Pamela's Tea Room

"We asked our server if they happened to have a selection of white teas and were met with a blank stare. Yes, it is odd that a person working in a tea shop doesn’t know what white tea is, but that isn’t the reason for this one star review. Our server seemed to take the fact that she had just been confronted with the mere existence of white tea personally, and instead of simply stating, “I apologize, we do not carry any white teas,” she instead attempted to convince us white tea isn’t a thing in Britain…. I really wish I could say I was making this up. That should have been the moment we got up and left. But we didn’t. Perhaps it was a certain morbid curiosity that kept me in my place, because it isn’t often I find myself in the presence of a person petty enough to try and convince an entire table of first generation British immigrants that none of the British isles, in all their centuries of plundering northeast India for spices, had ever come across white tea before. Not more than a few minutes later, we asked for a few ice cubes for our kids (aged 3 and 6), since they prefer cold beverages, and, once again, instead of simply stating “I apologize, we don’t have an ice maker,” our server chose to take this simple request as a personal insult, and tried to convince us that in a country full of 67 million tea drinkers, not a single one of them has ever tried it with ice. It was after this moment that our server inexplicably refused to interact with us for the rest of the afternoon, going far out of her way to avoid eye contact with us while serving other customers, all the while very loudly asking her Irish coworker whether white tea or ice in tea were things in Britain, a childishly obvious ploy to seek affirmation and cover for the fact that she simply just didn’t know what white tea was. But if our server ends up reading this review, allow me to educate you further on what aren’t things in Britain: 1) the British don’t serve bags of black Lipton tea still sitting in the pot long after it has sufficiently steeped, 2) the British don’t use cool whip in cucumber sandwiches, 3) the British don’t use Oroweat brand bread on one half of their tea sandwiches with wonder brand white bread on the other half, with little corners of crust cut into the sandwich, 4) the British don’t try to pass Smucker’s strawberry jelly off as jam, and they don’t try to pass butter off as cream, and 5) when British tea houses charge you 140 American dollars to enjoy a light lunch and afternoon tea, you’re typically paying for fresh leaves and baked goods, not five dollars worth of ingredients you scraped together from walmart. I’m something of a connoisseur when it comes to bad filmmaking. I love participating in schadenfreude, laughing at the perfect blend of cluelessness and incompetence, paired with the bewildering defensiveness these certain creators have toward their hilariously sub-standard products. If there is an equivalent type of restaurant-goer comprable to this kind of movie-goer, then Pamela’s Tea House is your Plan 9 From Outer Space. 5/5, superbly bad service."

"You might have seen my 5 star review here before. Unfortunately I have to change it to a 1 star. After going here multiple times and forking 150$ in just week trying out Pamela various dishes. I decided that I wanted to come only for tea as while the tea was great and cheap the food prices are unreasonably expensive(2 egg salad sandwiches for 16$) Pamela was greatly surprised we only wanted tea at the place called a tea room and pressured my sibling into buying food. Not only did she do this. After us not even finishing the tea, Pamela came over and said “well if your not going to get anything, get out” and told the guest behind her to take our seats as we were still sitting there. I don’t think I have ever been treated this way at any establishment. Pamela, your tea is great, but god you don’t treat customers that way. Not coming again."

"This was a very disappointing experience. I had read all the positive reviews and was really looking forward to this outing with friends. We were made to wait 25 minutes to be seated even though we could see that our table was ready. The service was extremely slow and there was no attention given to hospitality or cleanliness. My place setting was covered in something sticky. We tried to make the best of it and enjoy each other’s company. At 4:40, the owner, Pamela, walked to the table demanded our “undivided attention” and then told us to leave as the shop closes at 4:00. We had not even received the check yet. I wish she would have just told me to pick a different day to come if they could not accommodate us as they should. The room was unbearably hot, the table was dirty and, worse, Pamela was inexcusably rude. I would not go back nor recommend this tea room to others. Save your money. There are many other nice tea party options in Orange County."

"Wonderful setting. Great customer service. Not a busy morning when I visited. Food was very well made. I happen to come on a day she made oxtail stew. It was amazing. Will return just for another serving of that. Its like she cooked wonderful scones and food and opened her home to share with us her creations. You have to be a fan of Tea to enjoy a visit to this quaint place."