Yaffa's Tea Room

Totally unique little secret spot!

by plasticfantastic

December 01, 2008

I just ate here for the first time last week and everything was excellent! I really can't tell you what the review below mine is talking about. She must be pretty cranky, or maybe she got a bad waiter. I didn't even see any male waiters in there...

ANYWAY, as soon as we got in our super sweet waitress sat us and chatted with us a little bit. We are kind of a talkative bunch and she didn't try and hurry us while we settled in. The drinks were great, the food was delicious and the service was casual and just right. It's certainly not fine dining, but fine dining makes me uncomfortable anyway. I also took a peek at the backroom and it was so cool, totally different than the bar section. It's nice you can choose what kind of atmosphere you want and get the same food and drinks. (btw that woman probably should have eaten on the quiet side! duh)

• Pros: great service, great food, good music, easy location
• Cons: my knife was awkwardly large

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Avoid at all costs

by DottieZimmer

May 09, 2008

The Yaffa tea room is extremely over priced, dirty, LOUDER than a concert and should be avoided at all cost.

Here I sit, chewing away at the over cooked chicken dish I paid $18 for last night (took it to go as I could NOT stand the noise any longer) and I ponder how they have the nerve to charge $18 for this poor excuse for chicken. It doesn't even resemble chicken, it looks more like Turkey that they thawed out last minute.

The spinach that came with it, too, was over cooked. It's not even green anymore, more like light yellow.

I sat there with a friend trying to chat and the music was SO LOUD everyone in the place had to literally SCREAM to communicate. I asked my waiter several times to turn down the music and he informed me that it was "not a restaurant, it was a bar!".

I ordered a cranberry juice along with my mineral water, but he never brought it, probably because HE DIDN'T HEAR ME over the loud, annoying music.

Hard to believe but Ms. Yaffa, the owner, was actually sitting at the bar through all of this. But then again, she looks so old, she probably is hard of hearing and didn't realize that their music was as loud as the standard WHO concert.

The bathroom and stairs to the bathroom are disgusting and filthy. There is so much grease on the stairs I almost fell.

I am really irate over this waste of time and money. The OTHER Yaffa cafe on St. Marks places is MILES BETTER and no wonder, Ms. Yaffa sold it years ago to people who KNOW how to cook and please their guest. I am disgusted.

Hope the waiter got the message when he saw that I deliberately left NO TIP.

• Pros: Can't think of any
• Cons: SUPER LOUD, over priced mediocre food

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I don't know what these other reviews are about!

by vernerm

September 19, 2007

I went with my boyfriend on a recent Friday night and had a really great evening. Everything was served exactly as we expected and with casual kindness from our waitress. The atmosphere in the t-room is a bit more romantic than in the bar area, which is nice to have the option of scenery within the same place. We ordered a great bottle of wine, and had a very relaxing night. No one hurries you out, the waitresses are always smiling and considerate, and most of all the food is delicious and affordable, unlike most places in the area.

Definitely a gem.

• Pros: affordable, quiet or lively your choice!, great neighborhood, great service
• Cons: The t-room side closes earlier than the bar side, so if you want to stay late, you have to move

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Completely NOT worthy

by moijill

May 10, 2006

I actually came here for tea. They HAVE a tea menu but were out of the three most popular blends and DID NOT have honey. i jokingly sugggested they go to the grocery store and buy some, but the waitress laughed. How are you calling yourself a morrocan and tea restaurant and be sold OUT of your most popular teas? Plus, they didn't have mint tea which is like WATER in Morroco. NOR did they have Indian chai. Although the mediterreanian plate was delicious, it was NOT what I'd expect from a tea salon. We ordered a sugar cookie and biscotti to sweeten the palate.

As the sun set, the back room turned into a club. It seemed like a YOUNG/HIGH SCHOOL aged crowd waits for that hour to sneak inside. I was COMPLETELY disappointed and see it as just another overrated "hip spot" in Manhattan.

• Pros: Kind Waitress, Access to Subway, Cheap for NY
• Cons: Not a tea salon, Out of Tea, Out of Honey

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No spontaneity

by kissthecook

September 08, 2002

Don't bother going if you feel like spontaneously having proper afternoon tea. Apparently, you have to make a reservation for "high" tea, so that they "can prepare for it." Actually, upon being seated in the tea room, we weren't even offered the tea menus and had to ask for it. We actually had to ask for a lot of things: silverware, napkins, butter.... The waitress was more interested in talking on her cell phone and rummaging through her backpack than she was serving us.

There are plenty of better tea rooms in the city than this one.

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