Eddison Melrose - Pacific Grove

Recently had a wedding dinner reception in pacific grove and decided to cupcakes for guests with a small braut / tantigam cake. we have decided over a month, really not much time to find a baker who would have available so that I do not wait any last minute advice. this place was highly recommended by a local resident. the reviews were great so they had a chance. Karen owners were not sure if they were available, but came back to me within a week and said that it would eventually be. I was able to send her ideas/pictures and said she can create something I want. the cake cup /cakes were not disappointed and perfect! we also ordered some of the worms when we came to the city. they were also amazing. karen was friendly and wonderful to work with for an already stressful event that makes communication easy and convenient! thank you!

Delicious food and lovely presentation. Highly recommend!

Delicious food and lovely presentation. Highly recommend!

This place is very well-curated, the food is delicious, and the attention to detail is really impressive. If you're looking for an indulgent/luxurious treat, I'd highly recommend. The stand-outs were the sausage rolls, chicken curry sandwiches, and the scones. We aren't big tea drinkers, but the tea actually ended up being one of our favorite parts! It was beautifully blended. We ended up being the very extra people who brought a dessert stand to the beach but it was all in good fun! Wish we had gotten slightly better pictures but the seagulls seemed very interested in what we were up to, so we hurriedly put everything back in the boxes. We will definitely be back! : Thank you Karen!!

Having had afternoon tea at a half dozen of the most luxurious of 5 star hotels in England, Paris, New York and Santa Barbara, CA., I have a valid basis for comparison for what is worthy of praise and what is not. I have sat and stewed on this for quite some time before writing this review. Karen thinks quite highly of her abilities, and talked a lot about her experience and qualifications, and had had public relations pieces in magazines that are quite complimentary. (However, it was interesting to note that the china in her tea shop at the tables was mismatched at the time of my visit. I have never had that happen anywhere else. The first red flag, and I overlooked it) I arranged to have a very expensive catered tea for a group of women at my home. Had several meetings with Karen about it, and was always polite and clear with her on my expectations. Karen was a half hour late on the day of the tea party, and didn't apologize. What sort of professional does this? Her equipment was dirty and needed washing, (the other two helpers I hired commented on it and showed me). I cannot fathom the standards that allowed this to happen and for her to find that acceptable. She didn't even bring or have or rent enough adequate sized boiling hot water dispensers although she knew quite well what size glass teapots we would be using for each guest. Which ruined the flowering tea experience I had wanted to offer my guests, since each glass teapot needed a minimum of 24 ounces of water in it. I expected competence from someone who calls themselves a professional, and my guests did not get it. The plain scones she made for our tea were dry. After one bite, I didn't want another and I usually love fresh baked scones. The other items including little smoked salmon sandwiches and cucumber sandwiches, and pigs in blankets (which usually can't be ruined) didn't taste that good to me. Her homemade granola (to go) present for the guests was also not something i would choose to ever eat again. I found it all simply mediocre (rather than delicious), which was a disappointment in my personal opinion and experience with all of the other afternoon teas I have so enjoyed elsewhere. Karen left noticeably early according to my two other helpers who were very surprised and I was shocked when I came into the back pantry after the party was over and found her gone. She had left (despite our written agreement calling for agreed upon arrival and departure times), after only cleaning her own dishes and not helping with any of the clean up for what I owned to make up for what she had not brought and did not have. What professional behaves like this? She left early without coming to speak to me or saying a polite goodbye and asking if there was anything else the guests needed; then charged the full amount of time in our written agreement despite the various shortcoming and time unspent. She also never asked if I was satisfied with her service that day. Draw your own conclusions from this. Anyone in a catering business can have a bad day with one incident that might not come out as nicely as they had planned it to. This was more like an overall debacle from start to finish. I don't expect professionals to have attitude like what went on that day, with no apologies, no shame, no embarrassment, and no taking responsibility. I was mortified on behalf of my guests by the really nice experience I had expected versus what happened let alone what went on behind the scenes that the guests were not privy to. I would never recommend her, her shop or her catering to anyone based on my personal experience with her.