Tea Room Review: Afternoon Tea at Tea and Sympathy in New York

Once Xak and I knew we were heading to New York for Pokemon Go Fest 2024, we knew we had to build in time for afternoon tea. In fact, we had ambitious goals to see if we could attend not one, but TWO afternoon tea places during our short weekend trip. While Saturday would be completely dedicated to12 straight hours of roaming New York and catching Pokemon, Friday and Sunday would be an excellent way to start and end our trip with some tea time.

Our PoGo Fest party included the Bulba Buds: our friend Pablo (who went with us last year), Xak’s cousin Sidney, and his girlfriend, Brooklyn. 

Almost every tea place we’ve visited requires reservations, and I figured this would be the same for such a busy city like New York. The problem was timing a reservation with our different train arrival times, building in enough time to check in to hotels, and also considering the time it would take to stop and catch Pokemon along the way. It took a ton of preparation, but alas, we finally settled on our reservation for Tea and Sympathy on Friday, July 5th at 5 PM. 

About Tea and Sympathy in New York

Tea and Sympathy has been around for 30+ years serving classic British comfort food like sausage rolls and Sunday roast dinner (with Yorkshire puddings) as well as traditional British desserts like sticky toffee pudding, Victoria Sponge cake, and Bakewell tarts in West Village’s Greenwich Avenue.

Nicky Perry, the owner from UK, has provided “proper cuppas” since the 90s alongside her late husband, Sean who passed away in 2023. Over the years, the two opened a grocery store called Carry on Tea and Sympathy and a fish and chip shop called A Salt and Battery, both which are located next door. Several celebrities have graced the doors of Tea and Sympathy and enjoyed tea at this well known New York establishment.

If you search for “afternoon tea in New York City”, you will most certainly stumble upon Tea and Sympathy as a first page result. In fact, afternoon tea is the first thing listed at the top of the menu, as an item that is served all day. Clearly this must be a popular choice for guests, and soon we would be one of them!

Reservation Process

Tea and Sympathy reservations are available online through Yelp with a small caveat: a party of 4 or more (like us) must pick up the phone and call. After we confirmed that all 5 of the Bulba Buds would attend, Xak placed the call.

Our reservation consisted of leaving a name, phone number, desired date and time, and the number of people in the party (in our case 5). After hanging up, Xak also received a text message with a Yelp link to manage his reservation through the Yelp app.

The day before our reservation, Xak received a confirmation text as well as another one on the day of. Can’t say you weren’t reminded.

Parking

According to Yelp, nearby street parking is available, but who drives their own car in New York? The restaurant is a 1 mile walk away from Penn Station (Amtrak), which we chose to do since we were busy catching Pokemon and doing a few raids along the way. Tea and Sympathy is also only 0.1 miles away from the 14th St subway station. It is pretty accessible through public transportation, walking, or if all else fails, getting dropped off.

Exterior

Since we saw during the reservation process that there was no grace period for being late, the Bulba Buds made sure to hoof it to arrive on time for our reservation. You can imagine how happy (and thirsty) we were to see the tea room after walking in 90+ degree heat.

The store front had a sign with exterior benches on both sides of a narrow red door. There is also outdoor, covered seating available for customers. Since we had booked our reservation in advance for a party of 5, I wasn’t clear where exactly we would be seated. I hoped it wasn’t outside in 90+ degree heat 🤞

The Tea Room

We walked inside (single file, like Tusken Raiders since we couldn’t fit through the door any other way) and after informing them of our reservation, we were told to wait outside while they prepared our table. There was absolutely no room to stand around inside, so we headed back out (single file, again) to wait. The good news is, telling us to wait outside meant that our table was inside, right?

After a few minutes of intense Pokemon chatter, the red door opened again and we were informed our table was ready. As we walked back in (yes, single file), we were led to two small tables pushed together against the back wall with seating for five. After squeezing into our seats, I got a look around the dining room.

The tea room is quite tight, but has enough tables for quite a few small parties. The walls were filled with British themed artwork hung askew on the walls, chalkboards with menu items, and several dishes on display. Almost every square inch of space was filled.

The Tea menu

Since Tea and Sympathy is also a restaurant, there were several other non-tea food options including soups, salads, and sandwiches. The tea menu (listed on the same page as desserts) contained a large selection of black and herbal teas including some in house blends.

Pablo, Xak, and I all planned on ordering afternoon tea option (listed on the menu as “a multi-tiered stand with elegant finger sandwiches, scones with clotted cream and jam, a selection of freshly baked cakes and a pot of tea“). For tea flavors, Pablo settled on Yorkshire Gold, Xak chose Darjeeling, and I ordered (surprise surprise) the in house English Breakfast blend. Brooklyn and Sidney did not want afternoon tea, but since Nicky’s rules states that you must order something, they both ordered a bowl of custard alongside their Raspberry and Peach teas.

Our table was set with a flowered patterned tablecloth, silverware, salt and pepper, and granulated sugar in a shaker (no sugar cubes 😞). Our server brought us glasses and a large container of water, which disappeared nearly immediately. After informing the server we would be ordering tea, our table was soon filled with tea strainers, teacups and saucers and teaspoons. I was a little concerned because our table was quite full and we hadn’t received any food yet.

Our tea came out and each of us received a different colored teapot. Unfortunately the tea was extremely hot and practically burned your face off from the steam. I didn’t have “visiting a sauna” on my list of things to do in New York for that weekend.

We requested some milk, which was brought out in a small pitcher. Xak and I showed the table the purpose of the tea strainer and we poured our tea out and enjoyed the free steam facial as we waited for our food to come out, and for the tea to cool down to a more reasonable temperature.

At this point, our table was so full, I had no idea where our food was going to go.

The Food

As it turned out, we really didn’t have enough room for everything! Luckily, the servers were kind enough to offer a nearby table for some of our overflow items, like our water jug.

The three tiered tray was huge. It contained food for three people including 6 types of sandwiches, scones, and four different desserts. The server showed that the height of the tray allowed for clearance for a tea cup underneath the bottom tier. This did help a little since the table was seriously crowded. It was time to start eating.

Tea Sandwiches

Most tea rooms will typically serve 3-5 savories, usually sandwiches. You’ll occasionally get deviled eggs, quiches, or mini meat pies. Here at Tea and Sympathy, we received six different flavors of sandwiches which absolutely blew my mind. I love tea sandwiches, so this was a huge plus and almost made up for the scorching tea.

Our plates were about the same size as our saucer, so I could only fit three sandwiches at a time. The sandwiches included the following:

• Cucumber
• Chicken Salad
• Tuna Salad
• Cheese and Chutney
• Egg Salad
• Coronation Chicken

The cucumber sandwich had thickly sliced cucumbers on top of plain cream cheese spread on white bread. Not a lot of flavor, herbs, or seasoning. I know the way I prefer my cucumber sandwiches is not how everyone wants it, so while I wasn’t a big fan, Pablo liked it.

The egg salad sandwich was served on white bread with the chunky hard boiled egg mixture and green leaves that I believe were watercress. There wasn’t too much salt on this, but Pablo still seemed to like the sandwich. (hm…)

The chicken salad sandwich was again served on a different multi-grain bread. I like my chicken salad the same as my cucumber sandwiches: a ton of herbs and spices. Still, the filling itself was decent (or “average” according to Xak), but I think it would have benefited from being served on the white bread or even better, in a lightly toasted croissant.

The chutney and cheese sandwich was another new tea sandwich experience for me. I had previously had a Ballymaloe relish tea sandwich the week before at the Irish inspired Nora’s Terrace, but with turkey instead of cheese. Chutney and relish are similar in that they are condiments that consist of vegetables (typical for relish), spices, and can be paired with cheeses and meats. I’m not a big condiment person (serious understatement), but Pablo and Xak liked the flavor of the sandwich and would have preferred swapping the multi-grain bread for white.

The tuna salad sandwich is not something I typically see at most tea places. While it was an option during our Sheetz afternoon tea, we opted for the Ham salad instead (mistake!). The only other fish I’ve had at afternoon tea is salmon. I actually like tuna salad as a normal lunch option, and this one was liked by Pablo, Xak, and myself. The bread was the same multi-grain bread, but any health benefits from it were definitely cancelled out by the thickness of the tuna salad.

The Coronation chicken sandwich is one of Xak’s first tea sandwiches ever, served at the Grand Floridian at Disney World. Sadly we don’t seem to have this too much in other tea rooms, and I wish it was more common here in the states. The name comes from the food originally being prepared as part of the Coronation banquet for Queen Elizabeth II in 1953. Coronation chicken typically has curry powder and dried herbs and spices and you can see why it’s one of my favorites. All three of us enjoyed it, although again it would have benefited from different bread. I would love to make this one for a future tea at home (on different bread).

Overall, I appreciate the amount of sandwiches served and especially glad Coronation chicken was on the menu. Pablo liked everything, especially the coronation chicken and the cheese and chutney. Xak however did not actually finish any of the sandwiches, and he left little pieces of bread on his plate which he normally never does. I think all of us agree that the sandwiches would have been even better if different bread was used.

Scones

Considering the amount of sandwiches we got, like an American, I was just a tad bit surprised that we received only one normal sized scone. 😄 At most tea rooms you typically get one to two scones, so this is not out of the ordinary. I’m used to Xak’s delicious English Cream scones that he makes for most of our afternoons at home and these were quite different in both texture and taste.

Xak thought the scone was too light while Pablo thought it was too dry. These scones were certainly different from Xak’s, and also quite different from any of the other scones I’ve had at various tea rooms. The scones weren’t very memorable for me, but then again I am fortunate to eat Xak’s scones several times a month.

Desserts

Moving to the top tier were the full sized desserts. The only other time I’ve seen a full sized dessert was during our visit to Laura’s Tea Room in South Carolina where both Xak and I had our own slices of cake. In this case, we received four desserts and it seemed like the onus would be on us to figure out how to distribute them evenly.

• Strawberry cupcake
• Banana Bread
• Victoria Sponge cake
• Lemon Drizzle cake

Luckily we’re all friends here (2/3s of us are even married to each other after all 😄), so Xak took each dessert off the top tier and cut it on his plate before delivering a small segment to Pablo and me.

According to the menu and the site, the cakes are baked fresh daily and while I appreciated the variety, I didn’t find any of the desserts particularly memorable and I wish that I could have a full dessert all to myself instead of pieces on my plate.

Custard

While Pablo, Xak, and I were working our way through the three tiered afternoon tea tray, Sidney and Brooklyn ate their mandatory food purchases: bowls of custard. The custard must have been good because they both finished their bowls while patiently waiting for their tea to cool down to a more suitable temperature.

Payment

When we were first looking into Tea and Sympathy, the website menu had stated that afternoon tea was $50 per person (Note from Dani: this was in June 2024). During our actual visit however, the physical menu said afternoon tea was $60 per person and I noticed that this change has been updated on the website as I’m writing this in August 2024. $60 is on the mid to upper end for tea places that we typically visit. Less than the hotels, but more than most of the normal tea rooms. This price is in line with what I’d expect for the location and the popularity of the brand.

A pot of tea is $8 and since you’re required to get food there if you want to sit inside, the bowl of custard is probably your best bet since it’s $4 meaning $12 per person.

We chose to pay by credit card which does have an additional surcharge fee. On top of this, an 18-20% gratuity is expected. Overall, our tea experience was over $250.

Restroom aka The Loo

While some of the food was not very memorable, what was certainly memorable about this place is the restroom. Brooklyn was the first to use the restroom (labeled with a sign “The Loo”) and when she returned to the table, she immediately reported that this was the tiniest restroom ever. One by one, we all headed to the restroom either in curiosity, or necessity, and … she was right.

This is the smallest restroom I have ever been in. I’ve used the tiny bathrooms with pocket doors in airplanes, trains, and even an outhouse, and all of them were at least 3x roomier than “the Loo.” If you are claustrophobic, I highly recommend finding another bathroom elsewhere. This is definitely one way to ensure that your customers are only doing two things in the bathroom. 😄

After all of us experienced “the Loo”, we made sure our payment was settled and headed out the door (single file) to track down more Pokemon Go raids throughout New York city.

Final Thoughts

Although I’ve never visited England before and can’t vouch for the authenticity, this is what I imagine tea rooms to be like in England. This is a no frills place with a homey ambience. If you’re a fan of fancy hotel teas, this place is definitely not going to be your cup of tea.

While I see the charm in this place and why it’s beloved in the neighborhood, I don’t feel like that charm is reflected in the actual afternoon tea experience. Typically I see tea as a relaxing experience, and it’s hard to feel relaxed when you’re in very cramped quarters. The food and tea selections were not bad, but I think all of us would have preferred individual desserts and different bread for the sandwiches.

I actually would like to return one day, but not for the afternoon tea. I would like to try out one of the desserts, an entree, and visit the owner’s neighboring stores. I’m glad I got to experience the famous Tea and Sympathy, but I’m ready to find new tea places in New York.