Wit’s End Cafe

Located at: Lythe Bank Bottom, Sandsend, Whitby – about 3 miles out of the main town of Whitby, on a beautiful stretch of coastline.

Service: 9/10 – The cafe was busy when we arrived but we were welcomed and seated with pleasing efficiency.

Ambience: 8/10 – Bustling yet, at the same time relaxed.

Interior: 7/10 - The furniture is wooden and comfortable and feels solid. Our table was long and thin (imagine a wide plank of wood) meaning that some juggling was required to arrange tea and cake.

Food and drink: 10/10 - Top notch. A lovely pot of tea with a generous milk jug (I do rather like my tea milky). We both ordered a toasted teacake expecting the standard small bun you see everywhere.....WRONG! What we got was a huge teacake of epic proportions (and it tasted great too with spice and fruit in abundance).

Overall score:8.5/10

Mulberries tea room

Located at: 5 Bridge Street, Pickering

Service: 8/10 - Friendly but a little tardy; maybe I’m being unkind as we had a train to catch and were therefore clockwatching, but the waitress was definitely one of those who liked to chat and didn’t pick up on the body language of her customers.

Ambience: 8/10 – Relaxed and comfortable. Our table was in the window giving us a pleasing view of the street outside.

Interior: 7/10 - The furniture is wooden and comfortable and feels solid. The tables are generously sized meaning that all the tea-making paraphernalia was easily accommodated. One thing we did notice about Pickering in general was the large number of flies – there were several buzzing about in the window of the tea room. The tea room was spotlessly clean but the flies were a distraction.

Food and drink: 10/10 - Top notch. A lovely pot of tea with a generous milk jug (I do rather like my tea milky). I ordered flapjacks as my first choice of carrot cake had sold out. Never before have I been given two flapjacks in a serving!

My companion had the chocolate cake and, as you can see from the photo, it was a very large slice!

Overall score:8/10

Elizabeth Botham’s tea rooms

Located at: 8 Park Street, Pickering – opposite the North York Moors Rail Station

Service: 0/10 – Now the purpose of this site is to offer a fair review of the tea rooms attended. I take no pleasure in bad reviews and, if I had my wish, would never have to write one. However, the truth must be told. We arrived at Elizabeth Botham’s and stood at the “please wait here to be seated” sign. A member of staff approached us and, resolutely refused eye contact, before stalking straight past us. This happened with a further two staff.

Only two tables in the tea room were occupied, leaving approximately 6-8 available. The staff were not busy and clearly were choosing to ignore us. We muttered to each other that this was not a pleasing start to our tea and continued to be shocked as staff dodged us doing anything to avoid having to talk to us.

We waited for about 5 minutes before deciding that we did not wish to give our custom to such a place...not that they were going to let us!

We purchased (in Whitby, before this experience - I wouldn’t have bought them afterwards) some Elizabeth Botham products and found them to be delicious. What a shame that the staff seemed so hell-bent on creating a bad impression.

Overall score:0/10

Update: 1 November 2011

Having pondered this more, I decided to email the company and inform them about our experience. Within 20 minutes the Managing Director emailed back and then phoned me to apologise. This branch of the business had only opened a few weeks previously, not that the MD used this as an excuse for our bad experience; in fact he reiterated how glad he was that I had got in touch. He was extremely passionate about his business, and distressed at the impression we may have left with. He also asked if he could send a gift to apologise.

I guess businesses will all make mistakes now and again, and we must judge them on how they put it right. I hope for Botham's sake it was a blip as their products are yummy. Thank you to the MD for his charming and friendly response.

If I was back in Pickering would I revisit this venue? Yes - we all deserve a second chance!

Seaview Guesthouse

Located at: 5 East Crescent, Whitby – one of the town’s most elegant crescent of townhouses, with amazing views.

Service: 10/10 - Friendly and efficient.

Ambience: 10/10 – The atmosphere is wonderful – in no small part due to Brian and Abby, the co-owners of the guesthouse. One day I returned to the gorgeous aroma of parkin wafting around the house....Brian had just rustled up a fresh batch.

Interior: 10/10 - Original Art Deco furnishings and ornaments means it feels like you are stepping back in time to a more elegant age.

Food and drink: 10/10 - Top notch. Our room had a better selection of drinks than ANY hotel I’ve stayed in, plus, as well as the standard biscuits, there were slices of Brian’s home-made parkin (which was spicy and sticky and simply to die for!)

Overall score:10/10

W Hamond’s tea room

Located at: 112 Church Street, Whitby – one of the town’s busiest tourist shopping streets. The tea room is above the jewellery shop of the same name, and is located at the base of the 199 Steps up to the Abbey. Being the week before Halloween, the exterior of the shop was decorated by this giant web:

Service: 9/10 - Friendly and efficient. Because of the layout, one of the jewellery shop staff had to direct us to the stairs up to the cafe; it felt a little disjointed. Our order arrived within minutes.

Ambience: 8/10 – Relaxed and comfortable. An oasis of calm away from the bustle outside (the shop’s location means the street outside gets very busy with shoppers and people heading up to the Abbey). However, our table was located within eye and earshot of the kitchen meaning we could see staff dashing about and rushing to get orders ready.

Interior: 9/10 - The furniture is wooden and modern – it is comfortable and feels solid. The tables are generously sized meaning that all the tea-making paraphernalia was easily accommodated.

Food and drink: 10/10 - Top notch. A lovely pot of tea with a generous milk jug (I do rather like my tea milky). My scone was clearly freshly made and contained sultanas (this would always be my preference). It was nice that I had a choice of either cream and jam or butter and jam.

My companion had the carrot cake and it was moist, light and generously proportioned.

Overall score:9/10

Marie-Antoinette’s tea room

Located at: 139 Church Street, Whitby - one of the town's busiest tourist shopping streets

Service: 10/10 - Friendly and efficient. We received a lovely welcome from the lady behind the counter and were directed upstairs to seating without delay. Our order arrived within minutes.

Ambience: 8/10 - Warm and welcoming. This is a small tea room but you feel snug rather than cramped. It might get noisy if busy, but we had our upstairs room to ourselves so it wasn’t an issue.

Interior: 8/10 - The furniture is a mixture of modern and vintage. The tables are rather small meaning we had to juggle cups, milk jugs etc to position our cake. I was particularly taken with this beautiful cake stand:

Food and drink: 10/10 - Top notch. A lovely pot of tea with a generous milk jug (I do rather like my tea milky). My toffee apple betty cake was a delight – crunchy biscuit base, creamy yet firm apple middle and a splendid soft and sticky toffee topping. I can say no more than I ran to the internet to see if I could find the recipe (alas, I couldn’t).

My companion had the banoffee pie and found the flavours good and strong and not too sweet.

Overall score:9/10