Monday, June 7, 2010

Homemade Style Afternoon Tea

Review of Tracycakes Bakery Cafe
15015 Marine Drive, White Rock, BC



Tracycakes currently has 3 locations in the Lower Mainland -- Abbotsford, White Rock and the newest location -- Fort Langley. The grand opening celebration at Fort Langley is happening this Saturday, June 12th and the first 100 customers will receive free mini cupcakes and have a chance to win cupcakes for a year. Don't miss it! The cafe serves not only afternoon tea but also offers an a la carte menu for breakfast, lunch and dinner including sandwiches, salads, soups, quiche, chili, pot pie and dessert. Their specialty cupcakes have a variety of over 40 flavours in 2 sizes - mini and regular.

And now on to the review. Black and white colours were used consistently throughout the exterior and interior of the bakery creating a classic and European feel. The interior was furnished with black and white table linens, wooden chairs, black cabinets and a white counter with a black countertop. White chinaware and serving platters were used. The clear crystal chandeliers were the focal point adding character and illumination to the room.






For the price that you are paying, do not expect excellent service. The hostess directed me and my guest to a table close to the door. The area was particularly cold so I requested to move to another table further inside but was rejected. There were several empty tables displaying reserved signs and I did make a reservation, did I not? Those empty tables were eventually occupied an hour and half later the same time we finished our meal. The hostess could have given one of those tables to us but chose not to. Despite making a reservation, we still had to wait half an hour for the food. Even the walk-in customers that came in after us for the a la carte lunch received their orders first. That made no sense! Later, we noticed the other tables did not need to wait long for their meal. The staff were not accommodating nor attentive. If we wanted a refill, we had to flag them every time. What great service!

The bakery cafe had an open kitchen where customers could watch the cooks prepare the meal. I watched 3 people working on our order and yet the outcome of the presentation was a disappointment. They rushed assembling the food and the presentation looked disorganized. The food was laid out on a 2 tiered tray. As the server described the food on each tier, she then realized the cupcakes were excluded by mistake. The jam, lemon curd and cream were placed in plastic cups which further cheapened the presentation of the food. As it turned out, other tables had their meals on much larger 3 tiered trays and the food was displayed nicely and neatly. Obviously, we were short changed on both the food presentation and the service.

The food was sumptuous but not quite scrumptious. The sandwiches (cucumber and cream cheese, egg salad and ham) definitely tasted homemade if you are used to making them plain and tasteless. There was nothing WOW about the dessert and pastries either. The sweets (tarts, brownies) and fresh fruits were average tasting. Not everything was bad. The blueberry scones, sausage rolls and cupcakes tasted decent. The tea selections were limited. Do not get deceived when you read on the website or the menu that they use loose tea leaves. They are actually loose tea leaves in silken mesh pouches by Mighty Leaf. I chose the organic spring jasmine tea which tasted more or less like Tazo or Stash green tea and was not as fragrant as the loose tea leaves. The traditional afternoon tea brew loose tea leaves as opposed to tea bags or pouches for better quality. What do you prefer?







If you never had afternoon tea, Tracycakes would be a good place to start for an inexpensive tea time. It will only set you back $15 for quite a filling meal. The atmosphere is intimate and cozy with European influences. You have an abundance of food but poor service and average food quality. You get what you paid for. The choice is yours. On a scale from 1 to 5, I rate this place a 2.


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