Local Guides World
Rachel Stephens
7 reviews on 1 places
On Saturday my husband and I had afternoon tea at Neverland Tea Salon in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. I am coeliac, my husband is not.
While they advertise it as a high tea, it is not, as high tea denotes main dishes served alongside tea sandwiches and pastries. This is an afternoon tea.
For $55 CAD (+ tax and tip) I got the gluten & dairy free tower which comes with 5 sandwiches, 4 sweets, 1 scone with jam and dairy-free cream and unlimited tea. There is not a gluten-free only option, only gluten-free & dairy-free or gluten-free & vegan. If you order the vegan menu, it's served on ceramic rather than bone China.
My husband had the traditional tower, which was also $55 CAD and came with the same number of items.
$55 CAD = $40.14 USD = $61.77 AUD = €37,53 = £32.23
Personally, I only liked 2 of the 5 sandwiches and 2 of the 4 desserts. I liked the scone. I felt the food was extremely underseasoned and dry, like the food was old, not dry as in the default texture.
I had my husband take a bite of everything I ordered to compare to his traditional tower, which had the same items except one dessert. On every item, he said his was option was more flavourful and better.
I'm sure many people aren't ordering the gluten-free dairy-free menu as often, but I'd prefer to order ahead when booking the reservation than have food that tastes like it may be leftovers. I'd also suggest that the chef tastes as they go to make sure the food isn't underseasoned.
While it's nice to get unlimited tea during the 90 minute seating, I feel like you're paying mostly for the ambiance. Like every afternoon tea I've ever been to, it's very loud, so don't expect ambient piano music.
The service was quite good but overall, I wouldn't go back for the gluten-free & dairy-free afternoon tea.
Visited: April 2024
While they advertise it as a high tea, it is not, as high tea denotes main dishes served alongside tea sandwiches and pastries. This is an afternoon tea.
For $55 CAD (+ tax and tip) I got the gluten & dairy free tower which comes with 5 sandwiches, 4 sweets, 1 scone with jam and dairy-free cream and unlimited tea. There is not a gluten-free only option, only gluten-free & dairy-free or gluten-free & vegan. If you order the vegan menu, it's served on ceramic rather than bone China.
My husband had the traditional tower, which was also $55 CAD and came with the same number of items.
$55 CAD = $40.14 USD = $61.77 AUD = €37,53 = £32.23
Personally, I only liked 2 of the 5 sandwiches and 2 of the 4 desserts. I liked the scone. I felt the food was extremely underseasoned and dry, like the food was old, not dry as in the default texture.
I had my husband take a bite of everything I ordered to compare to his traditional tower, which had the same items except one dessert. On every item, he said his was option was more flavourful and better.
I'm sure many people aren't ordering the gluten-free dairy-free menu as often, but I'd prefer to order ahead when booking the reservation than have food that tastes like it may be leftovers. I'd also suggest that the chef tastes as they go to make sure the food isn't underseasoned.
While it's nice to get unlimited tea during the 90 minute seating, I feel like you're paying mostly for the ambiance. Like every afternoon tea I've ever been to, it's very loud, so don't expect ambient piano music.
The service was quite good but overall, I wouldn't go back for the gluten-free & dairy-free afternoon tea.
Visited: April 2024
Thanks to some recommendations I found on Eat Gluten Free AZ on Instagram, we stopped at Diego Pops near our hotel in Old Town Scottsdale for happy hour where all apps and margaritas are half off. They have a marked gluten free menu which is important to me as a Celiac. I was told that their fryer is dedicated but flour tortillas are stored near it, so to avoid potential cross contamination, avoid the fried foods.
After being put on a 15 minute wait list, we were seated outside. The weather was fantastic so it was very comfortable in the outdoor dining area next to the bar. On the table are 6 different sauces. Try them all - my favs were the pink one and the light green serrano one.
We got a frozen house blue raspberry margarita, 2 Diego (house) margaritas, a cheese quesadilla (not GF, but my husband loved it), elote (great), a bowl of tortilla soup (12/10 it was delicious), a corn cheese dip (fine) with tortillas rather than chips to avoid potential gluten cross contamination, and a pineapple pork bowl with coconut rice (not a fan.)
Between ordering our drinks and when our food came out, it was like maybe 40 minutes. We didn't mind because the weather was good and we were chatting and had our drinks, but our waitress kept updating us that she was on the kitchen to bring out our stuff. We were like, "it's fine." She came out 2 more times and said the kitchen had lost our ticket. Whatever, we were in no rush. Stuff happens.
She was super apologetic even though we didn't complain and the manager came over and gave us vouchers for 6 free tacos and comped our entire meal!!! We told them it wasn't necessary and we could pay but the waitress said it was thanks for being so nice and understanding. That made me feel sad that they clearly deal with a lot of rude, unreasonable people. It wasn't necessary to comp our meal or give us free taco vouchers. We did tip her in cash an amount that would have been 1/3 of the original bill.
Please don't go expecting free food but if you're in Scottsdale, please go check out the food at Diego Pops and get the tortilla soup for sure.
After being put on a 15 minute wait list, we were seated outside. The weather was fantastic so it was very comfortable in the outdoor dining area next to the bar. On the table are 6 different sauces. Try them all - my favs were the pink one and the light green serrano one.
We got a frozen house blue raspberry margarita, 2 Diego (house) margaritas, a cheese quesadilla (not GF, but my husband loved it), elote (great), a bowl of tortilla soup (12/10 it was delicious), a corn cheese dip (fine) with tortillas rather than chips to avoid potential gluten cross contamination, and a pineapple pork bowl with coconut rice (not a fan.)
Between ordering our drinks and when our food came out, it was like maybe 40 minutes. We didn't mind because the weather was good and we were chatting and had our drinks, but our waitress kept updating us that she was on the kitchen to bring out our stuff. We were like, "it's fine." She came out 2 more times and said the kitchen had lost our ticket. Whatever, we were in no rush. Stuff happens.
She was super apologetic even though we didn't complain and the manager came over and gave us vouchers for 6 free tacos and comped our entire meal!!! We told them it wasn't necessary and we could pay but the waitress said it was thanks for being so nice and understanding. That made me feel sad that they clearly deal with a lot of rude, unreasonable people. It wasn't necessary to comp our meal or give us free taco vouchers. We did tip her in cash an amount that would have been 1/3 of the original bill.
Please don't go expecting free food but if you're in Scottsdale, please go check out the food at Diego Pops and get the tortilla soup for sure.
While the South Street Seaport Museum is very small inside and everything can be read in 30 minutes (which I did,) the standout of the museum are the two ships that you can take guided tours on for free.
The whole museum was free on the day that I visited.
My husband and I went on 2/19/2022 and toured both the Wavertree and the Ambrose Guide Ships. Both ships are very different and if you could only tour one ship, go with the Wavertree.
The Ambrose is a tour of a guide ship, which is a ship that acts sort of like a lighthouse to guide ship's past low or rocky spots and into NY harbor. Before seeing the Statue of Liberty, people coming to the US would have first seen the lights of the Ambrose.
The Wavertree is a large metal cargo ships but with traditional sails as that we associate with pirate ships and Peter Pan. The hull is overwhelmingly large once you get in and many people were saying "wow!" once we climbed stairs down into the bottom of the ship.
This is a free museum but it's not appropriate for small children as it's exclusively reading based inside and the ships are not accessible for strollers or wheelchairs, and are generally not safe for kids who run around and climb on things.
The whole museum was free on the day that I visited.
My husband and I went on 2/19/2022 and toured both the Wavertree and the Ambrose Guide Ships. Both ships are very different and if you could only tour one ship, go with the Wavertree.
The Ambrose is a tour of a guide ship, which is a ship that acts sort of like a lighthouse to guide ship's past low or rocky spots and into NY harbor. Before seeing the Statue of Liberty, people coming to the US would have first seen the lights of the Ambrose.
The Wavertree is a large metal cargo ships but with traditional sails as that we associate with pirate ships and Peter Pan. The hull is overwhelmingly large once you get in and many people were saying "wow!" once we climbed stairs down into the bottom of the ship.
This is a free museum but it's not appropriate for small children as it's exclusively reading based inside and the ships are not accessible for strollers or wheelchairs, and are generally not safe for kids who run around and climb on things.
I'm obsessed with National Park sites. I visited more than 60 sites in 2021 alone so I think I can gauge whether or not something is a good NP site.
As of 2/5/2022, this Jazz Historical Park is currently sharing a visitor center with the Jean Lafitte French Quarter visitor center. I'm not sure if it's always going to be this way or not, but currently, if there aren't performers scheduled during your visit, there is only a park video and a junior ranger booklet to do. The video is shown in what looks like a music classroom that I believe is the same room that hosts performances.
Is this building somehow related to jazz other than being in the French Quarter? I have no idea. There was only one ranger and she was dealing with an overflowing bathroom issue while running the park shop and handing out junior ranger books.
Don't bother visiting this park unless there is for sure going to be a performance scheduled, otherwise there isn't much in terms of a historical park for you to check out.
As of 2/5/2022, this Jazz Historical Park is currently sharing a visitor center with the Jean Lafitte French Quarter visitor center. I'm not sure if it's always going to be this way or not, but currently, if there aren't performers scheduled during your visit, there is only a park video and a junior ranger booklet to do. The video is shown in what looks like a music classroom that I believe is the same room that hosts performances.
Is this building somehow related to jazz other than being in the French Quarter? I have no idea. There was only one ranger and she was dealing with an overflowing bathroom issue while running the park shop and handing out junior ranger books.
Don't bother visiting this park unless there is for sure going to be a performance scheduled, otherwise there isn't much in terms of a historical park for you to check out.
Cool little shop that sells an assortment of Mardi Gras masks in the French Quarter.
Although pretty much every place in New Orleans sells Mardi Gras masks, this place sells both the cheapy, $5, made in China ones that you can get at CVS and Walgreens, but it also has an assortment of handmade masks that start in the $140+ range.
My favorite masks were the ones that had beads or lace like a belly dancer veil that could cover a Covid mask. That's a unique feature that I haven't seen on other masks.
This would be a good place to get a more elaborate mask if you had a specific costume that you were buying for, but be prepared to shell out some cash.
Although pretty much every place in New Orleans sells Mardi Gras masks, this place sells both the cheapy, $5, made in China ones that you can get at CVS and Walgreens, but it also has an assortment of handmade masks that start in the $140+ range.
My favorite masks were the ones that had beads or lace like a belly dancer veil that could cover a Covid mask. That's a unique feature that I haven't seen on other masks.
This would be a good place to get a more elaborate mask if you had a specific costume that you were buying for, but be prepared to shell out some cash.