One step away from the Notre-Dame Basilica in Old Montreal, the Paparmane tea room offers its colorful version of English tea time in a gourmet and festive spirit.
Paparmane offers a magical and immersive tea experience that many guests describe as a fairytale escape. The restaurant is widely praised for its whimsical, impeccably decorated interior and its thoughtful attention to detail, which creates a cozy and welcoming atmosphere for various celebrations or relaxing outings. Visitors consistently highlight the high quality of the seasonal menus, noting that the beautifully presented, flavourful bites and extensive selection of teas provide a generous and satisfying meal. The staff receives frequent commendations for their professionalism, kindness, and attentiveness, particularly regarding their ability to accommodate dietary restrictions. While the experience is generally considered a highlight of the Old Port, guests appreciate the creative variety and the opportunity to purchase tea to take home, making it a highly recommended destination that encourages repeat visits.
Trés joli experience ! Our host Julia was very kind & welcoming to us , making sure we understood all the cakes & sandwiches before eating . We all throughly enjoyed our experience & loved the different tastes & flavours , the cakes & scones were decorated beautifully I would go again ! Thank you for a wonderful time.
** editing review to add a star because of the owner's thoughtful response. I appreciate that a lot since there are so many unhinged replies from business owners :D & it gives me confidence they will use the feedback so that nobody else has the same experience as me.
Service 1/10
Food 3/10
Overall 2/10
Honestly probably one of the worst high teas I've had recently - I go to so many because I love them - so I know what I like about them & it's not the overpriced cucumber sandwiches & leaf water :D I enjoy it because it's a small break in my day that should be relaxing, with nice service, cute decor & pretty little snacks. The service was uniquely terrible for me, but I can admit that other reviewers had different experiences & I could see right in front of me that the surrounding tables (& the tables are so close together I could hear everything) were all getting considerably friendlier service than me. So it started the moment I entered there was nobody to greet me & I stood there waiting for a while, which is not the best first impression for a fancy high tea (mind you it's much cheaper than most hotels so maybe I got what I paid for lol). I got seated at a table & my order was taken - that part was fine. Then without asking me, one employee just told me that I have to move my bag off the chair so she can swap chairs for another customer. I would've agreed either way but it was rude to just move my bag instead of asking me. The only employee who was relatively pleasant to me was the one who brought the food & described everything, but I only interacted with her for 20 seconds.
Now this is the part that made it the worst - not even 1 hour into my 2-hour seating, TWO separate employees came & assumed I was done even though my plate still had food on it & I had tea in my cup, so they would've cleared everything away if I hadn't stopped them & said I wasn't done yet. Pretty much the opposite of relaxing & leisurely. Then on top of that, there was a Internet problem so they were worried the pay system was down, & they came again to say they would give me the bill (just to print it) but I didn't have to pay it yet. So that's out of their control but also the third time I felt like they were trying to rush me. & after maybe 15 minutes they came yet again (!) saying, oh actually you do need to pay now because we're still having wifi issues :P
I left with 30 min remaining because it wasn't enjoyable anymore, & I did not get any type of greeting or thank you on my way out even though every single other customer did before me. So the lack of service directed towards me was quite obvious, I don't really know why & I don't really care, but the difference in treatment was noticeable at least to me.
As for the food, the scones were not warm, the mini pavlova was really good & the other items were ok but nothing outstanding.
I think for things like high tea, service is pretty much 80% of it, because again, you're not paying that money for the tea & food, it's the whole experience. I'm pretty disappointed since the reviews raised my expectations (& anyway I'm not doubting those, I'm sure even some others seated around me enjoyed their visits) but it left a bad taste in my mouth & I wouldn't go back, I think they need better training on customer service. They were also cleaning so ACTIVELY next to me that I could feel the spray of the cleaning solution, which is nasty, & there were still 30 min before they closed so I don't know why they were rushing people out of there. If their intent was not to rush me, it 100% felt like it. All of that activity was just to set the table again but like, I'M STILL SITTING THERE while you're aggressively cleaning the table & clattering all the dishes & cutlery all around me. Who would enjoy that?? Why can't that wait until closer to closing time.
Well that's my long winded review of my not-enjoyable high tea (that I was looking forward to), I guess I'll just keep going to others & probably get better service at most other places :D
Food was very good, good variety. I would have loved real clotted cream for the scones, but they had some kind of mascarpone stuff - still good just not clotted cream. I paid for the premium tea & it was worth it. Decor was beautiful but I would have liked the tea cups & teapots to be cuter, they were kind of ugly. Service was very nice, just took a bit of time for us to get our bill, but otherwise staff was lovely.
May 25, 2026
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I recently went to Paparmane for a delicious Friday afternoon tea…
We were taken care of by Kevin, who was soo sweet, & Mila, who brought the best energy… fun, artistic, & just genuinely warm. It made the whole experience feel personal.
For tea, we ordered the Passionably Green Tea & the Mayan Chocolate… both really comforting in their own way, depending on your mood.
The bites came out in gorgeous towers, as part of their'temps des sucres' tea… a little love letter to Québec, but dressed up for tea time.
My favorites:
* Truffle & maple egg mousse sandwich… creamy, rich, slightly sweet
* Salmon tartare… fresh & light, a nice contrast to everything else
* The scones… so buttery & flaky, with great jam & whipped butter to top them
* The Mayan chocolate caramel dessert… deep, rich caramel & chocolate flavor
* & the pouding chômeur… nostalgic flavors with a twist, honestly one of my favorite bites of the whole afternoon
It's the kind of place you go when you're not in a rush… you sit, sip your tea, talk about everything & nothing… & suddenly the afternoon disappears.
Great service! The hostess & server were welcoming & accommodating. The ambiance was so elegant & beautiful. Loved the Christmas-themed decorations 🎄The winter delights classic contained bouchées of saltiness & sweetness.
Starting from the bottom layer (salty), there were the sandwiches & canapés. I really enjoyed the black truffle trompe-l'oeil with pearl onion. The middle layer had sweet & salty scones with a homemade jam (tasted very cinnamon-y) & a light (slightly salty) tasty cream. I found the earl grey white chocolate scone to be too sweet. The top level served a variety of sweet treats. For the choice of tea, there were so many to choose from. I wanted to try so many of them, but I ended opting for The Great Wisdom (white tea with light notes of baked almond). It had a faint flavor with a slight almond aftertaste, I enjoyed it very much! 🍵 I also thought how they served the tea (with the hourglass ) really cute ?.
A spectacular setting, impeccable service, & 3 luscious tiers of heavenly bites! 😋 Orange fennel scone was to die for, as was the red velvet cake. Earl Grey tea was fresh & flavourful. What a unique, wonderful experience! 😍
the tea, service, & interior were all really lovely
we had the winter delights menu that had tasty things, but unfortunately the red velvet cake was really dry, the mascarpone was a bit bland, & all the sweets were a bit too sweet. The scones were the best part but the size (especially considering what you're paying) were really disappointing. The jam was amazing too but there's not enough offered to use it on :/ Ultimately i left feeling it wasn't worth the price
C'était une superbe expérience !! L'endroit est unique 😍 très charmant la collection de tasse à l'entrée & la décor à l'intérieur. J'ai pris le menu classique saveurs d'automne. Mais, il y a d'autres menus (végétarienne, sans gluten & vegan) & si tu as des allergies ou intolérances ils peuvent t'offrir de petites variations. J'ai trouvé très cool le service! J'ai adore les scones!!! La variété de thé est super, il y a une section où tu peux choisir des thés qui vient inclus avec le menu. Le thé paparmane rose était délicieux! C'est vraiment un bon endroit pour aller que ce soit seul, avec des amitiés, la famille ou une date différent
The tea selection is nice & the service was great! The food isn't bad, a couple things could definitely be worked on. I read in other reviews that the scones are dry which is true. I find they were small & hard & crumbled apart which was disappointing. Other items seemed to have been prepared a while prior to serving it.
