February 2025
Here’s the tea in Sarasota! The good, the bad, the ugly, and yummy of afternoon tea, Sarasota Florida edition. This is my final afternoon tea this year in FL and it was tea for ONE guest at Elixir tea house on Hillview street.
To begin, the good. Most aspects here were good. I was served a glass of champagne and the food was waiting when I arrived. Then I was able to choose a tea from a large list of options. I strongly prefer tea to be served several minutes before the plated food but things are a bit differently here. So as much I just wanted earl grey for some reason I chose the vanilla flavoured black tea. It came pre-steeped and tasted ok. I was told I could have endless teas and try many types. I only had the vanilla one that I first chose as I got full of food very quickly with no extra room for tea; just one of the reasons I prefer to drink a cup or two of tea before I start eating.
Only the savory bites and sweets were on the table when I arrived. The scone came warm after I finished my savoury items. For this first tier, I got 5 sandwiches. Everything looked appealing on first glance. First I tried the chicken salad croissant and pesto caprese. The chicken sandwich was delicious; it had cranberries and almonds in it; very yummy. The pesto mozzarella was on a baguette and also very tasty. Next I tackled the cucumber and turkey sandwiches. The cucumber was yummy; I liked the tzatziki-like spread and fresh baguette. The cucumber slices could have been a little bit thinner but I liked this one. The turkey and cheese tasted fine but came in 4th for me from these options. There was also a smoked salmon open faced sandwich which I didn’t eat b/c i dont like salmon. The 4 savories I had were all appetizing.
The scone was served next and it was slightly warm. It was served with large madeline and strawberry jam, and real clotted cream! The owner confirmed it was the green label jar. Of course it tasted delicious b/c it was REAL! The scone itself was the exact same muffin type scone that we were served in st petes at our last afternoon tea. Right down to the blueberry flavour, the size, shape, and texture. Which makes me think they are using a mix for these muffin like things or using the same third-party supplier? I was so surprised it was exactly the same! How can that be? As I said in the st petes review, although this scone texture isn’t my preference, I do prefer this muffin texture to a hard cookie like scone so this is ok, I guess. Plus, real clotted cream for the win!
The madeline served along side, was fine. I usually find these cookie cakes things very dry and this one was too so I didn’t waste my tummy space on it.
Next I indulged in the sweet tier, starting with the layered almond cake. It was really really delicious. Light, fluffy and tasty. Reminded me of tiramisu since it seemed to have lady fingers in it. Next was the Napoleon cake with its layers of pastry and cream. This too tasted fresh and good. After a couple of bites of each I moved onto tasting the other items. There was a gelatin based cake slice which had some fruit pieces in it, maybe peaches? Maybe mango? I’m not a huge gelatin fan so this one wasn’t for me. Then there was a very large gluten free chocolate cupcake and a white chocolate covered strawberry. I do love when there is a chocolate item served so I was glad to see this but couldn’t eat very much of it; I was so full. Oh, lookie lookie; a cupcake and a chocolate covered strawberry, together on a sweet tier; Hahah IYKYK!. These cakes were quite large compared to what is normally served at afternoon tea; but, things are done a little bit different here (and that’s ok). My favourite sweets were the first two cakes. Finally, our gracious hosts wanted me to try this specialty cake from Prague. I believe it was called a marlenka honey ball (maybe I am saying that wrong?). It looked like a truffle but it was not and needed to be eaten with a fork. It was really different and I liked it.
So I am classifying the food here as good and since this is a food review that’s certainly a positive!
The bad -There were no bad aspects here. The service here was very warm and welcoming. It seems clear that its a husband and wife team running this tea room and that they care very much about their food, their tea, and the experience. In chatting with them just a little bit they seemed very passionate. Nothing here was exactly bad but the muffin-scone itself was the most disappointing element.
The ugly - Nothing here was ugly even if its not my taste. This tea room is in a nice area of the town (or city?) which lots of street parking in the area. This tea room is setup with little private rooms. Look at this cute “alice in wonderful” room which would be great for bridal shower. We asked to sit in the main area at a regular table instead of low seating so it had more of a cafe vibe where we were. This tea room has a small lunch menu and is fully licensed to serve alcohol. It also has odd hours I am not accustomed to seeing at tea rooms where they don’t open until 2pm so this can be a late lunch experience or a even a dinner experience.
For the yummy aspects- my favourite bites were the chicken salad sandwich, the real clotted cream, and the almond cake.
This afternoon tea was prepaid online using open table and it cost $50 USD per person, after tax and auto gratuity the total paid was $63.44 USD which is about $90 CAD all-in. To me, this price is slightly high for this venue, but given the quality and quantity of food as well as the unlimited tea options which are vast and high quality this price can be justified.
Considering all aspects, my queen of afternoon tea rating is 3.5 out of 5 stars. Maybe closer to 4 out of 5.
Have you been to Elixir in Sarasota for afternoon tea? Would you go? Comment below to share your impressions and thanks for watching the florida tea tour. The next out-province-tea-tour will likely be in Montreal Quebec Canada, so if you’d like to participate with a few dollars, the link can be found in my link-tree Thank you for watching, especially if you’re doing so on youtube, tea friends!
