rude staff, bad vibe, overpriced. i’m surprised it’s still open
Amy Alpert
Tipple and Rose is a one of a kind experience. Located in the heart of Princeton, the minute you walk in you are greeted with an adorable store. Then there is the tea selection which is abundance at its best. So many to choose from! When we sat down for lunch there was a menu with an excellent array of options. The staff were warm and welcoming. I highly recommend if you are looking for a special and delicious experience.
Sadie miller
Great tea. Great scones. This is not a “customer is always right” kind of place. They have expectations for their guests. Nothing too crazy though. Seems like the bad reviews are just piggy backing/ mob mentality. Give it a try.
Joe D'Angelo
Hands down one of the worst and overpriced places to have any event at. The service was slow, the owner was extremely rude and is not a people person.
Luca
OMG this place should be on Kitchen Nightmares!
I should've known right away something was off. It was a beautiful, busy Sunday on Nassau Street, tons of people everywhere, but this place was completely empty. Not a single customer. We’re not locals and the place looked nice from the outside, so we walked in. We quickly found out why it was empty.
My fiancée ordered a scone and the woman behind the counter told her, “We reserve those only for gluten-free people.” Huh? There was no sign anywhere about what’s gluten-free or not, even though the place is plastered with random warning signs. Ironically, my fiancée is actually gluten-intolerant, so yeah, she qualifies (smh).
We also ordered an unsweetened iced tea (which is what she always drinks). When I went to pay, the cashier asked me if I got the sweetened version for $1 more and she seemed annoyed that I didn’t.
Then, my fiancée needed to use the bathroom because she had something in her eye. We were told someone else was using it, so we politely asked if we could sit while we waited, since she couldn’t see well. As soon as we sat down, another staff member asked what we wanted to order. I explained we had already ordered and were just waiting so she could wash her eye.
My fiancée finally got to use the bathroom, and immediately after she came back, the same staffer said: “Your to-go order is ready. You can go now.”
We felt completely mistreated, like we were being kicked out.
After reading the other reviews, I realized my experience wasn’t even the worst, people have consistently been treated terribly here. Honestly, it’s unbelievable.
No one should go to this place. Judging by how empty it was on a busy day, I doubt they’ll be around much longer anyway. Absolute Kitchen Nightmare.
Mehaa Shah
Can't speak for the other reviews but I just dropped in to get a scone while walking around and thought it was pretty good. Super cute store sorta like a modern day apothecary with plenty of fun high tea options
Kimberly Koch
I was disappointed with this shop/tea room and my experience was apparently not unusual. Shopping here felt like walking on eggshells. The owner seemed to resent my presence, and everything I did. When I decided to have a cream tea in the tea room, I felt like I was asking a favor. She acted so… put out.
You must choose your tea from a long list before you are seated (ok, it’s a tea shop) and write your choice on a sticky note. Not the NAME of the tea, don’t be a fool. I was curtly corrected by the owner, I should have given the alpha numeric CODE next to the tea’s name. She actually made me redo it. (Not sure why it mattered since the very nice waitress asked me for my tea choice again when I sat down.) I made a good natured comment about the process being complicated or confusing, which REALLY pissed off the owner, who corrected me again. Her process is fine.
She told an employee to hold the 3 small items I picked up while shopping behind the counter, without asking me if that’s what I wanted — then insisted I pay for them before entering the tea room. What was the point of that, since I had to pay for my cream tea out front afterwards? Was she worried I’d change my mind while eating?
Gratuity is included in the tea room bill. Not a big deal, but another example of the controlling owner seeming to resent and mistrust customers. It was not for my benefit.
Finally… the tea room was not busy when I visited, so I could overhear a small group eating lunch at a nearby table. Polite, quiet, affluent locals — the kind who would return if their experience was good, or spread the word to their friends if it wasn’t. They didn’t like their tea at all, and asked if they could switch. The waitress informed them they’d need to buy another pot. They politely declined. Later the owner stopped by, and I assumed “she’ll offer them a new pot on the house given how much they are spending.” Nope, she just reiterated what the waitress had said, with a tone of CORRECTION, like “you should have selected your tea more carefully”. Why come to the table at all, if not to try to smooth things over?
To be clear, my tea and scone were delicious (if overpriced) but I was relieved to leave the place. I agree with another reviewer — the vibe is kind of toxic in there. The staff seem cowed by the snarky owner. I suspect this shop survives because most patrons are out-of-owners like me, unlikely to return regardless of their experience. The owner seems pretty unhappy and should consider another line of work.
Shirley B
0 stars for the weird rules.
5 stars because the scones are the best of my life. (Don’t get vegan)
Not sure they will be in business much longer….so get them while you can!
Each group of people can only buy 2 scones.
Most businesses want to sell more, not less.
Oh well.
DVS SSS
The shop is cute so I gave it some stars and its a great place to find gifts but I would not bring kids with you to this shop. There are signs placed all over the store: Don't touch the typer writer, don't spray the room scents, don't, don't don't anything in that store. My husband read the room and brought my tweens out of the store while I finished looking around. A sales woman kept hovering near by and watching me like a hawk and really I'm fine with that but when I asked her questions about the products or the store and cafe she was giving terse answers. She was visibly glaring and huffing when I tried to smell the room sprays without spraying and the sign says DON'T SPRAY. I don't know if there was a fight before I walked in to the store but the mood was weird. This was before Mothers day and the whole reason I went in was to make reservations for us for Mothers day tea but the climate in the store was off. Cold. There was a couple girls lingering in the bakery and when I was asking questions about the scones I was told right away if you don't have an allergy don't get the vegan scones.Oh ok. Noted. So another DON'T added to the list of many other don'ts in the store. Normal sales people would wait till I finished ordering and if I picked a vegan flavor she could add the vegan scones are a little dryer that the non vegan scones and let the customer choose but to be told right away don't order that one was off putting. I bought the scones I was allowed to purchase and left. I promptly let my husband know I didn't make a reservation at the tea house and he said Thank GOD! It was such an unwelcoming place. Also the non vegan scones were dry and unappetizing ... were these baked fresh? I question these FIVE STAR reviews that rave about the food. Maybe the scones are just okay and everything else is fantastic. This was my personal experience and this is not sponsored.
shelby edouard
Visited earlier today with a friend and definitely won’t be returning. Extremely unprofessional and rude staff, we were being stared DOWNN by them the entire time and felt super uncomfortable. Explains why the shop was completely empty despite all the nice items they have. (Couldn’t even browse the tea leaves without being watched from BOTH sides of the store. Ridiculous.)
Very unprofessional, questioning browsing customers for taking pictures around the store. Under surveillance being stared down by both employees there. Super uncomfortable experience for two Princeton regulars.
A BC
We didn't get to celebrate mother's Day this year, so we did it today. I was so looking forward to coming to this place. I didn't appreciate all of the rules. I didn't appreciate the owner coming to tell me I ruined her tea pot because I added oat milk and honey to the pot. My family just suffered a terrible loss and wanted to do something happy together. Whole experience was ruined for my family. Great disappointment. You also spend a lot for very little.
mona salman
Owners Doria and her partner both are extremely rude and disrespectful. I am never going back there after being treated the way the owner treated me and my family. We can have tea and scones at home but we go to a restaurant to have good experience and good time but this place knows how to ruin your life presence and turns good day into bad day:
Anila Khan
Run Run! I ignored the negative reviews and learnt the hard way, very bad treatment and extremely disrespectful. I am so furious, no one should ever be treated the way this place treated us. This is extremely in human. I left the place shaking. . I took my sister and 18 year old nephew who were visiting from Dubai to this place and came home so embarrassed and disrespected. My nephew don’t drink tea. He just wanted to order macaroons and water. The waitress said they only give macaroons if you order the whole hi tea. So he didn’t order anything and we ordered 2 pot of teas, scones and sandwiches. My nephew was sitting on the couch relaxed, ( that is the whole point of tea). Waitress came, touched his shoulder and said “ you can not sit like this, you need to sit straight and also you need to order something. “ imagine how 18 year old would be embarrassed, but he ignored and sat straight. He told her that he don’t want to order anything as he don’t feel like eating. The lady said” if you don’t order anything, you will need to wait outside”. I requested if he can sit here as we want to be together. She rudely said “ either he order or you guys can cancel the order and all leave” while we were in the middle of drinking our tea. Shame on us we still stayed. We could not believe what just happened. Now we all were in bad mood. We finished the food in 10 min and went to the register to pay: I do believe it was the owner at the register. She goes “you all had problem with my staff ,?” We wanted to tell her what happened and she goes “ do not come back here again , the way you treated my staff”. This place ruined our entire evening with $130 spent. I am a big foodie, have traveled all over the world and have experienced all kinds of restaurants from high end restaurants to small fast food places but have never experienced something like that where a stafff members comes and tells you how to sit and tells you to leave the place in the middle of your food. In addition to that owner did not even try to find out what happened and told us do not come back here because she assumed we treated her bad.
Jennifer Lea Cohan
I'm a regular, and love coming here for either a quick bite or a leisurely tea service. The menu has a great selection of salads, sandwiches, and small bites, including divine scones. They're very knowledgeable about tea, and are happy to walk you through their vast tea selection prior to making your choice and then taking your seat.
The shop is also brimming with lovely products: cool totes, cards, books, tea accessories, chocolate, cookies, confections, robes, blankets, a fun refill pharmacy, and the best selection of non-alcoholic beverages in Princeton - just a really perfect selection for finding gifts for anybody, especially yourself!
rude staff, bad vibe, overpriced. i’m surprised it’s still open
Tipple and Rose is a one of a kind experience. Located in the heart of Princeton, the minute you walk in you are greeted with an adorable store. Then there is the tea selection which is abundance at its best. So many to choose from! When we sat down for lunch there was a menu with an excellent array of options. The staff were warm and welcoming. I highly recommend if you are looking for a special and delicious experience.
Great tea. Great scones. This is not a “customer is always right” kind of place. They have expectations for their guests. Nothing too crazy though. Seems like the bad reviews are just piggy backing/ mob mentality. Give it a try.
Hands down one of the worst and overpriced places to have any event at. The service was slow, the owner was extremely rude and is not a people person.
OMG this place should be on Kitchen Nightmares!
I should've known right away something was off. It was a beautiful, busy Sunday on Nassau Street, tons of people everywhere, but this place was completely empty. Not a single customer. We’re not locals and the place looked nice from the outside, so we walked in. We quickly found out why it was empty.
My fiancée ordered a scone and the woman behind the counter told her, “We reserve those only for gluten-free people.” Huh? There was no sign anywhere about what’s gluten-free or not, even though the place is plastered with random warning signs. Ironically, my fiancée is actually gluten-intolerant, so yeah, she qualifies (smh).
We also ordered an unsweetened iced tea (which is what she always drinks). When I went to pay, the cashier asked me if I got the sweetened version for $1 more and she seemed annoyed that I didn’t.
Then, my fiancée needed to use the bathroom because she had something in her eye. We were told someone else was using it, so we politely asked if we could sit while we waited, since she couldn’t see well. As soon as we sat down, another staff member asked what we wanted to order. I explained we had already ordered and were just waiting so she could wash her eye.
My fiancée finally got to use the bathroom, and immediately after she came back, the same staffer said: “Your to-go order is ready. You can go now.”
We felt completely mistreated, like we were being kicked out.
After reading the other reviews, I realized my experience wasn’t even the worst, people have consistently been treated terribly here. Honestly, it’s unbelievable.
No one should go to this place. Judging by how empty it was on a busy day, I doubt they’ll be around much longer anyway. Absolute Kitchen Nightmare.
Can't speak for the other reviews but I just dropped in to get a scone while walking around and thought it was pretty good. Super cute store sorta like a modern day apothecary with plenty of fun high tea options
I was disappointed with this shop/tea room and my experience was apparently not unusual. Shopping here felt like walking on eggshells. The owner seemed to resent my presence, and everything I did. When I decided to have a cream tea in the tea room, I felt like I was asking a favor. She acted so… put out.
You must choose your tea from a long list before you are seated (ok, it’s a tea shop) and write your choice on a sticky note. Not the NAME of the tea, don’t be a fool. I was curtly corrected by the owner, I should have given the alpha numeric CODE next to the tea’s name. She actually made me redo it. (Not sure why it mattered since the very nice waitress asked me for my tea choice again when I sat down.) I made a good natured comment about the process being complicated or confusing, which REALLY pissed off the owner, who corrected me again. Her process is fine.
She told an employee to hold the 3 small items I picked up while shopping behind the counter, without asking me if that’s what I wanted — then insisted I pay for them before entering the tea room. What was the point of that, since I had to pay for my cream tea out front afterwards? Was she worried I’d change my mind while eating?
Gratuity is included in the tea room bill. Not a big deal, but another example of the controlling owner seeming to resent and mistrust customers. It was not for my benefit.
Finally… the tea room was not busy when I visited, so I could overhear a small group eating lunch at a nearby table. Polite, quiet, affluent locals — the kind who would return if their experience was good, or spread the word to their friends if it wasn’t. They didn’t like their tea at all, and asked if they could switch. The waitress informed them they’d need to buy another pot. They politely declined. Later the owner stopped by, and I assumed “she’ll offer them a new pot on the house given how much they are spending.” Nope, she just reiterated what the waitress had said, with a tone of CORRECTION, like “you should have selected your tea more carefully”. Why come to the table at all, if not to try to smooth things over?
To be clear, my tea and scone were delicious (if overpriced) but I was relieved to leave the place. I agree with another reviewer — the vibe is kind of toxic in there. The staff seem cowed by the snarky owner. I suspect this shop survives because most patrons are out-of-owners like me, unlikely to return regardless of their experience. The owner seems pretty unhappy and should consider another line of work.
0 stars for the weird rules.
5 stars because the scones are the best of my life. (Don’t get vegan)
Not sure they will be in business much longer….so get them while you can!
Each group of people can only buy 2 scones.
Most businesses want to sell more, not less.
Oh well.
The shop is cute so I gave it some stars and its a great place to find gifts but I would not bring kids with you to this shop. There are signs placed all over the store: Don't touch the typer writer, don't spray the room scents, don't, don't don't anything in that store. My husband read the room and brought my tweens out of the store while I finished looking around. A sales woman kept hovering near by and watching me like a hawk and really I'm fine with that but when I asked her questions about the products or the store and cafe she was giving terse answers. She was visibly glaring and huffing when I tried to smell the room sprays without spraying and the sign says DON'T SPRAY. I don't know if there was a fight before I walked in to the store but the mood was weird. This was before Mothers day and the whole reason I went in was to make reservations for us for Mothers day tea but the climate in the store was off. Cold. There was a couple girls lingering in the bakery and when I was asking questions about the scones I was told right away if you don't have an allergy don't get the vegan scones.Oh ok. Noted. So another DON'T added to the list of many other don'ts in the store. Normal sales people would wait till I finished ordering and if I picked a vegan flavor she could add the vegan scones are a little dryer that the non vegan scones and let the customer choose but to be told right away don't order that one was off putting. I bought the scones I was allowed to purchase and left. I promptly let my husband know I didn't make a reservation at the tea house and he said Thank GOD! It was such an unwelcoming place. Also the non vegan scones were dry and unappetizing ... were these baked fresh? I question these FIVE STAR reviews that rave about the food. Maybe the scones are just okay and everything else is fantastic. This was my personal experience and this is not sponsored.
Visited earlier today with a friend and definitely won’t be returning. Extremely unprofessional and rude staff, we were being stared DOWNN by them the entire time and felt super uncomfortable. Explains why the shop was completely empty despite all the nice items they have. (Couldn’t even browse the tea leaves without being watched from BOTH sides of the store. Ridiculous.)
Restaurantji Recommends
Very unprofessional, questioning browsing customers for taking pictures around the store. Under surveillance being stared down by both employees there. Super uncomfortable experience for two Princeton regulars.
We didn't get to celebrate mother's Day this year, so we did it today. I was so looking forward to coming to this place. I didn't appreciate all of the rules. I didn't appreciate the owner coming to tell me I ruined her tea pot because I added oat milk and honey to the pot. My family just suffered a terrible loss and wanted to do something happy together. Whole experience was ruined for my family. Great disappointment. You also spend a lot for very little.
Owners Doria and her partner both are extremely rude and disrespectful. I am never going back there after being treated the way the owner treated me and my family. We can have tea and scones at home but we go to a restaurant to have good experience and good time but this place knows how to ruin your life presence and turns good day into bad day:
Run
Run! I ignored the negative reviews and learnt the hard way, very bad treatment and extremely disrespectful. I am so furious, no one should ever be treated the way this place treated us. This is extremely in human. I left the place shaking. . I took my sister and 18 year old nephew who were visiting from Dubai to this place and came home so embarrassed and disrespected. My nephew don’t drink tea. He just wanted to order macaroons and water. The waitress said they only give macaroons if you order the whole hi tea. So he didn’t order anything and we ordered 2 pot of teas, scones and sandwiches. My nephew was sitting on the couch relaxed, ( that is the whole point of tea). Waitress came, touched his shoulder and said “ you can not sit like this, you need to sit straight and also you need to order something. “ imagine how 18 year old would be embarrassed, but he ignored and sat straight. He told her that he don’t want to order anything as he don’t feel like eating. The lady said” if you don’t order anything, you will need to wait outside”. I requested if he can sit here as we want to be together. She rudely said “ either he order or you guys can cancel the order and all leave” while we were in the middle of drinking our tea. Shame on us we still stayed. We could not believe what just happened. Now we all were in bad mood. We finished the food in 10 min and went to the register to pay: I do believe it was the owner at the register. She goes “you all had problem with my staff ,?” We wanted to tell her what happened and she goes “ do not come back here again , the way you treated my staff”. This place ruined our entire evening with $130 spent. I am a big foodie, have traveled all over the world and have experienced all kinds of restaurants from high end restaurants to small fast food places but have never experienced something like that where a stafff members comes and tells you how to sit and tells you to leave the place in the middle of your food. In addition to that owner did not even try to find out what happened and told us do not come back here because she assumed we treated her bad.
I'm a regular, and love coming here for either a quick bite or a leisurely tea service. The menu has a great selection of salads, sandwiches, and small bites, including divine scones. They're very knowledgeable about tea, and are happy to walk you through their vast tea selection prior to making your choice and then taking your seat.
The shop is also brimming with lovely products: cool totes, cards, books, tea accessories, chocolate, cookies, confections, robes, blankets, a fun refill pharmacy, and the best selection of non-alcoholic beverages in Princeton - just a really perfect selection for finding gifts for anybody, especially yourself!
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