Mariage Freres Tea Emporium in City of London, Westminster

Spent a wonderful hour sitting outside in the sun enjoying the most delicious Earl Grey. The staff were very friendly and attentive. The actual Tea Shop is amazing with so much choice Highly recommended for people watching situated on the main thoroughfare just off the main Covent Garden Piaza.

My wife and I were excited to try this place. We have a flat in the Covent Garden Piazza and so the proximity is perfect! To be honest, everything was so bad, I don't know where to start. The service we had was some of the worst service I've ever experienced. The waiter spoke so softly I could barely, as was the same for everyone in my party. Each one of us ordered the afternoon tea with a different tea (not unusual). The waiter brought the tea and mixed them all up, so we each got the wrong tea's. My daughter was left without a tea, so we had to ask the waiter to bring her pot back and he stood there confused. We got out savory and desert offerings and the savory items were unedible. The pastries were just ok. At the end of the day, we spent $400 on an experience that we'll laugh about for years, because it was the worst tea experience we've ever had, but at least we can laught about it!!

This store is stunning. We've always loved Mariage Frere, having been ordering from here to the US for decades. It was nice to go to one of their actual shops. We had to buy our favorite tea, Earl Grey Blue.

Six of us without booking on chinese new year day and it's Saturday, had been sit awarkedly, we didn't mind and enjoyed our tea! I had Maco polo (signatures dark tea, recommended) and friends ventured out on the chinese zodiac named tea like "dreaming sheep, playful monkey, friendly dog" etc. Impressive for first timer!

By comparison to the charming shops in Paris, this place has 0 atmosphere. Covent Garden is completely the wrong location for this institution and would do far better in residential areas like Chelsea or Notting Hill where it would be buzzing with cool people, they must have been badly advised to open a shop in Covent Garden. The staff on the shop floor were unfriendly, and irritable, despite us having spent over £150 pounds on tea, and 50 pounds in the cafe gallery. The staff in the cafe were much friendlier but overall the experience could have been a lot better if the staff were more enthusiastic about working there.