small tea selection for high tea. I went with a friend of mine because we were already dressed nice and felt like treating ourselves. Overall, a nice experience. The high tea has an assortment of tea sandwiches and scones and pastries. They all taste fairly well. The scones are very nice. The tea room I was used to going to (not in Tampa) is casual and laid back and run by the sweetest Scottish ladies. So it is different to come here because it is a bit classy and I felt the need to use more manners. :)

Went on Sunday, 8÷9÷2015 for a girl’s brunch — very pleased. I never had family-​style brunch, but it was nice. Food was very fresh, so it takes a while to get, but it’s worth it. The only criticism is that the plates are small, the tables are small and they were not stable. Our table was wobbling and when you had large pots of hot tea, it’s kind of scary. We had to use the empty table next to us to store our plates of food because there was not room on the table for the large platters. But they bring you whatever you want more of, the staff is super nice, very eager to make sure your experience is a good one. I would go back and highly recommend this place. Great for parties; bridal showers, baby showers, etc…

Okay by far my favorite hidden spot. Only down fall is they are only open till three (which I get) Im just being selfish lol. The tea selection is always great. And I never know whether to pick high tea or a sandwich. The only time I left disappointed was last time. The high tea wasn’t too great, mainly average sandwiches and average desert both of which I could have made at home. For the price the quality didn’t match. Next time I’ll just get the sandwich.

Went for lunch with my mother on a Friday. There was no wait and the décor was very fitting with a patio area with a fountain and a nicer area with tablecloths and nice seating. You can imagine it being very good for group events with two distinct seating areas and a small group area off to the side.
We had the high tea which consisted of two cucumber sandwiches, two croissant sandwiches, two ham and chipotle sandwiches two open-​faced pesto and tomato sandwiches, fruit, scones, and chocolate dipped strawberries. You have unlimited hot tea with three options. We chose the English black Cranberry tea. It was very good and the two of us finished the pot.
We left feeling full with a bill just under $ 40. The only downside was the slow service and the attentiveness of the server. She focused on the tables with more people than just the two of us. It took awhile to get her attention on multiple occasions. We would return due to the close location and quality of the food/​tea.

I attended a babyshower here for a family member. We arrived a little early to assist with set up, as you can imagine, it is Florida in July, so it was hot out.
We start trying to set up the area, I notice a large, dead palmetto bug (roach). I go get a staff member and tell her, she acts shocked, but gets it picked up. As this point, we are sweating, it is so hot in this place that none of us can cool down. I go to the front and ask if they can turn the air down, they state that they are working on it. It just continues to get hotter and hotter. As I continue setting up, I find another palmetto bug, and then another, and then another, I lost count.
The shower is finally set to begin, everyone who was helping with set up is drenched in sweat.
The guests begin to arrive, as does the mother to be, everyone is complaining about the heat. I can assure you, not much hot tea was consumed as it was just too hot.
Now, the food, the «food» was served on small 3 tier serving trays. The bottom had pesto, ham, chicken salad and something else, bites, I say bites because that is all they were. The second and third levels had chocolate covered strawberries, watermelon, pineapple and scones. The pesto bite was good, I didn’t try the others. The scones were decent, but stale on the ends. Now, I should note that I may have felt a little worried about eating after all the bugs I had seen.
The bathroom closest to us was out of order, I went to the bathroom closest to the entrance, the toilet didn’t flush, there was no soap and no paper towels.
People left the shower early; I am pretty sure it was because of the heat. Even the mother to be was worried about sweat stains showing on her dress in the pictures.
When it was time to pay, they were told the issue with the air happened not because the air wasn’t working, but because the HEAT was on (I told you, it was HOT!)
Overall, this place has the potential to be a really nice place to hold a babyshower. First, they need to get a good exterminator, a good deep cleaning, a revamp of their food and hire someone who properly knows how to turn on the air conditioning.

What a lovely place to have fun girl time! My daughter (3), mother and I had high-​tea today. We had the strawberry/​kiwi tea with 3 different mini sandwiches (one in a croissant), a scone (incredible paired with cream and jam!), a lemon mini cupcake and chocolate covered strawberries. For my daughter, the gave her the treats and scone but had grilled cheese and PBJ for her sandwiches with some animal crackers.
The service was pleasant but a little slow for us with an impatient 3 year old. Typically, I would have enjoyed the laid back service to chat with friends, but my little girl wanted everything «now» ;). Would have given 5 stars for service that was attentive to that feature.

Took the mom’s here for Mother’s Day. They are a very helpful boutique café and the service was impeccable. The food was just OK. I’ve been to other tea shops and the portions they gave here were for a small child. I left hungry but later learned that you should not do high tea etc but the reason you should come is their sunday brunch which ends around 1? Ambiance is nice and it’s very quite and cozy inside. If you go just dont’ bring your appetite and do yourself a favor and get a snack first. Food was good the portions and the amount you spent aren’t.

I really love the tea and the food here. The experience is worth it as well, as it is so beautiful inside there. The service, however, is not the best. Me and my mom had to ask seceral times for a burner for our teas. We had to ask several times for cream and jam for our scones. It’s a shame because this place is top notch in every other area.

This is the cutest place! I made a reservation for one (gasp eating alone) for 11:30am on a Sunday. I had an expired groupon that they still honored for the amount paid. The ambiance is very whimsical and ~fancy~ without being pretentious.
The place is run by a husband and wife team. The husband seemed like he was the chef or food runner while the wife was the server and hostess. The first thing I noticed were all the cute cups, plates and bowls of sugar cubes!
On Sundays, they don’t serve the whole menu but you do get the option of High Tea or Bottomless Brunch. I opted for the brunch since it was early. There were 3 tea choices that day– black tea with almond, green tea with mango, and rooibos tea with lavender and mint. I choose the rooibos tea for something different. The tea came out in a cute tea pot with a little thing of cream. Everything made me so delighted!
The oatmeal with brown sugar and cinnamon came out first along with a plate of Belgium waffles with sweet cream and a small pitcher of syrup. Next came a full plate of the other foods included with your brunch: roasted potatoes with onions (seasoned well and had something else in it that I can’t figure out, maybe orange peel?), fruit (watermelon slice, orange slice, pineapple chunk), bacon, steamed kielbasa in orange gran marnier sauce, egg chef’s selection was a vegetarian frittata (very delectable, I ordered this twice), and a large scone that came with fruit preserves and clotted cream (who doesn’t like clotted cream?!). Coffee (if you like) and orange juice are also included in the brunch.
The frittata, waffles, and scone were my favorite as you can tell these were homemade. While I love bacon, these strips were the pre-​cooked ones that you heat up so (-) negative for that. The kielbasa were the pre-​packaged kind also dressed up with the orange sauce. And as I do not like potatoes, I am surprised I ate all of the roasted potatoes (flavor trumps preference I guess)!
Although brunch is bottomless, I was already full off of my first helping! Definitely come here hungry if you opt for the brunch.
The owner, Kim and her husband Michael were always making sure that I was comfortable and kept asking if I needed something. I noticed there was a basket of hats as I was leaving. This is definitely a good place to bring children. For those who want a quiet place to study, they actually have wi-​fi also. There was a girl in the front bistro room who had her tablet out.
All in all, I had a fun time, food was good and I will be back again. Next time I am going to try their High Tea as I love finger sandwiches!

My friends and I tried out this tea room last week. It was not a great experience. The only reason I gave them two stars is because the food itself was good.
We arrived on time for our reservation, but were made to wait 15 minutes before being seated. The staff apologized and said they had a group that had booked a reservation and then shown up with 15 – 20 extra people. I can understand wanting to try and work to help accommodate groups, but this was just a bad move on the part of management.
First, this was not a group of ladies having a shower or party, it was some sort of sales pitch. They took up half the room and were so loud the entire time that my friends and I could barely hear each other over the noise. I know we were not the only patrons upset by this, because another table asked to be moved farther away from the group.
In addition to the noise issue, it took over two hours to finish lunch because the service was so ridiculously slow (no doubt because there was not enough staff on hand to cover the large group and the other patrons).
As I said, the food was good, but be prepared for the tiny portions you will be served. We ordered the High Tea with soup or salad on the side. Even with the extra side, all of us were still hungry at the end of the meal and joked we needed to go grab a snack.
Overall, a very bad experience. Again, I know that the management was trying to be accommodating to the group, but they need to understand their limits. Obviously, they did not have the staff or food* to handle both the group and their other diners. I know my friends and I will not be returning there and will definitely warn others to stay away.
* It was loudly announced during the meeting that those who had not made reservations would not be served lunch because of a shortage of food.

I went here earlier today with a bridal shower party of about 12 or 15 women. Our server was Kathy and she was wonderful. The set up and table display was very nice and surprisingly it wasn’t crowded at all considering we were there around 11:30ish. We had waffles, oatmeal, sausage, bacon, eggs, and many more breakfast/​brunch items which were all very good. My favorite tea flavor was the green tea. The strawberry kiwi one was good too.

I had high tea with a friend here and while the tea was outstanding, the sandwiches were nothing special. They were things that I could make better at home and not what I would typically expect from a $ 16.95 High Tea service. The service was not very good either, as one of the ladies was pretty rude to us most of the time. My friend spilled her tea a bit because it got stuck on the saucer and she just threw her a napkin and kept talking to the table next to us telling them «sorry about that» like we were an inconvenience. It took my friend 15 minutes to even get her back over to get her a new saucer. There were not that many people there so it’s not like it was a busy day. Overall, I probably wouldn’t go back here, but if I did, it would be just to get tea and nothing else.