Jane C.
Yelp
This was my first time at a tea experience, so I invited a friend who's familiar with high tea. The space is gorgeous, especially now as everything is dressed for the holiday season - from the tree in the corner to the poinsettia cups and and candy striped teapots. I was especially endeared by the sugar cubes, which were shaped like trees and gingerbread men. With the cushy, pastel-colored cushions and a brightly lit backdrop, The Dirty Tea is an Instagrammer's dreamscape. Service, too, is friendly and cheerful. Everyone from our server to the owners were warm and welcoming from start to finish. You're even offered a complimentary glass of champagne upon being seated. Toward the end, when my friend and I took a brief moment to sit by the front sofa, one of the owners offered to take a photo for us, with painstaking effort taken to pose us and move the cushions to the most picturesque spot. It made us feel special, and wouldn't you know it, they were indeed some of the best photos someone's taken of me in a long time.
With all that, I'm afraid both of us left feeling a tad underwhelmed. The platter of sweets and savories seemed teeming with deliciousness upon arrival, but nothing seemed overly impressive upon closer glance. There were a few triangled sandwiches - cucumber, chicken salad, and turkey with cranberry, with the latter served on a bun that tasted slightly stale and too thick to appreciate the innards. The top tier contained varied sweets - scones, a chocolate pastry, cookies, crackers, and a few Ferrero Rocher chocolates. This fared slightly better, but for a whopping base charge of $95 per person (plus tax, an automatic 20% tip, and an invitation to add more gratuity at the end), one would really expect more. We were also surprised to find that our choice of sparkling water had added yet another extra charge (a slight misunderstanding, since it was offered to us after we turned down the complimentary champagne).
It ached me to rate our afternoon tea experience as three stars, especially because everyone we met was incredibly nice. It's also clear the owners care about their customers and take the time to stop by each table. If you're coming in for a special occasion, especially one with lots of hopeful photo ops, I think Dirty Tea is well worth checking out. But from a sheer value proposition, the cover charge felt quite steep compared to the experience.