Secret Garden Tea Company - Vancouver, British Columbia

Ophelia

Our first time afternoon tea experience. Our server was Emily and her new trainee, both lovely girls.

PROS: so much food, tea choices were plentiful, great service and nicely decorated.

CONS: very loud, scones were tiny, they could have offered customers a second free one, not a lot of chicken salad in the dry croissants, wait time was a bit long (36 mins for our tea and food). My tea cup was chipped on the handle so it didn't feel nice when I held it.

PS. Afternoon tea is this place. Their sign says High Tea but High tea is around 5-6pm and is a substitute for dinner, served with meat pies, fish, baked goods etc

justine

brought my daughter for a high tea experience at secret garden tea company in kerrisdale just off west boulevard. space is charming with lots of mismatched china and artistic touches throughout, and our server was very friendly and attentive. we ordered the children’s summer high tea menu for my daughter which she had with a refreshing iced fruit tea. she loved everything about it!! i had the tomato soup w/ cheese scone which was also delicious, and their popular creamy earl grey tea. i love the overall vibe of this place, compared to some other more stuffy high tea places. it suits kerrisdale very well 🙂

Chloe R.

Came for a Friday lunch and our group of 2 was able to get a table despite not having a reservation (we came before the lunch rush). They kindly accommodated our request to move to a table in a brighter area, as we were initially sat next to a partial wall. We ordered one Spring High Tea set ($56), and one Breakfast Scone ($21) from their à la carte brunch menu, to share. Food was nicely presented. The Breakfast Scone was a freshly baked cheese scone with bacon and scrambled eggs, cut in half and easily shareable. The green side salad was a nice compliment.

The Spring High Tea set was laid out on a 3-tier tray with an assortment of sweets, scones, and savouries. Favourites were the cucumber & tomato with whipped goat cheese on a tiny garlic bun (wish it wasn't so "tiny" as it was delectable), and the creamy earl grey scone. And you can't forget the jam and Devonshire cream!

Our server came by regularly to ask if we needed to top up the hot water for our teapots. We left happy and satisfied, and would return for a special occasion.

J P.

Very sweet place.  Lovely meal.  We visited for my birthday. High tea menu portion sizes are generous compared to high tea offerings you might enjoy in London. The restaurant is approachable and welcoming, sometimes high teas feel more formal and the food is presented with greater precision.

The pace of service was too slow. We would have liked to receive our drinks earlier and sit for some time with them. The food took a long time to come. We were often looking for help before someone checked on us.

I loved that the menu also offered gluten free, vegetarian, vegan and a smaller kid's tea menu. The price point per tea menu is a bit high. I would have expected to pay about $32 for an adult portion and $18 for the kid's menu based on the experience.

I give the experience a solid 3.5 stars. Thank you.

Tracy Z.

🇨🇦溫哥華· 老牌英式下午茶Secret Garden🫖

我第一次來這裡喝下午茶還是20多年前，還是留學生的時候，剛搬家到kerrisdale，鄰居住的是一位退休的老護士奶奶，她請我來喝下午茶，那時候這個區住的華人很少，來這裡high tea幾乎都是退休的老人家，每一個都很和藹可親🥰一轉眼20多年過去了，店家搬到新地址也有10餘年，現在更多的華人住在這一區，來這裡各個族裔都有，還是很懷念以前的小店面和藤椅子💫這裡沒有網紅店擺拍華麗的甜點，更多的是一份認真細心傳統的下午茶🫖

Sara N.

A beautiful and large place with multiple tea options to offer. I ordered Gammy’s Darjeeling and it tasted so nostalgic to me. I loved that they would offer to refill with hot water so that we could enjoy the tea for longer.
If you're interested in high tea experience, you'll need to make reservations. For the rest (tea + lunch/brunch menu) walk in works. Highly recommend!

Shawn

Very cute place! We went for coffee and tea and dessert! Next time will definitely come back for afternoon tea. Lots of large groups, looks like the perfect place for a birthday party!

VancityPatti V.

This is a very charming restaurant. The decor is really sweet and befitting for high tea. 6 of us for high tea today, 2 of us were special menus (vegan, gluten free) and one had special requests. Carter, our server, was excellent. He was Friendly and accommodating.
I had the vegan menu. Thank you, Secret Garden for having such inclusive menu options! My tea plates were for the most part very, very good. The savouries were fantastic. I did have 2 items on the dessert tier that were not great. When everything else was visually appealing and incredibly flavourful, these two were really sub par. I think Secret Garden should consider ditching them for something better. The banana blueberry muffin was flat, unappealing colour, and mediocre flavour. The coconut tart was unappealingly bland and white on white. Neither were the same quality as the rest of the items on my tea plates. On the whole, a very enjoyable afternoon here, and would come back again.