Afternoon Tea at Recess, Birmingham

We had afternoon tea here a few years ago and let's just say, it was far from good. It's been refurbished and re-branded in recent years, had some good reviews and looked lovely so we're back again to celebrate a birthday a few days before Christmas.

It started OK – we were shown a table without a reserved sign on it despite our booking and no one asked our name. I assumed they were being professional but I don’t think they even looked for our booking.

The food has improved from bad to average - at least the scone weren't dry this time but it is a quite  an underwhelming menu. Still the seats are comfy.

Our server proudly informed us we can have a many refills of tea/coffee as we'd like for free, something I deem to be part of the afternoon tea experience, but still, it's nice to be assured.

It turned out to be a lie. We were the only customers on the 21 Dec with 2-3 staff bustling around us and how many times do you think anyone came over to check on us? Once.

It's served quite beautifully on a shelf - exactly the same as they serve in BMAG as it happens. However, it was plonked awkwardly in the middle of our table, however,  so we could no longer see each other. For this setting, it would have been better if they had placed it on side tables.

When are pots/cups were dry as our mouths and we couldn't eat any more, it took all four of us to flag down the nearby staff. Eventually the the teapots came back with different teas to the ones had originally. 'I thought you wanted tea' the staff member protested.

Why the tea people get big pots but I get a little tiny cup of coffee is anyone’s guess.  They don’t serve filter – I don’t think our original server knew what it was when I asked; ‘we only serve proper coffee’ but a pot would have been nice.

There won’t be a third visit no matter how much they brand it and change the colour of the chairs. There are plenty better than this.