The Picket Fence & the Garden Tea Room

Place looks nice. Didn’t have enough options on the menu to choose from. Tea was good. Overall it was ok.

No stars is the rating I give this establishment but have to give one to make a post.
My sister and I had reservations for tea. I arrived before her and literally stood there, where it says, «Wait to be seated,» for 35 minutes before getting seated or even acknowledged.
We were given menus, which appeared to be a bit pricy and was told they’d be right with us. We sat about 20 minutes before walking out to go down a little ways and across the street for top notch service.
Service, to me is key so don’t plan on going back.

My daughter and I visited The Picket Fence & Tea Room recently when she was home on spring break. What a treat! The tea was delicious (and I consider myself a connoisseur of tea.) Each tea sandwich was tasty and complemented the whole meal. The desserts were delectable and just the right size. The scone was topped off by homemade cream and jam. The décor of the Tea Room is wonderful. The walls are colorfully painted. It was just the right stop to feel like it was spring even though wearing winter coats. We will definitely return. If you are looking for a fun experience beyond the usual lunchtime deli sandwich, this is a great choice. For all that you get, the price is very reasonable.

My mother and I used to go here for High tea quite often. We hadn’t been in well over a year, so we made reservations 2 weeks ago, since we really liked the place. Well, we were VERY disappointed with the service and food. for High Tea, $ 20 is a steep price to pay for what you get. They used to serve 3 tiered platters, now it’s a measly 2 tier. The sandwiches are so tiny, and flavorless. The egg salad was a smear of foam, everything needed some salt — and there were no salt and pepper shakers. You used to get your own cream and jam for the scones, now we had to share a small portion. The scones were also about half the size they used to be. We both got our own pot of tea, and they were 2 different sizes! I don’t use sugar in my tea, and all they offered were sugar cubes. No Splenda, Truvia, etc. They also gave us an overload of crummy, grocery store made mini cupcakes. They were stale and had way too much hard icing. I would rather have had more, or bigger sandwiches for lunch. We had to keep asking for a water refill, and it took forever. There were only 3 other tables with people, so we didn’t understand the delay. Our server wasn’t well trained, kept forgetting things, and showed no sense of urgency to serve tables. The owner was sitting at one of the tables near us, eating and doing some kind of book keeping. Doesn’t she have an office? They really need to work on the quality of their food and have a higher standard for their service. I could have had a prime rib dinner for that much money. Instead we left hungry and disappointed. I won’t ever go back to the Picket Fence.

My mom and I ventured in on a rainy Sunday afternoon. We love to support local businesses and recently saw the spot on
. This typically means businesses are trying to build clientele.
When we entered, we were not greeted with a smile, a «Hello» or even «Can I help you?» A woman who appeared to be the owner only from process of elimination, certainly not her appearance huffed past us and asked if we had a reservation.
The website does recommend reservations but does not require them. Being in the restaurant business and owning a small business myself, if we were kindly told we could not be accommodated without a reservation, I would have certainly understood. However, being in the business, I cannot understand not wanting to represent one’s business well, providing great and personable service as this is a service industry or not wanting to encourage as much business as possible (especially in this economy) .
When I replied that I did not have a reservation, the woman then actually threw the tableware on the table, and knocked on it, saying «You can go here, we do close at 2:30» in a scolding manner. To be honest, I hadn’t been spoken to that way since I was in Catholic School and Sr. Mary caught me passing notes. It was 1:45 at that time and please note my mother and I dined and paid our check by 2:20.
I was going to leave at that point but the one saving grace was the young girl who appeared to be the owner’s daughter. She was quirky and inexperienced but at least smiled and attempted to be personable.
Overall she was attended to us and personable for most of the meal.
When we ordered there were several things on the menu not available. When I presented my
certificate, I was told it was not acceptable during the holiday season. This was an outright lie as I deal with
both as a consumer and business owner. I followed up with them as well and they confirmed this was not accurate.
During our meal and after requesting our check, the young girl was more concerned with setting the tables and preparing for the next day of service. The owner stomped about the store not making eye contact, smiling or ever coming to our table and asking how our meal was. Something that an owner would always do especially when only 2 tables are occupied.
The meal was very disappointing. Nothing we could not have whipped up from the contents of our fridge after a long stretch of not grocery shopping. It was more like a brown bag lunch. While spending $ 40 on lunch is not outrageous for us, we could have had better at the local diner (we has a small salad, a sandwich and 2 teas).
Instead of thanking us as we finally received our check, the young girl told us that we were lucky to have gotten in. We were then told we would just have to come back if we wanted to use the certificate. Even at a 5 star restaurant in the city on a busy Saturday, I would have had a better treatment without a reservation. We will not be back.

My mother and 2 aunts always go to get tea and sandwiches the day after Christmas as a tradition. This year they went as per usual. They shopped around in the little store and bought over $ 100 in items. When they were leaving, they asked for additional bags because the bag was heavy and seemed as if it wasn’t going to hold all of the items. The woman working at the store told my mother that «the bags don’t ever break» and that they were running low on bags so they refused to give them additional bags for their items. Only about a few steps out of the store the bag breaks and so does my mother’s candle. My family went back in and asked for another bag and explained the situation. The woman was annoyed and reiterated to my family that «this never happens.» One thing that will «never happen again» will be my family giving this place any more business. The food is OK at best, a rip off for what you pay. Needless to say, 1 star is a stretch.

Just eh to me. I love high tea and recognize that it’s not supposed to be a meal but for $ 18 you could get a few more bites to eat. Another scone or tea sandwich at least would make the tea a much better value. You get about 5 tiny tea sandwiches, a scone, and two desserts.
For the kid’s high tea, you can either get 3 tea sandwiches or 3 peanut butter and jelly ones. The owner/​manager/​waitress did let my niece get one cucumber one plus the PB&J which was nice of her.
I wish there were more tea places to choose from.

Not the best but not the worst either. Their menu is blah. When I go to a tea room I want tea sandwiches! Not quiche or big sandwiches but small, cute tea sandwiches. They had one option for this which included 5 mini sandwiches, 3 mini desserts and scone, plus a pot of tea. It was…$ 18. Kinda pricey for a tea room. The sandwiches were just ok, desserts were bad (freezer section from Shop Rite?) but the tea was good! The scone was DELICIOUS! The cream and jam that accompanied it were delightful as well. Overall this place was too expensive, didn’t have a good menu or desserts, but I would go back for tea and scones.