Neverland Tea Salon - Vancouver, British Columbia

My first high tea in Vancouver. Very nice ambience and cute decor, way too noisy to chat with your friends though. Honestly food was so-so but they were pretty generous with the sizes (we had to pack some for leftovers). Taste wise honestly they were pretty dry and felt ... like something you got from grocery store. I’m also feeling torn about the tea. On one hand I’m happy they have so many varieties (not quite TWG level but more than 50 for sure), however upon talking to the team I realised the teas were pre-made and not brewed fresh for you. I understand it from business perspective in terms of being efficient, but it does reduce the authentic experience of the afternoon tea a bit. Read more

Decent accessibility for both chair users and cane. I used just my cane this trip as it was a better walking day but have come here before in my powered chair. The staff are always accommodating and kind. There are vegan, gluten free, and dairy free options and they are wonderfully ... done. While I would love a just dairy free option with regular flour for myself I always love seeing dairy free options with meats and eggs. As someone allergic to dairy it is difficult to find places to eat that aren't strictly vegan. They were kind enough to sub out some things I additionally couldn't have for things I could. Not going into the tea itself. Hard to beat to lovely flavors and blends. And with a bottomless pot with your high tea meal it is easy to try several options and feel satisfied and pampered. Highly recommend as a cute brunch spot or a romantic tea for two. Read more

I enjoyed high tea here a few years ago and was keen to come back with my partner. The interior is beautiful and I love the attention to detail. There is a wide selection of tea to choose from and I enjoyed the Mumbai chai. I was surprised to see ... our teapot arrived with no tea bag or tea leaves inside. I don't order tea often but when I do, the tea is left to brew which is great for those of us who enjoy a stronger cup of tea. I ordered the vegetarian high tea and my partner had the standard. There was little difference between the two. His arrived with one chicken sandwich and my alternative was a tofu sandwich which unfortunately I didn't enjoy. The sweets were good but again, for the most part, my partner and I did not enjoy them. I appreciate that this is about individual taste rather than the actual quality of the sweets. It is not possible to order anything else from the menu on the weekend other than high tea. The website lists a spring and a summer high tea amongst others. When our bill arrived, I was under the impression, given that we are still in spring, we would be charged for the spring high tea however this was not the case. When I asked, I was informed that the spring high tea menu ended on mother's day and that they are on the summer high tea menu. This surprised me as we are still very much in spring. Over the years I've tried several different high tea options both here in Canada and overseas and unfortunately this high tea wasn't as enjoyable as I had hoped. Read more

There are a handful of High Tea salons around town, and they all share the same exorbitant prices. Upwards of $60 for a three tiered delight of sweets and savouries, you are paying for the "experience". This includes being surrounded by a medley of disparate but charming decor that somehow manages ... to look like it all belongs together, the use of fine china dishes, delicate teacups, and usually an actual bowl of sugar complete with a tiny metal spoon. A rounded pot filled with aromatic loose leaf tea rounds out this teaparty, a decidedly more adult affair than the one we used to have as kids using stuffies as guests. High Tea is a luxury to be sure, not an everyday event. The Secret Garden was my go to, but I was persuaded to try Neverland. I wasn't expecting anything different in terms of the novelty, but I was pleasantly surprised at how much better the service and overall encounter was. At Secret Garden, you choose one tea and are stuck with it for the duration of your stay. It is also up to you to steep it for however long you see fit. Neverland is unique in that you are encouraged to try different teas after each teapot is drained. I think that I sampled at least four. Not only that, but they actually brew and steep the tea for you so that the guesswork is taken out of the equation. A great marketing strategy on their part, as if you happen to fall in love with a particular tea, it is available for purchase. Foodwise, the items at Secret Garden are laughably smaller than Neverland's. And the famed lemon tart and egg salad on a pink bun that are constant fixtures on the Secret Garden High Tea menu have long since lost their appeal. I am a carnivore at heart and usually give vegetarian items a hard pass, but I found myself tentatively nibbling on the vegan savouries and finding them to be surprisingly delicious. That alone has ingratiated Neverland to me, because trust me, I'm the first one to decline any vegetable that crosses my path. Our server at Neverland was constantly checking up on us and ensuring that our table always had a steady stream of filled teapots for my party and I to mix and match. Once the server delivers your three tiered meal at Secret Garden they seem to disappear and only reappear to hand you the bill. Suffice to say you never need to settle for a merely passable High Tea service again. Head over to Neverland for a few hours of enchantment, where everyone is indeed mad as their sign implies, but in the best way possible. Read more

Cute and cozy salon. Very busy but still functional. Every item on the menu was delicious. You can try unlimited teas. We got three each and all of them were good. As everyone else mentioned, the time is limited to 1:30 hours which feels rushed. They come check on you every ... now and then and in the last 30 minutes they’ll let you know so that you can get your last round of tea. By the end of 1:30 hours you should leave the table so that they can accommodate the next group. Overall it was a good experience but next time we’ll probably go somewhere with a more relaxed schedule. Read more