The Victorian Pantry in South Tyneside

Just popped in for a cuppa and an afternoon scone. Delicious and the staff were so friendly. Nice relaxed atmosphere inside South Shields Museum

Just had afternoon t here with breathe easy southtyneside support group there were 23 of us and it was amazing food superb n staff very friendly and attentive would highly recommend it

This was a really cute find with a lovely atmosphere, decor and homemade sandwiches. Luscious looking cakes and even some gluten free products. We had friendly service and some unique sandwiches- cheese apple and pickle sandwiches and ham Brie and cranberry panini. My hot chocolate was incredible. It was clean tidy and great price. It was a shame we weren’t hungry enough for what looked like a super afternoon tea option. We would recommend it abs definitely visit again if we return to the area.

Hidden gem! What a find! Lovely little tea room, homemade food and cake yum yum. Was delicious and the prices are so cheap but great quality. Felt for the girls as they have a broken down dishwasher and were struggling to keep ontop, but they managed and still had a smile. We will be back! P.s best afternoon tea we have had :)

Limited menu, Service is slow. Very hot in the small area. No cooked meals just soup sandwiches and toastie and cake.pleasesd to se tables wiped down each time but again slow to clear tables

This tearoom is situated in the small museum and art gallery, so there's lots to see before you reach it. Once inside it is neatly set out, with staff in costume, offering tea, coffee, cakes and savouries at very reasonable prices. We had a pot of tea - we got one each and it seemed bottomless! We also treated ourselves to a slice of cake - I had an amazing chocolate cake, even with a drizzle of chocolate on the plate and husband had carrot cake. Both were delicious. A great place to stop and relax.

What a lovely little tea room.. friendly staff, reasonably priced. Can highly recommend the lemon cheesecake and hot chocolate.

Stopped for lunch after visiting the museum. We had fresh sandwiches and beautiful chocolate cake with good hot drinks. The staff were meticulous about cleaning and sanitising tables between customers. We were able to sit by an open window so felt safe and comfortable at all times. Friendly and prompt service. Would recommend.

Lovely little tea room with very friendly and helpful staff. Located in a wing of the museum, it's worth going for a cuppa and some cake if you fancy it. Loved the ploughman's lunch and the choice of cheeses!

Good place for a coffee or tea with a snack . Pleasant surroundings in the museum, reasonably priced, friendly staff. Basic but good.

Revisited this lovely cafe again, been loads of times. This time I had coffee and cake (I'd recommend the chocolate one)! Excellent service from the girls. Blonde lady with short hair extremely friendly and made my visit enjoyable. I'll be back soon, for my usual 👍thank you Victorian pantry!!

Victorian pantry above museum South Shields I would have completely missed this gem were it not for the street signs. What a great find, upstairs over the museum. Wonderfully tasty fresh cakes, scones and sandwiches in charming surrounds with warm friendly staff. Bring a magazine, or a pal and step away from the Main Street hustle & bustle and enjoy.

Lovely place to go on a chilly afternoon .Had tea and scones served by friendly lady in Victorian long apron .Very reasonably priced too !

Called in here for coffee. No one explained that the coffee beans for my gasped-for cup were still in Brazil and in their unroasted state. Service was painfully slow and there seems to be little if any method and organisation in the process of ordering and delivering to table. Avoid.

Beautiful cream tea and friendly staff. Cosy atmosphere and reasonably priced. I look forward to visiting again when I visit the town again.

It was the Victorian Reading Room building that drew us into this attractive tearoom. You go through an interesting museum of South Shields life to reach a Victorian styled tearoom. The tea and Victoria sandwich cake was very tasty.

Went there today with my other half and was not that busy and the young girl took our order first then the few who followed us in. We eventually got our food 35 minutes later, (think my food had been nuked twice and burnt my mouth), though the others got theirs first or unless you ordered afternoon tea which the presumed owner was more worried bout getting out first. One table got two plates of sandwiches and the third member of the party was left waiting. Another table complained as also being kept waiting and one of the party had an appointment so were in a hurry, I then noticed the young short haired girl making rude faces at the counter where everyone could see her, very rude and disrespectful young lady. I have no problems with the young redhead waitress in fact felt so sorry for her as she was getting all the flack and kept apologising to everyone.

Stopped off here for some lunch with the kids during the school holidays. Disappointing food. Kids wanted a pizza it turned out to be one of those microwave pizzas, awful.

Just had a bowl ful of hot broth and ham sandwiches. Table service and food made to order. It has homemade cakes and scones, teacakes etc. It also does hot pies and toasted sandwiches.

The chairs were a little uncomfortable but bearable, however the staff were extremely friendly and nice and the food was delicious!

a cute little cafe within the museum on the main shopping street..serving tea and sandwitches.they also serve snacks and have a daily menu..also a children's menu..had a lovely hot chocolate and pie..very reasonabley priced..

Took some visitors in to see the museum and chose to have tea and cake there too. This was the first time Ive used the cafe and wouldn't go out of my way to go in again. The seating was uncomfortable and cramped. The cake was nothing special and the lady who served us didn't look like she wanted to be there.Its ok but nothing special.

This is a small cafe within the museum. It has a variety of scones, cakes etc and does soup, sandwiches children's meals, afternoon tea etc.

Lovely homemade cakes, soups and snacks. Very reasonably priced and a lovely set up. Only small but well worth a visit and the adjoining gift shop was also a pleasure with "Geordie" gifts also on offer.

What a lovely time spent with a friend who was visiting me we could not fault anything from the service to the lovely goodies we had to eat only downside is no good for anyone who is watching the waistline

We stopped here for lunch on the way back from Arbeia Fort. Two elderly waitresses were dressed in Victorian uniform. Service was average at best. We got our leek and potato soup - which tasted fine - but there was no attempt at being friendly...

Pasamos este día y vimos a través de la ventana lo que parecía un salón victoriano auténtico. Así que decidimos visitar el museo y la tetería al día siguiente. El museo estaba bien, pero cuando entramos en el salón de té nos quedamos muy decepcionados...

Este es un café encantador en una buena ubicación. Tenía el té de la tarde, que era muy agradable, una vez la camarera dieron la orden de derecho y sustituirá la vajilla rotos. ella era muy feliz

Love this place, great place for a coffee and slice of cake!Small menu but always has a nice little atmosphere and is a pleasant place to visit.

It is loverly inside the waitress are all dress in the 1930 uniforms.Afternoon Tea is loverly you have a choice of sandwiches very quaint.

On a damp Saturday afternoon we popped into the museum to find this Cafe. There appears to be a lack of tea shop here. Nice cuppa and lovely cake, I had the lemon victorian sandwich cake and my hubby had the chocolate cake. Huge portions we really should have shared! Nice little Cafe with pleasant staff. Thank you.

My friend and I stopped here for elevensies on a grey and wet day and really enjoyed our visit. The café exudes retro charm and I particularly like the Great North Eastern Railway map on the wall. I had a cup of tea and teacake and my friend had coffee and cheese crumpets. The food and drink was lovely and served efficiently. The prices were also very reasonable. I also liked the chilled 1920s - 1940s music playing in the background which added a sophisticated vibe to the experience.Pros:* Lovely retro atmosphere * Cheap prices* Tasty food and drinkCons:* Staff could have been a bit friendlier

I've passed the museum many times without realising there was a cafe within. I'm so pleased we tried it. It's an attractive setting, the food was excellent & the staff very friendly and efficient. A great find & we'll be regular visitors in the future!

This place is lovely, it has a real vintage feel about it. The food is lovely and reasonable prices too. Good to have a catch up a friend.

We visited as a family. We wanted to see the adjoining museum too. But first we popped into what we believed would be a wonderful, relaxing and authentic Victorian tea room....( I had pored over previous reviews... !! )...Sadly, this was not the case.We arrived at 3 PM. We were greeted by a Sour faced waitress , Who was dressed in what I can only describe as an obvious fancy dress imitation of a Victorian maid, complete with gold sparkly flip-flops. The other waitress, although much more pleasant,had not gone so far as this. She had on a black string strap vest and very un Victorian lady like black leggings. We were told very begrudgingly that we could only have cake or scones at this 'late' hour !We had expected to be able to have a hot meal, as part of a small family celebration, so we were disappointed.Outings for us, even to small local museums, are a big deal,because of disability in the family.We resigned ourselves to the words she had spoken, Albeit very tensely. We all felt we were walking on egg shells with her mood.The White Tablecloths, at first glance, appear to be white lace. Unfortunately, there are a very worn PVC imitation. Which does not feel or look very nice at all. The Music appears to be played over and over again and this was Glenn Miller.While this was nice,we felt it needed much more variety, but not volume,or the mood would be further spoiled. The presentation of the food is very disappointing. You do not get Victorian China, or even an imitation of this. The only victorian China we could see anywhere, were the imitation Victorian cake stands. We were given very clean, modern, white, industrial type crockery, teapot, et cetera. The food was nothing special at all. Very average.Everything about the tearoom felt very much imitation , cheap and ill thought out, with very minimal effort.the whole thing smacked of whatever was convenient for the staff, not the customer. The view out of the window is straight onto South Shields Main Street. Again, very uninspiring , depressing and modern, with trails of loud, semi aggressive and brightly clothed locals. Our family, which includes children, ate our snacks in virtual silence. The mood was just pretty low throughout.It was a shame. This tearoom has a lot of potential, but the staff, lack of authenticity and rubbish vibe, truly let the place completely down.

The tearoom is very quaint just how you would inagine how they would have been in the past visited a few times with my friend. Found the food to be very good cakes look amazing

The thing that lets this place down is the bad service by the staff. I went to order food at the till and was told, sharply, it was supposed to be table service, but on this occasion she would take our order at the till. This was my first time at the tea room, the only lady member of staff gave no welcome or told me it was table service. I found her rude and even though the tea and scone were both very good I wouldn't return because of the lack of customer service.

The afternoon tea at the victorian pantry is lovely. However the service could be improved as staff seem to be reluctant to talk to people. A lady sitting on a table near to me was trying to pass the time of day with staff bit they seemed to be uninterested, so she chatted to mefpr a while. It's a shame as it is a lovely hidden away place

Such a charming place. Love the way the staff are dressed for the occasion. Nice china, lush tea cups. Delicious food.

I have been quite a few times to the victorian pantry . It's a lovely place to visit serving lovely homemade pastries and cakes . And lovely range of sandwiches too . Also soup of the day .toasted teacakes .scones . Coffee .and tea . Well worth a visit and reasonably priced

It was simply a pleasant walk from the South Shields seafront along the newly rebuilt Ocean Road!A lovely morning including sighting 3 Camels in the Park preparing to parade through South Shields Town Centre.A made a snap decision to visit the South Shields Museum which includes the Victorian Pantry. When we arrived they were serving Xmas Fayre!!I had a beautiful veg soup, followed by nicely prepared and presented Turkey sandwiches with side salad. I followed that up with a Mini Xmas Cake!!A very pleasant afternoon for £9 which included a large cup of coffee.This place is excellent and enhanced by a walk around the small Museum.

We have our lunch here every Thursday, it is like an old fashioned tearoom, the staff are dressed in old fashioned wear.All of the food is freshly prepared and is delicious, especially the home made soups.

This review is a tale of two halves, we visited the Victorian Pantry today for a quick cuppa and snack, the place is in South Shields Museum and is nice enough, not flash but we weren't expecting that, very clean mind, we stood at the counter for probably 2 minutes while varying members of staff looked at my wife and I then carried on what they were doing, I was about to say something when somebody finally said "are you wanting to pay" after having watched us walk in, no I said, take a seat and we will take your order, the older lady serving the food scurried about but on absolute silence no words or pleasantries to customers at all, I always find this quite amusing as without all those people say there you would be unemployed, I am also very aware that pleasantries work both ways, I am huge on customer service due to my business, she took our order and off she went, the food was lovely I cannot say anything other, the price was about right £2.80 for a cup of tea ( you get two out of your pot£ and a hot cross bun with butter no jam,

Food was tasty. I think it was overpriced and the service was slow. It was not authentic Victorian, they sold snickers and the music playing was Edwardian. The lady who served us had dyed blonde hair and clean dentures this would not have happened in Victorian times.I'm sure I heard a microwave pinging!! This blew my mind.

I have just visited here for the third time with my partner. We fancied a cuppa, homemade soup and sandwich. I noted the lady behind the counter stirring water into our soup- also when the soup came the bowl wasn't even half full. When we tried to approach the staff they became defensive and rude. I say not authentic as the latte was out of sachet, the coffee stewed- the cakes are nice though. We will be going to see the manager as we have left feeling quite upset.

This authentic Victorian tea room is set inside the museum on the high street. The museum itself is a great place to visit to learn about the history of the local area and it is free, as well as having an art gallery upstairs.The tea room could be advertised better from the outside of the building as we almost walked past it, but the service was excellent, the food was all freshly prepared and home cooked, tasty and the cakes were lovely. I would definitely visit again and would recommend it to anyone

Delightful cafe in South Shields museum, ladies in period dress. Serves cakes ,scones, panini, tea and coffee. note as all sandwiches ect. are freshly made service may not be quick, but a lovely place to wait.

A lovely place to enjoy a coffee and watch the world go by. Nice staff and a great location. This place is often overlooked but worth a visit.