So happy I visited this tea shop. I bought a lovely gaiwan and some puerh. Jim who runs the store was really knowledgeable and is clearly passionate about tea. They offer everything from 25-year aged pu-erh to simple oolongs or white teas. Tea ware too. He can help you find what you’re looking for based on your budget! 10/10 will be coming back
Elizabeth C
A lovely dinner at the Russian Tea Room. Excellent service and delicious food. Ordered from the Restaurant Week Menu; a great value at $60! Everything was so good: Borscht soup, blinchik appetizer, wild mushroom stroganoff, sea bass, and chocolate mousse cake. A memorable evening!! The decor adds to the ambiance: red leather banquettes and Russian art on dark green walls.
S2467VHjennifers
Not as good as it used to be, unfortunately (used to be one of my favorite places in the city). Still has a great atmosphere!
Kehao
I can find anything I need. Highly recommend.
Yongchen H
Very nice place to buy traditional Chinese tea with good price!
Mary G
Went to The Russian Tea Room with my adult daughter for a girls' trip to NYC and decided on the tea service. Extremely overrated and very disappointing, especially for $145 per person before tax and gratituity. Loved the sour cherry syrup used to sweeten the tea, very unique and I had never seen this before. Sandwiches, while I truly enjoyed the hearty and savory flavors that were so different from the delicate English tea sandwiches, they were served on stale bread...and, yes, I know the difference between a crusty type of European style bread and stale bread. Same for the scone and dessert course. I only ate the creme scone and although I sampled the other two I couldn't eat them no matter how much butter (practically frozen), clotted cream or preserves I added because they were that dry. For the dessert course the only thing I truly enjoyed was the mini creme brule' - adorable and yummy! Both the vanilla cupcake with chocolate frosting and the red velvet cupcake with cream cheese frosting were horribly dry, however the cream cheese frosting was delicious. Finally, the macaroon was sticky and chewy. The service was very good but when we complained about the dryness of the courses, "sorry" was the only response. Am I glad I did it? Not sure! I guess so, just to say I had this quintessential NY experience with my daughter. However for almost $200 per person I would definitely have preferred...and expected a much better experience! Overall I think I would recommend skipping The Russian Tea Room for tea.
noddy45
Rip off muck. A sad and tired relic of what it once may have been. Dirty red velour seats , haven’t been cleaned in years , and ripped faded carpet added to the ambiance. We went there for Christmas dinner which was a set menu. The bread roll was stale and cold with rock hard butter. The caviar came out on two of the tiniest blinis I have ever seen with about 5 caviar eggs each (we counted), the presentation of these tiny morsels completely lackluster. The starter, we chose the blinchik with goat cheese and mushroom which was served cold? The duck had no crisp to it and again just slapped up on a white plate all for the rip off price of $145 per head. They should have served a side of vaseline to ease the pain when presenting the check. Will not be returning.
Jill H
We enjoyed going to such an iconic place, but everything was just "okay." We were there for dinner on Christmas Eve. The hostess was incredibly friendly, but our server was horribly inattentive. It took well over 30 minutes get tea and forever to get our food. We didn't get silverware and had to track someone down to get some b/c our server was nowhere to be found. The food lacked seasoning, so we had to get up and go track down our server to ask for salt and pepper b/c she still had not checked on us. My husband and son each had steak (ribeye and filet), and both said they were pretty good - not great. My vegetable Wellington was good but definitely needed some salt. Fwiw, I don't like a lot of salt. We were there for a long time and laughed about finally timing how long it takes the bear to fully rotate (30 minutes and 45 second).
Liz B
Nice decor but very disappointing afternoon tea. The sandwiches were uninspired and the bread was stale. The scones were slightly burned and the other cakes were underwhelming. Including a crème brûlée without the burnt sugar top. The bill was eye wateringly expensive ($145 each pre tax) & we were hoping for something really special. I can’t comment on the main menu but the afternoon tea is one to avoid.
Horrible experience! We visited New York December 23. We ordered afternoon tea. The sandwiches were tasteless and had been made much earlier as the meats were dried up. They tried to keep them fresh but made them soggy. The scones were good but everything else was not worth a tenth of what they changed. Even the crème brûlée had no sugar crust on top and tasted like instant pudding. The place is still pretty but you had to angle your pictures because the balcony was covered in cardboard boxes. It was not just a bad day as almost no one was there. Find someplace else, you will thank me.
Pete Deserto
There's a good reason this store is called the Best Tea Shop. Top quality. Knowledgeable owner.
Diane R
Afternoon tea , what a delight absolutely loved this , we felt like royalty ! The sandwiches and cakes were all different we couldn’t eat it all The staff were amazing , we felt like the old movie stars The history of this place is breathtaking , superb afternoon I would highly recommend , pricey but the experience was amazing Thank you Russian Tea Rooms
Jazzgal67
In technical terms, something that is iconic is worthy of veneration, or having a reputation of greatness. This is no longer the case for this restaurant. When I think about the fact that I planned a dinner date at this place, counting on it being a place of great worth, and receiving a bill for $341 for the meal, it saddens me. The service was terrible. The food was lackluster at best. I will give them props for the borscht, which was delicious. But not worth nearly $400. Not worthy. Not worthy.
mariagZ1086JM
We had a fantastic time at the Russian tea room. We stopped here before a concert a Carnegie Hall. What a great location to have a drink and eat a meal before listening to a wonderful concert. I had to beef Wellington, yummy! I loved the Champagne. They are each $30 by the glass several different types. I had the Vue.
So happy I visited this tea shop. I bought a lovely gaiwan and some puerh. Jim who runs the store was really knowledgeable and is clearly passionate about tea. They offer everything from 25-year aged pu-erh to simple oolongs or white teas. Tea ware too. He can help you find what you’re looking for based on your budget! 10/10 will be coming back
A lovely dinner at the Russian Tea Room. Excellent service and delicious food. Ordered from the Restaurant Week Menu; a great value at $60! Everything was so good: Borscht soup, blinchik appetizer, wild mushroom stroganoff, sea bass, and chocolate mousse cake. A memorable evening!! The decor adds to the ambiance: red leather banquettes and Russian art on dark green walls.
Not as good as it used to be, unfortunately (used to be one of my favorite places in the city). Still has a great atmosphere!
I can find anything I need. Highly recommend.
Very nice place to buy traditional Chinese tea with good price!
Went to The Russian Tea Room with my adult daughter for a girls' trip to NYC and decided on the tea service. Extremely overrated and very disappointing, especially for $145 per person before tax and gratituity. Loved the sour cherry syrup used to sweeten the tea, very unique and I had never seen this before. Sandwiches, while I truly enjoyed the hearty and savory flavors that were so different from the delicate English tea sandwiches, they were served on stale bread...and, yes, I know the difference between a crusty type of European style bread and stale bread. Same for the scone and dessert course. I only ate the creme scone and although I sampled the other two I couldn't eat them no matter how much butter (practically frozen), clotted cream or preserves I added because they were that dry. For the dessert course the only thing I truly enjoyed was the mini creme brule' - adorable and yummy! Both the vanilla cupcake with chocolate frosting and the red velvet cupcake with cream cheese frosting were horribly dry, however the cream cheese frosting was delicious. Finally, the macaroon was sticky and chewy. The service was very good but when we complained about the dryness of the courses, "sorry" was the only response. Am I glad I did it? Not sure! I guess so, just to say I had this quintessential NY experience with my daughter. However for almost $200 per person I would definitely have preferred...and expected a much better experience! Overall I think I would recommend skipping The Russian Tea Room for tea.
Rip off muck. A sad and tired relic of what it once may have been. Dirty red velour seats , haven’t been cleaned in years , and ripped faded carpet added to the ambiance. We went there for Christmas dinner which was a set menu. The bread roll was stale and cold with rock hard butter. The caviar came out on two of the tiniest blinis I have ever seen with about 5 caviar eggs each (we counted), the presentation of these tiny morsels completely lackluster. The starter, we chose the blinchik with goat cheese and mushroom which was served cold? The duck had no crisp to it and again just slapped up on a white plate all for the rip off price of $145 per head. They should have served a side of vaseline to ease the pain when presenting the check. Will not be returning.
We enjoyed going to such an iconic place, but everything was just "okay." We were there for dinner on Christmas Eve. The hostess was incredibly friendly, but our server was horribly inattentive. It took well over 30 minutes get tea and forever to get our food. We didn't get silverware and had to track someone down to get some b/c our server was nowhere to be found. The food lacked seasoning, so we had to get up and go track down our server to ask for salt and pepper b/c she still had not checked on us. My husband and son each had steak (ribeye and filet), and both said they were pretty good - not great. My vegetable Wellington was good but definitely needed some salt. Fwiw, I don't like a lot of salt. We were there for a long time and laughed about finally timing how long it takes the bear to fully rotate (30 minutes and 45 second).
Nice decor but very disappointing afternoon tea. The sandwiches were uninspired and the bread was stale. The scones were slightly burned and the other cakes were underwhelming. Including a crème brûlée without the burnt sugar top. The bill was eye wateringly expensive ($145 each pre tax) & we were hoping for something really special. I can’t comment on the main menu but the afternoon tea is one to avoid.
Highly recommend,,,,I satisfied
Restaurantji Recommends
Horrible experience! We visited New York December 23. We ordered afternoon tea. The sandwiches were tasteless and had been made much earlier as the meats were dried up. They tried to keep them fresh but made them soggy. The scones were good but everything else was not worth a tenth of what they changed. Even the crème brûlée had no sugar crust on top and tasted like instant pudding. The place is still pretty but you had to angle your pictures because the balcony was covered in cardboard boxes. It was not just a bad day as almost no one was there. Find someplace else, you will thank me.
There's a good reason this store is called the Best Tea Shop. Top quality. Knowledgeable owner.
Afternoon tea , what a delight absolutely loved this , we felt like royalty ! The sandwiches and cakes were all different we couldn’t eat it all The staff were amazing , we felt like the old movie stars The history of this place is breathtaking , superb afternoon I would highly recommend , pricey but the experience was amazing Thank you Russian Tea Rooms
In technical terms, something that is iconic is worthy of veneration, or having a reputation of greatness. This is no longer the case for this restaurant. When I think about the fact that I planned a dinner date at this place, counting on it being a place of great worth, and receiving a bill for $341 for the meal, it saddens me. The service was terrible. The food was lackluster at best. I will give them props for the borscht, which was delicious. But not worth nearly $400. Not worthy. Not worthy.
We had a fantastic time at the Russian tea room. We stopped here before a concert a Carnegie Hall. What a great location to have a drink and eat a meal before listening to a wonderful concert. I had to beef Wellington, yummy! I loved the Champagne. They are each $30 by the glass several different types. I had the Vue.