Cost – £15.95 per person (Oct 2021)
Parking and Access – There is no parking at the venue. However, there is a carpark that is not far away. It is a short walk from the Tea Room, including some slopes.
There are no steps to enter the Tea Room. However, there is only limited seating downstairs. Most of the seating is upstairs, along with the toilet.
Background – During previous visits to Bournemouth, I had spotted this little Tea Room, but had not had a chance to visit. So, I decided it should be our second Afternoon Tea during this visit. I made a booking via e-mail, and our second Tea was sorted!
Contents per person – Six triangular sandwiches – each person had two of each sandwich (cheese and chutney, ham, egg mayonnaise with lettuce) plus a tiny sausage roll. Two small plain scones, a small bowl of strawberry jam, a small tub of Rodda’s clotted cream and a strawberry. A small piece of fruit cake each, plus, a slice of chocolate cake and a slice of Victoria sponge between the two of us. Pot of tea or cup of coffee.
Options Available – There are no options available for this Tea.
Comments – We arrived at the Steam Vintage Tea Rooms ready for our Afternoon Tea. We were shown upstairs to the main tea room and asked to choose a table. There was a vintage record player playing in the room, with music from the fifties.
And there were many vintage items placed around the room. However, my companion did not like the pink sparkly wallpaper featured on a couple of the walls!!
We chose a table in the corner, near the window.
The table was laid with a plastic tablecloth depicting vintage pictures of French patisserie. This was topped with a vintage coffee pot containing flowers, and a lidded sugar bowl. Two places were set with non-matching vintage plates, teacups and saucers, a paper napkin and a knife and cake fork.
The gentleman who had shown us upstairs asked what we wanted to drink. We chose English Breakfast tea from a large choice of teas.
The tea arrived quickly, in a large blue and white teapot with a flowered milk jug.
The tea was made with teabags and was quite strong. We poured a cup each and asked for a top up of just hot water.
A few minutes later, the Afternoon Tea arrived. It was presented on a plain metal three-tier cake stand with vintage patterned, non-matching plates.
This time we were given six sandwiches each plus a tiny, bite sized sausage roll. There were two sandwiches each of three different flavours. All of the sandwiches were freshly made and well filled. They were on a mix of brown and white breads.
The tiny sausage roll was a nice addition, but was so small that two each would have been better.
The scones were a smaller size, but there were two each, and they were quite deep. They were very tasty and had been warmed through.
There was not enough of jam in the little bowl for the four scones, so we asked if we could have a little more. We were given a refill of the bowl. There was an adequate amount of clotted cream in the Rodda’s pot.
For the sweet part of the Tea, there was a small piece of fruit cake each. There was also a slice of two different cake to share between us. As usual when this happens, we carefully cut each of the two slices of cake into two halves, so that we both had a bit of everything. All of the cakes were fresh and good.
Service was very friendly throughout. We were served by an elderly gentleman who said he was helping out for the day. He was very helpful and checked in on us several times.
We both enjoyed this Afternoon Tea. The tea rooms are quirky and interesting, and it was lovely to see the record player in use. The music added to the pleasant atmosphere. We would certainly visit again when in the area.
| Sandwiches | 1.5 |
| Scones | 1.5 |
| Jam | 1.5 |
| Cream | 1.0 |
| Cake (variety) | 1.5 |
| Cake (quality) | 1.5 |
| Tea | 1.5 |
| Presentation | 1.5 |
| Service | 2.0 |
| Value | 1.5 |
| Total | 15.0 |
All opinions expressed in this review are my own. The photographs are all my own.
I remain completely anonymous and always pay for my Afternoon Teas. They are never gifted to me by the businesses reviewed.
I am the legal copyright holder of the content and images on this blog.
Sarnies Scones and Cakes 