Babington’s

After some late lunch wine I began falling asleep on the Spanish Stairs waiting for our evening wine tour. Realizing sleeping on stairs wasn’t wise, I forced myself awake ad noticed this tea shop right next to the steps.
Wandering in, our first impression was how cute this place is! Completely themed down to the servers outfits, it’s a bit like dining in a Disney restaurant.
Prices, well, they went right along with the Disney thing, and seemed quite shocking at first. Our server indicated that we should each get one pot of tea per person, when really, a pot of tea yields more than one cup and could be shared (which would at least bring the price down to a reasonable point).
Overall, the service was pretty standard for Italy, and it took some prodding (begging) for the check, to be served etc.
It’s a cutesy place and worth checking out if you’re in the area and needing tea, but don’t go out of your way to get here.

After looking at the menu we initially felt it was overpriced — however the portion sizes make up for this, with huge slices of cheese cake/​cake and extra pot of hot water for your tea.
We overindulged in warm toasted scones with clotted cream and jam, the creamy lemon curd cheese cake (my fave) and strawberry crumble cake.
Two breakfast teas between the three of us were plentiful, amounting to 2 –3 cups each.
Pretty, quaint little restaurant with lovely helpful staff — we were never rushed during our visit.

It is so civilized to have tea and a snack at Babington.
I enjoyed an afternoon tea with «mignon» sweets. This is a pot of tea of your choice with a plate of cookies. It is all very pretty.
The shop is an island of Englishness in Rome.
I had a lovely chat with my neighbors, a retired British woman who lived in Rome and her two Portugese friends. The other neighbors were some fun law students from Lyon. Such an assortment of people stop it Babington that it really is a great representation of people that visit and live in Rome.

Yes, of course, we had to stop by at Babington’s. We had tea in their Tea Room back in late August. We ordered «High Tea» which included sandwiches and scones. How fun! We truly enjoyed the ambiance of it all. And the staff were friendly especially the young girl at the front who took a photo of us in front of the shop! (She noticed that we were each taking a photo of each other — the usual problem when you’re touring as a couple — so she stepped outside and said that she could take a photo of us. How sweet!)
Babington’s is next to the Spanish Steps and Keats-​Shelley Memorial House (museum). I highly recommend this place when you’re in the area! (They also serve gelato to-​go if that’s all you wanted.)

I go crazy for tea time and cucumber sandwiches! Babington is the tea house straight from a Jane Austen novel: floral wallpaper in pastels and shades of mint, female servers donning aprons, and *doilies.
The first time I came here, the servers were so rude that we walked out. The women were gossiping in the corner of the restaurant in Victorian dresses. When we asked what kind of desserts were available, she waved us to the glass case of cakes and told us to look ourselves before shuffling back to her flock of feathered fowls.
Thank goodness there were big changes. No more huge dresses; olive green aprons instead. I went here twice, each time during the afternoon and the tea rooms are packed! On my first visit, I came with a couple friends and we had a «Ritz» tea-​time: tiers of little sandwiches, hot scones with cream and jam, and kettles of tea of course. Yes, it was a splurge and us barbarians actually left full. Tea-​time is not a meal — it’s a holdover snack at midday! The sandwiches are plain because they’re not meant to be a meal.
This is a high $$$ environment with a handful of tourists and many well-​dressed older folk. Salads go for close to € 20 and I overlook the rest of the items. The latest time I went, I took my significant other for a short break from the July heat. The ice-​teas are very good (refreshing!) and I had to order those scones again.
Not a place I crave going, but definitely an option after pay-​day.
+Posh décor
+Better service
+Scones
+Wide selection of tea
–Price
–Previous experience

Went here par my friend’s suggestion.
Also it was rainy and gross outside and our legs were tired from trekking through Rome, so we decided to take a «break» and drink tea.
It’s located in the middle of a huge tourist area and when we walked in on a Monday around 5 pm, people were still drinking high tea! Haha what happened to dinner? The outside of the store isn’t too special, but it’s pretty big inside. As you walk in, you pass a small souvenir area with teas and cute mugs. The place is simple and quaintly decorated. Not like those super glamorous high tea places with diamond chandeliers and silver three tiered assortments of caviar sandwiches. It’s much more rustic/​cozy which means it must be legit? Idk but there were a lot of tourists (almost all tables were full) in the place, so I felt at home haha.
Waiters all spoke perfect English — another sign it’s a touristy spot. We were seated within 10 min and the waiter was super nice and service was quick — the quickest at all the places in Italy so far! My friend and I shared a two person high tea and it was freakin 35 euros… ouch. But I was down to splurge since when is the next time I’ll be in Rome. The tea came with milk, lemons, and sugar. And four fluffy scones — two currant and two plain. The scones were great — dense and buttery and soft. But they are still not worthy of 35 euros… lol. It came with whipped cream and homemade strawberry jam.
This place is a great place to go for tourists but expect it to make a dent on your wallet. There’s a lot of history behind this place (according to the pamphlets I didn’t read) and it makes for great Instagram pics, but there are definitely better classier glitzier high tea spots in the States.

Ein sehr schön eingerichteter teeladen mit exquisiter teeauswahl und sehr guter und optisch ansprechender kuchenauswahl.
Das personal ist sehr schnell zur stelle, freundlich, höflich und professionell.
Im hinteren Bereich befindet sich ein abgetrennter Bereich, wo es nach Urwald riecht und man auch tropische vögel hört sehr entspannend. Vor allem, wenn man draußen 40 grad im schatten hat und tausende von Touristen um einen herum.
Der laden ist direkt neben der spanischen treppe. Das ist schön, rechtfertigt aber nicht ein Preisniveau von 10,50EUR für eine Tasse tee
Deswegen werden wir wohl auch nicht wiederkommen.
Schade eigentlich.

Après une longue matinée à se promener dans le parc de la Villa Borghese, puis dans les rues de Rome, nous avons fait halte dans ce salon de thé historique à Rome pour une pause gourmande.
Beaucoup de monde, mais nous sommes placés assez rapidement. Nous avons commandé des clubs sandwichs, une part de gâteau chacun, un thé et un cappuccino.
Le service a été efficace, et tout est arrivé assez rapidement. Les clubs sandwichs étaient très bons, bien garnis et servis avec chips et salade. Ma part de gâteau à l’orange était très généreuse. Un bon gâteau, un poil sec mais avec un délicieux glaçage. On a été un peu plus déçus par l’assortiment de minis gâteaux. Bons dans l’ensemble mais pas exceptionnels.
Nous aurons au final passé un bon moment dans ce lieu cosy (hmmm le feu de cheminée), mais ce n’est pas non plus inoubliable.

We wanted to shop at the «tea shop» at Babingtons, but realized it is really just a restaurant, with a couple tea– themed souvenirs in the front. Seemed an awkward restaurant– the staff was perhaps a bit snooty. But maybe it’s ok for a meal.

Babington’s Tea Room may have been the place to go for tea 50 years ago, but certainly not anymore. The shop now merely relies on its reputation and location.
We sat down and it took 10 minutes before we were even acknowledged by a snooty waitress with a sour looking grimace and an overall lack of enthusiasm and professionalism.
I suppose it is possible that she was overwhelmed with three other tables of two and their order of sandwiches, but it looked like she just could not be bothered.
It goes without saying that the food and drinks were overpriced, but I can live with that given the excellent location and history. What I cannot live with is that that when the food finally arrived it was just marginal — certainly nothing to have this kind of arrogance about.
To sum it up go there for the experience and location — but plan to eat elsewhere before or after.

With two weeks of tea withdrawal when traveling between Rome and Tuscany, I was craving for tea. Ice is a luxury item in Italy in general and fresh brewed ice tea is extremely hard to find. I’m glad that I came across with this old style English tea room. Their special blend iced tea (served in carafe and a separate glass with lots of ice) and earl grey tea sorbetto can absolutely cool you down on a hot summer day. The earl grey tea sorbetto is on the flakier side, more like a handmade granita to me with fragrant bergamot infused tea flavor. It can absolutely help you to curb the heat when it is 38C outside.
The interior space is old style English tea room with a hint of swanky branding design which they added recently. They got some interesting tea blend such as «in mood for love» (an oolong tea with citruses) and Babington’s Blue Lady (Chinese green tea mixed with rhubarb, strawberries, figs and cherry) at their retail section. Wish I had extra space in my luggage…