Reviews of Delightfully Different Tea Room (Coffee Shop)

Bonnie Temple

This is a wonderful, sunny little place that has great food and attentive staff. You get to pick your own teapot and there is a large selection of teas. The soups and sandwiches are so delicious- I get something different every time!

Nancy Norton Murray

Staff very pleasant and great food...

Steven Cleveland

Just like the the name says, it's delightfully different and the food great also.

Andy Kirkpatrick

Absolutely wonderful experience. Great tea and food, and a walk-up window from the village square... Can't wait to go back!

Jennifer Ng Gemmell

I love Afternoon High Tea and typically hard to find. However, this place does it fabulously! The service was impeccable (Heather and Sabrina) and the food scrumptious (see my pictures). I am more about savory than sweet so devoured the mini sandwiches first. The decor is indeed delightfully different with everything tea-themed. There is an outside patio too and their menu contains many other food/drinks items so please check it out! Thank-you to Denise for accommodating me at the last minute and also for the entertaining conversations. Please give them a 24h notice for the Afternoon Tea.

Susan Jellinck

A lovely place to have a cup of tea and something sweet.

Christopher Murray

Friendly service in relaxing surroundings, great food too.

Alex DK

This tea room is filled with magic! There is a long list of tea choices, of course. The food is delicious and the service is wonderful! I can’t wait to visit again.

Virginia Santhipillai

Our family had a pleasant afternoon tea service. We enjoyed all the teas we chose along with the pastries. We are looking forward to another trip

Roxann S

Very cute place to bring a little girl for afternoon tea.

Cara Brandon

Absolutely love it! Great place to get cream tea in Kingston! Wonderful atmosphere, service, and food. Warning - they do not take debit or credit so bring cash.

Brooke Cameron

I love this tea shop so much. A fabulous selection of teas and delicious food. The service is excellent. The staff are super friendly and obviously care a lot about their customers. The fun teapots and cups are delightful. This is just a really special place to visit.

Ardyn Nordstrom

For a place specializing in tea, they don't give enough attention to proper tea brewing techniques. They burn delicate green teas, and they don't give you any way to get the leaves out for tea that should not be over steeped. I wouldn't be so upset about this if the service was friendly though. I'll give most of the staff credit, they're actually all quite lovely and friendly. But the owner is insanely rude. I walked in with a backpack once (as many people who walk to work do...) and the owner pointed at my backpack and said "You know we don't have wifi so you won't be able to work here" in a very condescending tone. I've seen her be equally rude to other people who look to be about student age. I love the no-wifi rule! I think that's a great way to get people to disconnect. I was actually planning on going in to read a book. I've seen her have this attitude to people who don't seem to be her friends on other occasions as well. I'd go again and just get herbal teas if I knew the regular staff would be the only ones working. I was so excited about having a good tea shop in town, but this has been a huge disappointment. Go to Sipps, at least their tea selection is about as big and they will treat you better.

Jennie Marshall

I love the concept of this tearoom. The service is friendly and the ambiance is quite nice. Picking out your own tea pot is fun. The quality of food is wonderful. I would like the Delightfully Different tearoom to consider serving warmed fresh fruit with their scones. In addition, I would love it if the scones were made in a traditional shape, and served with genuine clotted cream.

Visha Vijayanand

Take a break from the hum drum of your daily routine to this exquisite tea room for an afternoon high tea to remember. The owners make you feel special and safe with precautions and thoughtful hospitality. The sandwiches are delicious and pair perfectly with the tea and desserts. We chose the Buckingham palace, and Japanese sencha. We adored the lemon poppyseed cakes, and gossiped away with tuna squared sandwiches. Highly recommend if you have a Friday or Saturday to spend living in the moment, while enjoying a delightfully different tea experience!

Fatima Patel

Best ice tea I've had in a long time. Its a lovely shop and the lady making my sandwich was great.

Sarah Gordon

Great selection of teas and lots of options for GF/ Veggie/ Vegan friends. Chia latte was excellent ???? Really lovely atmosphere in the back patio in Martello Alley????

Nick Wilkinson

Nice atmosphere, friendly service, delicious food, better tea, will be back!

Vic Seo

From the decor to picking your own tea pot, this place is wonderfully whimsical. The service is great (Denise is delightful) and the food is delicious as well. Each menu item is recommended!

Lord Stronghold

A very cozy tea room with a wide variety of teas and other treats that make for a warm and welcoming atmosphere. My partner and I had the salmon quiche which was super tasty. I recommend ordering a couple hours in advance so that you can get the order the same day as there's nothing like their fresh quiche. It is also really filling so expect to get a couple meals out of a single quiche. The staff are really nice and have loads of recommendations if needed. Will 100 per cent go again

Kelby Paquette-Anderson

this is a place to come by if you're not pressed for time, looking to unwind with a friend or two or with a nice book (disconnected in your own world), and to enjoy a kitsch atmosphere. with a wide selection of traditional teas and tea pots, alongside getting to select your own tea pot, the tea room hosts a warm and cosy atmosphere. the afternoon high tea is more then reasonable considering the price point compared to other places. the moroccan peanut tomato soup is incredible along side the rotating salads, the israeli couscous and the curried chickpea salad are my favourites. highly recommend this place also for the decor and style of service bring you back to how things were, genuine and less automated. she makes a strong cup of coffee too!

cynthia egbunonu

Amazing little tea place with lots of cute tea pots and cups. It's like a mini English paradise

Alison Whittaker

Had a lovely high tea with my work colleague. Charming, comfortable atmosphere reminiscent of grandma’s house! Truly delightful and the food was delicious. Staff were welcoming and warm. I can’t wait to come back and try the soup!

narjisfathima Mohammed jahinger Ali

Good serving nice hot chocolate with masmalo with Rush Barry cake delicious ????

Jay Kay

Very affordable, and there are even gluten free options on the menu! The decor is absolutely adorable, and I have never encountered any staff who was not friendly and welcoming. Very unique and fun.

Lisa Gurran

I've been meaning to visit this tea place for a while, and finally took the opportunity today. The 2 soups we tried were great and the sandwiches good. I got to try new flavors I've not had before - enjoyed it. A definite must visit for couples and tea buddies. Je suis sûr de revenir sans ma petite fille

Joanne Bauder

Great food and service.

john allen

horribly slow...not worth the money.Even if it came in a cute tea pot.Tha alley outside was best part

Herbert de Graaf

It was a unique experience to visit and enjoy authentic service in a dito atmosphere

Nora deVette

I can' say enough about our experience! We phoned on a Friday to order takeout high teas for a family memorial. Even though they aren't open on Monday's they accommodated our request. So thoughtful at an especially difficult time for us. The tea was amazing! Lovely sandwiches creatively made and scones with cream and jam and fresh strawberries! Not to mention the lemon poppyseed muffins, shortbread cookies and brownies! We can't wait to return for an in person high tea experience!

Crystal Wong

I absolutely recommend this little Gem!! The owners were messaging with me late at night so that I could make reservations for an important and long overdue reunion with a life long friend. We couldn’t decide where we wanted to sit because the inside was adorned with so many neat tea pots and cups to admire but we settled on the alley way patio that was lined with Female artists of Kingston and felt so quaint and private. We were whole heartedly welcomed and accommodated in every way and I couldn’t be more grateful for such a wonderful afternoon tea! There is no picture of the scone with jam and cream because it was devoured in minutes!! Next time I’m planning to have the high tea!

Ruth Dixon

This tea room came recommended by a friend who said it was a great place to stop while traveling from Toronto to Montreal. I confess the decor was not what I was expecting. I thought it would be a touch more British styled. The room appeared harshly coloured and harshly lit by a too bright ( energy efficient light bulbs?) chandelier. If my experience in the shop had been better, this picky little complaint would have been overlooked. When we first went in it was very difficult to figure out how to order.The sandwich I had (bacon and egg with cheese on bread/toast) was ordinary, but this isn't surprising at it was made with a pre cooked egg "patty" that had small pieces of crumpled bacon , reheated in a microwave some shredded cheese on top and lettuce. I chose Irish Breakfast tea and asked for it to made extra strong. I have to say that it was delicious. My friend ordered the daily quiche and said it was delicious. Her English Breakfast tea on the other hand was dreadful. It poured out the colour of rinse water from a stronger cup of tea. She looked in the pot and it had barely any tea leaves in it. She asked for more tea leaves which improved it only slightly. All this would have been overlooked if I hadn't been so off put by the actions of the woman who seemed to be in charge {the owner). She spoke harshly to two of the other staff members serving me. If the staff were learning the job, then some guidance may be necessary, but as a paying customer I don't want to see staff humiliated in front of me.To be honest I felt like saying something myself to see how this woman liked to chastised in front of customers. The long and short of it, is that I will most definitely choose another tea/lunch shop next time I am in Kingston. I gave it one star because the tea I had was delicious.

Deb Brennan

Beautiful

Heba Al Jelban

Was so pleasant and cozy... loved it!

Mitzy Katz

I had high hopes for the Delightfully Different Tea Room, which I have visited on a handful of occasions since its opening/reconception. During most of these, I/my group have been helped by a wonderful young woman who has been nothing but welcoming, courteous, and polite ... and who even went out of her way to tell us about the history of the tea room, which we enjoyed hearing. On that particular occasion, a woman that my friend and I recognized as the owner (from the news clippings on the wall, which the young lady had been enthusiastically sharing with us) entered the store. Despite it still being before closing time and the fact that there were no other patrons, she was incredibly brusque and seemed annoyed that we were chatting with the employee while she was ringing up our order. We were veritably shooed out of the cafe (before its closing time) without so much as a hint of a reason why it was so imperative we leave, a thank you, good-day, or other farewell. While passing by recently, I thought I'd give the tea room another go. I try to support local businesses whenever possible, and was willing to chalk the previous brusque encounter I'd had with the owner up to a rough day and give her the benefit of the doubt. This time the tea room was a bit busier, with a handful of patrons seated at tables and two employees working alongside the owner behind the counter. Working alongside is a bit of a stretch, as what I witnessed could better be described as two employees scrambling to make good on the ever-changing requests/demands/admonitions the owner was making. Any attempts the two employees made at fulfilling them were immediately and condescendingly called into question while the employees themselves were subject to more exasperated eye-rolls and belittling chastisement than anyone should receive, devoid of guidance or productive feedback. All the while the owner found the time to greet certain, seemingly favourite, customers with jovial pleasantries and laughter. I can't profess to know the layers behind the working relationships existing at this business, but I can identify when employees are being treated in a manner utterly lacking in respect. If there are concerns about employee performance (which, from my previous experiences, I have no reason to suspect), these should be addressed through additional training or in private. Publicly shaming one's staff does not for a particularly pleasant afternoon tea make. While I love the idea of this tea room, and would love to see them succeed, I cannot foresee returning to an establishment, or supporting an owner, who seems to have such blatant disregard for her staff.

gracie e.r

This tea room is just the quaintest , most precious, loveliest little spot ever. The owner was delightful and personable. You walk in to homemade items with gluten free options. You get to pick your teapot from an assorted collection. Be sure to sit around the corner in Montecello alley. Where the local artist has decorated and displayed his own as well as other local artists drawings and paintings. Absolutely adorable little spot of charm.

I. Longval

(Translated) beautiful atmosphere, impeccable service. Small selection of tea, but succulent. (Original) belle ambiance, service impeccable. Petite sélection de thé, mais succulent.

Greg Whitney

Very friendly service + good food!!

Cheryl Walker

Best patio in town. Love getting homemade soups and sandwiches followed by a little desert. The owner is always friendly and making sure your order is perfect. A great place to visit in Kingston.