Serendipity Tea Room

This tea room is adorable and the owner is so incredibly nice! I’ve been wanting to go forever so took the opportunity to stop by earlier today. I love having afternoon tea but since I didn’t reserve in advance I just ordered off the menu.
The tea room is located in the corner of the antique mall and separated but open to the shopping area. The décor is very 1990s and its made to look like an outdoor garden. All the tables are set up with tea cups and cloth napkins. I choose a seat near the store side of the tea room area. The middle has a fountain surrounded by four columns with silk flowers on top. In general there are a lot of silk flowers.
I had the peppermint tea which was brought in a small pot with raw sugar cubes and biscuits and strawberry butter, the biscuits were shaped like hearts — aww. For lunch I had the trio of salads — chicken, shrimp and fruit. The shrimp salad was more like a pasta salad with shrimp in it but good. The chicken salad was a little bland for my taste but not bad. The fruit comes with a creamy poppy seed dressing. To finish out the «tea experience» I had the raspberry puff pastry dessert — yummy and not too heavy.
With tax and tip I spent $ 25 on the experience which is inline with what I’ve spent elsewhere for afternoon tea. The actual afternoon tea requires 24 hour notice and is $ 29.95 per person for tea sandwiches, scones, chocolate strawberries and petit fours.
The décor is not to my personal taste but they’ve done a nice job of making it not look like the corner of a cinderblock walled store. Tea rooms in general aren’t for everyone but if it is your thing I recommend giving this place a try. Ill be back and yes, I do think my grandmother will love it.

I just can’t find the words. Probably three stars are overly-​generous, but it just seems mean-​spirited to rate this spot any lower. It’s earnestly (and unintentionally) kitschy, and completely entertaining for an hour or so.
I’d recommend this place to take your granny and her friends to lunch, or to have a «tea party,» which is what my friend decided to do for her birthday this year. The décor is just … amazing, and I don’t mean that in the «I want to copy it» way, but in the «I can’t believe this exists» way. (See pics for more details).
You can see straight through the coffee, the tea (as the earlier review stated) comes out of the box you buy at Kroger, but the experience is positively one of a kind. (Again, not in the «I want to do this again every week way» but more in the «Whoa. People really do that?» way).
The server told us all about how this tea room used to be very busy when she first worked here 20+ years ago, because it was the only tea room anywhere around. She also knows all of the ingredients for the shrimp and chicken salads by heart, and she’ll share them with you if you ask. Sadly, I couldn’t try either of the salads that came on my plate because I don’t eat meat. She said that next time, I should order the pasta salad, which is vegetarian (but because I went as part of a group luncheon, they had to do all the plates the same way — I didn’t choose the salads on my plate). The desserts looked like the best part, and unfortunately, I didn’t have more than a bite of the raspberry cheesecake. If I were to return, I’d maybe just get dessert and some of those heart-​shaped cheddar biscuits they bring out at the beginning with strawberry butter.
Go here, but know what you’re getting into. Come with a sense of humor, a mah-​velous hat, and understand that Serendipity Tea Room is off the beaten path for a reason.

The tea served came in tea bags that looks like they came from the supermarket. Definitely not a specialized tea place. Appetizers served to our kids clearly looked like someone already bit off it. It took them 10 – 15 minutes just to bring out a check and pay, while continuously gave us excuses that they were very busy. Our server was inexperienced, rude, yelled at us, and gave us attitude.