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!