2.5 for afternoon tea.
I've been to the Old Mill several times over the last 18 years: for weddings, the Sunday buffet, business presentations but mostly for afternoon tea. Afternoon tea was awesome when I first started going as a child with my parents, but it's been sliding downhill the last few times I've been with friends. Here are a couple of things our party was disappointed with in our latest visit:
- it was for my birthday -- which doesn't mean anything now, no special treats or extras! Years ago they brought out my dessert with a candle.
- over the phone we were told our reservations were for 3pm but when our party got there we were told the tea room would not be open until 3:30pm!
- the tea room was PACKED! It was as noisy as a school cafeteria. I have never been there with so many people crammed into that room. The tea service flowed into the main dining room...that's how many people were there for tea!
- we requested more devon cream because what we got was not enough to frost a cupcake...we were told it would be $1.25 extra if we wanted another dollop! (Luckily our server was pretty cool and gave us one on the side with a wink)
- the food was OK but the sandwiches could use some work. The watercress sandwich felt like I was eating a dry salad between two slices of bread.
One more concern to add for anybody who is considering booking a large party for tea, about two years ago my friend's mother-in-law booked a bridal shower for her and specifically requested that our party be seated in the tea room overlooking the gardens. We were guaranteed the tea room. When we arrived early to set-up we were shocked to find our party had been moved into the main dining room. Even though we were adjacent to the tea room it was so dark in our section!! We raised a fuss with the manager but were told they would not seat us in the tea room unless we could guarantee to be out of there in less than two hours because they had to set-up for a dinner event. Seriously???No apologies were made at any point.