Tea & Sympathy
British restaurant · West Village ·
British restaurant with afternoon tea, scones, and finger sandwiches
British restaurant with afternoon tea, scones, and finger sandwiches
"All the commonplaces of British working-class cooking are present in this small cafe decorated with teapots, posters of the late Queen, and other knick-knacks. The tea service alone is worth experiencing, with finger sandwiches, scones, and ornate porcelain teapots to put you in the mood, but the cottage pie, pasties, fish and chips, roast chicken Sunday dinner, and breakfast pastries are also worth contemplating." - Robert Sietsema
"British restaurant offering afternoon tea with finger sandwiches, freshly baked cakes, and scones served with jam and clotted cream." - Elizabeth Rhodes Elizabeth Rhodes Elizabeth Rhodes is a special projects editor at Travel + Leisure, covering everything from luxury hotels to theme parks to must-pack travel products. Originally from South Carolina,
"At Tea & Sympathy I found that they offer Sunday roast in chicken, beef, lamb, or vegetable versions." - Kathleen Squires
"On the Little England stretch of the West Village, I saw every seat at the decades-old Tea & Sympathy taken both indoors and out as customers gathered late into Thursday night to mourn the death of Queen Elizabeth II; the scene felt strangely upbeat, though these are normally jolly places anyway." - Luke Fortney
"I learned that this popular West Village tea shop was conceived by London expat Nicola Perry—who drafted a business plan in the nineteen-eighties—and that she held the first afternoon tea there two days before Christmas in 1990. The classic service (tea service from $40) arrives on a two-tiered platter of finger sandwiches, scones with jam and clotted cream, vanilla sponge cake, and hot black tea served in the daintiest of cups; the atmosphere can even take on the feel of a pub. Perry has had to institute house rules printed on the menu, including No. 5: “Be pleasant to the waitresses.”" - David Kortava