Comments on: REVIEW – Eteaket, Frederick Street

By: Misty Roberts

Misty Roberts — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 13:31:55 +0000

My my my! I’m an expat living in Edinburgh and love a good cup of tea. I understand why the owner would want to come back after the feedback, but perhaps she should send one of her friends in anonymously to see what they experience. The two times I have been here were not impressive and I tend to head out of town to Ephermsis in Marchmont and will be trying the new Loopy Lorna’s out soon. The best news of all? Pekoe Tea are opening a shop and can’t wait to try that. I am sorry addicatedtotea to be so negative, but although your tea products are fine, the staff are not knowledgeable enough for me to return, nor is the food and cakes quality good enough for the prices you charge.

By: addictedtotea

addictedtotea — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 13:07:43 +0000

As the owner of eteaket I would like to respond to some of the comments on this site as we do try to monitor and respond to feedback good and bad. It is very disappointing to hear from customers who have had repeated poor experiences in our cafe. Eteaket is a labour of love and my passion so we do take all criticism seriously and we try to respond and make changes.

On criticism of service, we train all our staff to give the best possible service and we do not encourage customers to be rushed out the door. We identified that this had occurred a couple of times and we gave additional training to the specific staff member involved. We also positiviely encourage customers to smell our different teas before making a decision. We pride ourselves on having the best range and the best quality teas in Edinburgh which we have personally and carefully sourced. Our staff receive regular training on our teas and should be able to assist with any queries. We appreciate that when a new member of staff joins the team it may take a little bit of time for them to have the full spectrum of knowledge but they are encouraged to ask a more experienced team member to help with any such queries.

In terms of dis-satisfaction with the quality of food, we pride ourselves on using quality fresh, local suppliers for all of our ingredients. If any customer is unhappy with any item then we are more than happy to replace it then and there. No question.

We serve pots of tea for one and they are priced accordingly. Some places offer pots of tea for two which are also priced accordingly. We cannot though serve pots of tea for one to two people and I can’t think of many cafes that would allow this either.

We have also introduced customer feedback cards in our shop over the past two months so that we can receive more immediate feedback from our customers rather than responding to review websites. The feedback from these has been and continues to be overwhelmingly positive including staff friendliness, tea and food in direct contrast to certain reviews posted online. We do however naturally receive genuine criticism or suggestions from these feedback cards which we then take forward in ways to improve the experience.

We don’t purport to be perfect and I know that mistakes will happen and there will be times when we do not give the level of service or overall experience we would like but we are constantly looking at all the little ways to make eteaket even better. Hopefully some of you will stop by to see for yourselves.

Thanks

By: Lynn

Lynn — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 10:23:25 +0000

I also am a complete ‘tea Jenny’ and couldn’t have been more excited when Eteaket opened up, I was there in their first week and thought the decor was really cute and the range of tea impressive, although a bit expensive, and I chose a very tasty ‘Awesome Assam’. The service was not great, in fact I’d go with indifferent and aloof. But they had just opened so I reckoned that they were just finding their feet.
Since then I’ve been in a further 3 times, I wanted to give it another go and I had friends who also wanted to try it out. However, the service is always very poor and unhelpful and all three times I had something to eat and it was stale. Also they woudn’t let my sister and I share a pot of tea! It was buy an individual one each or not at all. “Couldn’t you just give me one pot and 2 cups?” “No.” My sis just wanted a little not a full pot but this was vetoed straight away.
I think I’ve given them more opportunities than most to impress and the experience has consistently been very disappointing. I wont be going back.

I’d also like to say that I am a huge fan of both Loopy Lorna’s and Tea Tree Tea where the service is always outstanding, the environment very friendly and relaxed and the food excellent. Not to mention the teas! This isn’t a biased opinion its just the truth )

By: Margaret Thompson

Margaret Thompson — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 22:06:30 +0000

First you suggest coffee angel and now you tell me about afternoon tea at The Hub. Mmmmmm, the cakes look delicious in the review. You would have to be friends with everyone in Edinburgh with all the reviews you do!!!!!!!

By: Miss Edinburgh

Miss Edinburgh — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 21:50:37 +0000

We are completely unbiased and not friends of ANY places in town, whether it be food or tourist attractions. We review independently and pay for our own food. The reason the link to Tea Tree Tea is on the page is we cross link to other articles all the time and offer alternative suggestions. Eteaket has always had mixed reviews since opening, such as on qype and are very negative on The List. I gave eteaket the benefit of the doubt of three visits before reviewing, when we normally only visit twice before reporting. I was actually very generous in the review in that I didn't mention the fact that two pigeons kept on flying in and out of the place. It is also not accessble to disabled people, therefore will never receive 5 stars. Since you are a regular, perhaps you would like to point this review out to the owner so that she can give her reply as she has done on other review sites. In the meantime, I will continue to drink tea and eat cake at Coffee Angel Moo Cafeteria Forsyth's Tea Room and enjoy my afternoon tea at The Hub where afternoon tea is currently £10 for two people. Please feel free to contact any venue reviewed on this site for them to tell you the review was done anonymously and they are not friends' of ours.

By: sophie smythe

sophie smythe — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 21:20:42 +0000

As a regular to eteaket I find the following comments on the website biased from the founder of spotlight. The fact that you have put a link on the eteaket page to Tea Tree Tea because you are a friend of theres is a real low!!! I find the eteaket staff to be very helpful, friendly and efficient. The Afternoon tea is also a real delight at a great price. You really should take a visit again and see what you are missing.

By: Margaret Thompson

Margaret Thompson — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 11:24:39 +0000

I had read your review weeks ago and agree – the service is bad and unless you know your teas and which ones to pick then this place is not for you. I actually walked down to Coffee Angel that you reviewed for afternoonn tea and cake and absolutely love that place now, can’t wait to go back !!!!!!!!!

By: David

David — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 19:42:25 +0000

I had a similar experience with the service and average tea and cakes will not be back. I would rather take the bus up to Morninside to Loopy Lornas

By: Mrs Brownlee

Mrs Brownlee — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:35:16 +0000

I ate here back in the Spring and the service was very slow and haven’t been back. I like going to Clarindas for afternoon tea or Toger Lily

By: Simon

Simon — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 08:15:49 +0000

Thanks for this info – had thought about popping in here before but will try somewhere else now!