Mad Hatter's Tea Room - Central Elgin

My sister and I had a fantastic experience at the Mad Hatter tea room yesterday. We indulged in the high tea, which included 4 assorted sandwiches each (egg salad, tuna salad, goat cheese with cucumber and ham, swiss cheese with tasty mayonnaise infused with dijon mustard) and 1 cranberry scone each. The scones were so delicious that I could have eaten them alone. Additionally, we each enjoyed 3 varieties of cookies (raisin chocolate chip, chamomile - which may sound strange but were delightful, and brownies). The food was superb, the tea was delightful, and the service was attentive without being overwhelming. I will definitely return, as I even purchased a 2 for $20 coupon for my next visit before leaving.

The tea room is connected to an antique shop, which is worth browsing if one enjoys such collectibles. The tea itself is selected from a large variety of loose leaf teas stored on shelves and is very good. Much of the food is made onsite, and was fresh when we visited. The High Tea is a good value for the Groupon price, but would be far overpriced at the regular rate (which no one seems to pay). There are less than 1/2 dozen tables, so the atmosphere is quite cozy. Regarding quantity of food at high tea remember it's an afternoon break, not a buffet. Comparable to other tea rooms one might find in rural Ontario; don't be afraid to take the drive to this one.

Having read the reviews, my expectations were very low, but overall our group had a lovely time. I think the difficulty is the Dealfind/Groupon description, and the implication you are getting $30 worth of food. If you were expecting high tea like in the Dealfind photo, it would be pretty disappointing, but if you're just looking for a cup of tea and a scone in a quaint setting, it's not that bad. The tea was nice, and our hot water was refilled without any fuss, in fact, the one lady running the tearoom went out of her way to be super accomodating to us. The sandwiches were, as others have stated, small slices of baguette with various toppings, and the scones and topping were small, but tasty enough. The cake was storebought, the chocolate was a wrapped Costco peanut butter cup, but the cookie on the dessert plate was homemade. I would never return for the food, but if you were going to the antique store anyway, it's a fine place to have a cup of tea. It's not fancy, it's not a place for foodies, but it's not terrible.

We saw this establishment highlighted via Groupon We noticed it was a tea room and decided to give it a try. The atmosphere was quaint. The actual tea room was not too large in keeping with the small sitting room atmosphere. It was surprising to learn that all the accompanying pastries are homemade on the premises. I have read other reviews and find their opinions in keeping with big city High Teas . They have overlooked the small quaint atmosphere and mismatched cups hell people ... that 's part of the ambiance. If people want to have a large serving .... they should attend a lunch not an afternoon tea. We will be back again

As the other reviews state this was a total let down...received barely any food ...royal high tea is supposed to be regular priced $42 for two... What????!! I can,t believe it ...also the glass that covered the table was dirty our mismatched wine glasses were dirty and had finger prints all over them...there was maybe 2 sips of some aweful fizzy drink....we were four and there was barely enough cream or jam for our scones as small as they were....the tea cozy on our teapots were tea stained and dirty...we were so looking forward to it and we left so disappointed....plus they were washing dishes in the open kitchen while we were eating....chocolate cake was small and not well prepared and not homemade definitely Duncan Hines....don't be fooled!!!!!!!