Victorian Rose Tearoom & Cafe

This place was quite neat when it was at the other end of Broad street, but things changed quite a bit on our most recent visit to the new location. Granted, it was pretty busy at lunch, but the service was terribly slow. We waited over 45 minutes after we ordered to be brought our food — so long, in fact, that we needed to get the food in a box to go in order to return to work. Also, when they brought our tea, they forgot to bring teacups and a warmer, and we waited over 15 minutes just for those while our tea sat on the table getting cold. Given that our experience was positive in times past, I’ll probably give it one more chance before giving up completely.

Nice sandwiches and tons of tea selections makes this a nice place to grab a bite of lunch. The downsides are the décor (which is over the top grandma), the fact that some of the deserts on the tea menus were clearly store bought (mini cupcake with bright colored disk sprinkles) and I’m pretty sure the «clotted cream» was actually CoolWhip.

I like the chicken salad sandwich on a crescent roll, that is what I always get. The sandwiches and tea are good, the desserts are so so. Some of the desserts are better than others, l would say the petit flours aren’t the best and I agree with the previous poster about the mini cupcakes. The big cakes that are served in slices are decent though. Victorian Rose seems to cater to old women, with red hat society paraphernalia, pictures of grandchildren and flowers everywhere. This isn’t exactly what I usually look for, though the place is very clean and they have nice, substantial silverware and napkins. They also have odd opening hours. The place is decorated like an old lady’s closet but whatever, the food is good. The owners are very nice and the place is also nice with good food so I come here often.