Carriage House Cafe & Tearoom

Lousy service and overpriced food.
The tea is OK if you are into drinking perfume. I also asked for iced tea which is on the menu and was informed they were out. How does a tea house be out of iced tea in the Summer? I got lemonade instead which tasted like that Countrytime powder mix.
I made the mistake of ordering the bread plate for one $ 6. You get 2 pieces of tiny bread (half slices about 2in by 3in) and one scone that is good for about one bite for six dollars!
The service was awful. Waitress did not bring ice as requested; we had to ask twice. She never asked if we wanted refills on cold beverages then disappeared when we needed the check. I went inside to request my bill and was given an attitude about it.

My sister wanted to go to this place because of the tea because she thought it would be cute. It was not what we expected at all. The service was the worst I ever had. The girl gave us 15 minutes to look at the menu when there was only 5 things to choose from and when she finally came back to take our order she didn’t even ask us what drinks we wanted. If we would not have said them we would’ve never got the tea which we came for. I also asked for half and half for my tea and never got it even after the food was delivered. My dad also asked for a bowl of soup and got a cup of it. The sandwich we got were also supposed to come with chips and a salad and we never got the chips. She also gave us our check and priced our sandwiches at 12 dollars instead of 10. There’s only four things on the menu how do you not know the prices by now? The server also ran after us as we were leaving because she thought we didn’t pay the right amount but she then realized she counted wrong. The service at this place is awful and I would never come back or recommend it.

This café and tearoom is very quaint and especially historic. We ordered full afternoon tea with one pot of English Breakfast and one of their fabulous Carriage House Tea. It’s flavorful and fragrant. The salad was good, scones were tasty, and desserts were amazing! The sandwiches could have been better. The service was friendly, especially considering the pressure they seemed to be under for an afternoon event hosted at the Carriage House that day. This tearoom is on the Physick Estate, which offers plenty of tours daily.

Came here to have afternoon tee with my daughters. I think it was wonderful. It gave them a real feeling for a tea party. The cups and teapot were very pretty. We had lunch and it was good.
Had the tea breads and scones, the kids had grilled cheese and egg salad. All fresh and goid. Fruit medley tea was good for a grown up, daughter didn’t like it, we will try a different blend next time

Awful… Do not go! Very poor quality and not worth the price
–bread was stale
–scones were stale
— only had 4 choice of tea
— small portions
I could have gone to my local shoprite for better baked goods!
If you want to go to a teahouse go to Teaberrys in Flemington.

Lame!!! My wife and I visited in late October on a rainy Saturday. My wife was really looking forward to some good «hot» English tea with some pastries. We received «iced» tea, 3 lame sandwiches and 2 tiny pastries each. For $ 50 for the both of us, we were highly disappointed. Afternoon tea with ICED TEA!!! Give me a break!!! Psychic was fun, but that only lasted 5 mins. Also, it is in a tent, so if it is cold out, it will be cold in there. Definitely would not recommend!!! Waste of an hour and $ 50.

Went to a special event, sounded like afternoon tea with a twist, palm readers and fortune tellers. Paid 25 per ticket.
No cups or tea pots… glasses with choice of lemonade or diluted tea.
No frills… salad? and three half sandwiches that didn’t impress… pretty bad actually.
Then…one guy walks in with a canvas hood and starts reading palms. We left after an hour… we were hungry and didn’t want to wait as palm reader was only at second table with about 15 minutes left.
It’s a shame because it could have been a wonderful time if only some effort was put forth… I’ve Never been to a tea without hot tea!!! Over priced and poorly presented.

I love this place! We go here every year and sit in the stable section for the ambience. We do the afternoon tea which includes choice of tea (seems every so often they change out brands), tea breads with clotted cream and jam, scones, a chef’s choice of 5 sandwiches, and a choice of desserts. It’s always a lovely experience and one of our must-​dos when we visit each year.
I would give them 5 stars except we’ve been going here so long that we’ve seen changes over the years which makes us sad to see some things go by the wayside. We loved having our tea breads, scones and sandwiches served on the three-​tiered tray. It doesn’t seem they use them anymore and haven’t for a while. We wish they would bring back the loose tea. The teacups used to be old-​timey china cups, but now they seem to be plain white ceramic cups. And, we used to be able to choose our sandwiches. Now it’s chef’s choice.
Everything is still delicious, but those old touches made it so charming and a much more special experience.
Still, it’s a lovely way to spend an afternoon with scrumptious cakes, scones, sandwiches and desserts. We will be going again next year! :-)

Very good food, but horrendous service, while pleasant, awfully slow. Food took a long time for us as well as other tables around us as we all seemed to be looking at around each other. Enjoyed the curried shrimp sandwich and house salad.

My mom and I love afternoon tea, so we came here on a Wednesday. They have a shop, a few indoor tables, and a lot of outdoor tables. We sat outside, and the tables were next to a garden– it was a really peaceful ambiance. We arrived around noon, and there was only one or two other outdoor tables occupied. By the time we left, there were about 6 tables occupied.
We both ordered the elegant afternoon tea ($ 15 per person). In addition to the elegant afternoon tea, there is classic tea luncheon ($ 20), including a soup or salad, five tea sandwiches, a sweet plate, and hot tea. They also sell lunch a la carte. They have soup, salad, quiche, sandwiches, wraps, baked goods, desserts, and kids’ meals. For the elegant afternoon tea, per person, they gave you a small scone, two small pieces of bread (pistachio bread and I think cranberry), three triangles of tea sandwiches, and a medium-​sized dessert item. For dessert, we could pick from chocolate chip cheesecake and a chocolate cake. My mother ordered an iced tea, and I ordered water and a pot of Earl Grey.
All the waitresses seemed pretty young. Ours didn’t seem quite on the ball as the other waitresses, but she was really nice. We had trouble getting our water and iced tea refilled quickly– I think we each got one refill during the meal. My hot pot of tea came out about 5 – 10 minutes after our afternoon tea order, which was a little weird. The scone and bread were soooo good. We even bought a loaf of pistachio bread when we were leaving to take home– that’s how good it was. We picked our tea sandwiches– I got 2 orders of egg salad and one special sandwich– I think it was pineapple cream cheese with ham and apples. They were both tasty, although the egg salad sandwiches needed a tad more egg salad. For dessert, we each ordered one of the desserts and shared them. The desserts were bigger than I expected. Both were clearly homemade and not bad. However, they were super sweet and we couldn’t finish them.
Overall, the tea was pretty good. The service and timing of items can definitely be improved. I thought the ratio of savory to sweet food was a little off– smaller desserts and 1 – 2 more tea sandwiches would have been better. However, we had a nice, relaxing afternoon tea, and we’ll probably be back next summer!

Disappointing. Overpriced and the service was very poor. Cannot recommend.

Had lunch here on a recent rainy Sunday (10-​7-​2012).
Can’t say enough good things — I had the afternoon tea which consisted of a pot of tea (I got the raspberry), tea breads & traditional clotted cream, choice of half sandwiches (I got the roasted vegetables & hummus, cucumber, and egg salad), & choice of dessert (I got the flourless chocolate cake topped with traditional clotted cream).
I’m still dreaming of the tea cakes & cream — it’s one of the most delicious things I’ve ever had — the setting was great (we sat outside in the tented patio area) — Shane was our server & provided top-​notch service & the music was classical/​soothing/​not too loud. It was a definite respite from the outside world & the gift shop at the front of the restaurant is charming.
I highly recommend anyone eat at this café — we didn’t tour the estate but just wanted a look around — & out of all the places we ate at in Cape May, this one was the best!

We were here 2 years ago, it was much more a traditional tea then. Now you get one tea bag per person (Really a tea bag???), shared pot, no cozy to keep the water hot should you want to reuse your tea bag. No tiered platter. The sandwiches & sweets were good. But the presentation was inadequate.
These folks need to go to the Plaza & relearn how to serve tea.

Just had lunch with a couple of my friends while visiting Cape May. I was amazed this place only got 3 ½ stars, i defiitely think it deserves 4 or 5. The service was great and everything we ordered, from drinks to lunch to desserts was perfectly flavored, portioned and presented. I heard from the owner of the B&B I stayed at that they brought in a new chef recently so maybe it did the trick but I definitely plan to come back to this place whenever I am in Cape May.

I really liked this place. It felt so special to me, like a little girl on her birthday. I loved the atmosphere and the scenery is gorgeous. The food was great. Fresh and tasty. Portions are very small however, so don’t come too hungry. I went with my husband for a late afternoon lunch and we both found it to be pleasant and fun. I would also really love to bring my little nieces here. I think it would be very fun for little girls.

I love having afternoon tea and this place is not bad. Surprisingly enough the café was busy so it was a good thing my friend made a reservation. I opted for the classic luncheon combination that included tea bread, mini-​scones, salad, 3 half-​sandwiches, dessert, and iced tea. The hostess was nice and the waitress was extremely friendly. She always promptly refilled our iced teas.

Haven’t been to many teahouses, but this experience was far from what I was expecting. We made a reservation here for 10 girls on a Sunday afternoon as the last event of a bachelorette weekend. The woman we booked with gave us the impression that it was a prix-​fix type of arrangement and we had no option but to pay 18.50 each for our afternoon tea/​lunch. As most of the group was vegetarian, we also inquired about our options and were assured we’d have many choices.
Once we arrived, we were greated very kindly and seated in a lovely tented room. Unfortunately, it was a cold and rainy day, so we were quite uncomfortable. When we asked them to turn up the heat, cold air began blowing out and they explained that it takes awhile to before the air becomes warmer. Thirty minutes later, we were still freezing.
Now on to the food… the tea was not loose leaves, rather bags, which I wasn’t impressed with. The sweet breads were okay, but the clotted cream was delicious! Some girls didn’t drink tea, so asked for a soda instead. They ended up charging them additional for that, which I think is ridiculous.
Their menu is extremely confusing. Basically it came down to having only three choices… mini sandwiches, salad or quiche. The soup was not vegetarian, so again not an option for most in my party. I ended up ordering the salad as my meal. I was still starving after eating clumped up couscous on top of stale greens and a few cherry tomatoes covered in very lumpy creamy balsamic. Those that ordered the mini sandwiches said they had no taste and most didn’t even finish their meals.
The highlight of the meal was the dessert… a flourless chocolate torte served with some clotted cream. It was delicious! Again, only two options for dessert… the torte or a cup of fruit (which turned out to be canned mixed fruit).
Overall, I enjoyed the company I had, the service was okay, ambiance was nice (other than being cold) and the food was terrible. Not worth the $ 25 I ended up spending in the end.

I love this tearoom. I make it a point to come here every time I vacation in Cape May. The clotted cream (I know, it DOES sound gross) is really delicious as are the sandwiches and sweet breads. The last time I was here I came with my aunt, sister and mom to have a nice girls luncheon. It is a fun and different thing to do, especially if dreary weather is ruining your beach time!

The Twinings Tearoom is located at the Emlen Physick Estate, a beautiful mansion in Victorian Cape May. You have the option of sitting outside, if you prefer, to enjoy your tea. The Twinings Tearoom has a variety of teas, although they are all from tea bags instead of leaves. I go to tearooms with my girlfriends for the afternoon tea. However, both my brother and boyfriend have enjoyed meals at the Twinings Tearoom — probably because they have the option of soup, salad, or a sandwich (and not just finger sandwiches).
I’ve always had prompt service here and a nice quiet meal. They also have a cute gift shop with many teapots and accessories.
It’s a healthy walk from the middle of town but you can also take a trolley there and back!