The Whistling Kettle

Came into this slightly prissy tea shop and café popular with the blue hairs for Saturday brunch with a group of six. Had no problem getting a table although the dining room filled up in the next hour.
My «sinful delight» coffee was nothing short of its listing. The brunch tower I ordered consisted of a sandwich, lobster bisque, and a scone. Everything was quite tasty although the lobster bisque was sans chunks of the crustacean.
All in all, a nice brunch/​lunch joint to which I would be glad to return.

The food is good but the service is always so shitty. They’re always so rude and then when you correct their mistake they give you attitude. Like I just want my sandwich… Also they’re super slow.
Now as I’m sitting here I’ve sent back my sandwich twice. The first time because I said no artichoke hearts and the second time because ALL THEY DID WAS SCRAPE OFF THE ARTICHOKE HEARTS AND LEFT SOME RESIDUE ON THEM. What if I was allergic?! I’m a pissed off pregnant woman.

Fun atmosphere. Can be busy at times. Sandwiches and soups are great. Lots of tea choices of course. Some teas can get quite dark, ask for more hot water.

Been here four times in the past year with company each time, everyone leaves content and satisfied.
I did say before, sometimes the wait can be long but it is worth it.
Everything has always been fresh especially the tea which is unique. Be prepared to buy several teas to brew at home.
Cant wait to go back this winter and warm up with a soy chai.

I stopped by this tea + creperie with friends as we wanted to grab lunch before we went to the Albany farmers market (which is literally a 2min walk down from the restaurant) Arriving at the place at 12:30, we figured we’d have more than enough time to grab lunch and hit the farmers market before it closed at 2pm.
Unfortunately, this was not the case. We waited an hour for our food. People who came in after us got their food way before we did.
When the bill came, (which also took a whole 15mins between us asking for the bill and actually receiving it) the farmer’s market had already closed AND a mandatory gratuity of 20% was added to our bill.
While the food was good, I felt that for the amount of time we had to wait for it, and the lack of attention from the servers, the service we received did not warrant that much tip. I asked to speak to the server, who then brought the manager over to our table.
The manager explained that the 20% tip was automatically added to groups of 5 and over. We were a group of 5, and I cannot verify if this was mentioned anywhere on the menu, however the next part really soured my experience. When I explained about how much waiting we had to do for our food, the manager replied with, «so it’s the server’s fault then?»
Our group was immediately taken aback at this blatant guilt trip. In the end, we got our bill adjusted with zero tip added to it. (We each gave 10−15% anyway) but this situation left a really bad taste in my mouth. I definitely will not be coming back to this restaurant.

I’d been looking forward to trying out the whistling kettle for months… I mean what’s not to love about high tea and scones? I guess when they try to do a bit too much. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the ambience, location and décor and the food wasn’t bad, but I guess I just expected more.
We popped in on a Saturday for lunch during a stroll through the TFM. We snatched one of their 5 – 6 outdoor tables, so that was a bonus on a bright sunny day. However, the inside is just as nice and good to have since the mean temp is below 30 degrees well over 85% of the time in this area.
We opted to share the high tea option since we’d been munching on some other FM goods. My husband was in the mood for quiche so we ordered the basil, mozzarella and tomato quiche, a salad and a crêpe to finish (that’s a $ 2 upcharge). I’m not huge on quiche and really, you do have to be in the mood to get it. It was good but just not for me that day. Although, the crust was great.
Their beverage selection is formidable and I think it’s worth it to return just so I can explore their tea and coffee menu. There were also a bunch of other sandwiches that sounded delicious so I would also like to try those out.

I’ve come here a couple of times, and find that the menu is impressive, tasty, with generous portion sizes, and reasonable prices. Some of the items I’ve found to be phenomenal (the kale salad that I had), others were typical of what one would find in other restaurants (the dessert that I ordered). None were bad. Overall, it’s a place I’ll continue to visit when in town, and now that they have a new chef, I’m exciting to try his new creations. The savory scone he made for the Enchanted City event was one of the best scones I’ve had outside of England.

Giving this a neutral review. Nothing special or mind blowing about this place. Its fairly large for a sandwich shop imo. The flavors are mediocre. The crepes are ok.
That’s about all I have to say… I like the hard wood floors tho.

Save room for tea.
The menu offers quiches, crepes, salads and sandwiches. The small fold on the menu lists the daily specials. I settled on on the turkey, brie and cranberry crêpe. It was good. The added almond silvers added additional texture. The cranberry sauce was a touch sweeter than expected but paired well with rich brie.
The chocolate and strawberry scone was a bit dry but I enjoyed that flavor combination. The clotted cream was it’s saving grace.
The coconut iced tea was lovely, the coconut wasn’t too overpowering. It’s the reason why I would come back here. It was humid day when I ate here and the promise of refills taunted me because it was difficult to find my waiter. It took about 15 minutes for him to check on me again. My drink was visibly empty and I had to ask another waiter for a refill. It was the same when I asked for a dessert menu and then for the check. It was later in the afternoon, eliminating the «lunch rush» factor. Perhaps he was having an off day.
I have no issues asking for refills. Tea is more expensive and less waste is created if the patron asks. In addition, my piping hot crêpe and crisp salad were served on the same plate. If your salad to dressing ratio is heavier on the dressing side, your crêpe would end up a soggy mess. With the upgrade charge of $ 3.00 from chips to salad/​soup, a separate bowl would have been welcomed.
The lack of attentiveness diminished the experience.
The potential is here and with some tweaks, it could be a must see while in Troy. I’ll be back (for the tea) but I’m not in a rush.

Great food and tea selection. Mediocre service.
If you’re by yourself, ask NOT to be seated in the window, it’s tucked away from the rest of the dining area and consequently you don’t frequently see the staff… and apparently your server forgets you’re there.
I’ve been in 3 separate occasions alone and had 3 different servers, all of whom have taken at least 10 or so minutes to even greet me. The kitchen is fast and my order comes out within a few minutes, but then I don’t see my server again for a good while (usually 15 – 20 minutes), and more than once I’ve had to flag someone down to get my check.
This would be understandable if I were there at peak hours and the place were really busy, but this hasn’t been the case.
They also use tablets to record orders, which is good in theory, but my servers have seemed preoccupied with tapping buttons and don’t bother to even look up, giving an impression of disinterest/​apathy.
The food is the reason I continue to come back, but it’d be great if the wait staff could be counseled on timeliness and customer service. And for the record, I’ve been a server, so I think my critiques are well founded.

This place is SUPER cute and the food is amazingly delicious. We sat in a booth by the window and got to look out the window as people walked by. It was a peaceful evening with good food and good service. Love.

Third time was not a charm, nor was the fourth. I believe the time has come for me to stop wishing for the Whistling Kettle to be what I hoped it would be.
I love the interior design. I love the abundance of tea to select from. The menu selections are great, albeit on the expensive side.
My first visit was right after they opened… and, because they had just opened, I excused the fact that the service was incredibly slow and un-​attentive.
My second time visiting, was super slow and un-​attentive. You only get free refills on the daily teas if you can successfully make eye contact with your server and then also get them to act on you flagging them down. The same goes for getting the check. Three out of four times, I had to ask a front service person to let me pay (one of those times, my grandmother insisted we ask for the check!).
My third time visiting def should have had me convinced to never return. We waited over and hour to be served and another hour to receive the check. Thank goodness, my friend and I both work for ourselves… if we returned back to work two hours late to any other employer we surely would have been reprimanded, if not fired. If was on a major deadline, I would have been quite irritated. The waitress offered no apology and blamed it on RPI graduation. Thanks, Obama.
Today was now most def my final visit. I kindly asked the server (who I typically see working as the main hostess) if they were serving at a decent pace and explained what happened on visit number three – she assured me that they were and did bring my salmon sandwich in record time. Unfortunately, many parts of the salmon were BROWN. I removed the bad fish from my sandwich and saved those pieces to show her. 15 minutes later she returned to my table and I let her know they should toss the bad salmon, that I ate around it because I was wicked hungry and have faith in my strong immune system. I mentioned that older and ill folks might not be so lucky (with a sort of «wink» attitude). She told me it wasn’t bad; I told her that my father was a professional fisherman and that it most certainly was (because apparently common knowledge that brown, limp fish is bad wasn’t good enough for her). Lesson time: fresh salmon is pink and farm-​raised salmon is also pink because it is dyed by manufacturers so buyers will still buy it… because if it wasn’t pink it wouldn’t look like salmon and it would deter consumers from buying it. Ha! They don’t dye it brown and beat it will a sledge hammer before packaging!
The server returned to my table claiming the kitchen has just opened the salmon packages today and completed a taste test to assure her it was fresh. Apparently they didn’t do the «check-​with-​your-​eyeballs-​to-​make-​sure-​the-​fish-​is-​not-​brown-​test» before they made my meal or taste tested it! She avoided me after that. I had to flag her down to get a refill and get the girl I was meeting who had joined the table, the option to order. We never saw her again. No refills. We had to go inside to get/​pay check. The full check. No discount.
No more business for you from me you stinky Whistlers!

Dat tea tho.
I’ve been a long time fan of the Kettle since I lived up in Ballston Spa. Things have changed, and more staff and locations have been added, but one things stays.
The tea.
The food is good. Solidly good. But it’s not spectacular. (Aside from the clotted cream. That’s spectacular.)
I will order the teas online. I will grab tea as I pass by. I will occasionally eat here.
My favorite at the moment is the East Frisian Broken Blend. It’s a breakfast blend that the last time I was there I was told was a creation of the owner. It’s marvelous. My co-​worker also loves this, and I’ll typically get us each a bag when I’m running by and we’re both running low.
One thing I’ve noticed, tho. The prices at the café in troy are higher than those online.
My kids also brought me here for father’s day. (I had to pay.) It was really nice. All of the servers wished me a happy father’s day. They have a kids tea as well. (Sandwich, grapes or chips, and a dessert. Sadly the dessert is a fixed item, and when we were there they would not add a different dessert, even with an upcharge. It was ok, tho, as he liked it once he got it.)
Thanks for having a location a bit closer to me, WK! I’ll see you in a few months!

Love it! It’s actually pretty easy to find a parking spot near the Broadway/​River St area and the 2 hour limit is ample time for lunch and a little walk around the block. This was my 1^st time, and won’t be my last. Immediately greeted at the front door by a friendly hostess, my company and I sat at the half table — booth next to the windows overlooking the patio. Our server asked if it was our 1^st time and if we needed any help with the menu. We were happy to find the afternoon tea 3 tier set and ordered 2. We chose the turkey cranberry brie crêpe, chicken bacon roasted red pepper crêpe, north atlantic fish chowder, cranberry almond scones, and vineyard peach strawberry + sencha kyoto cherry rose festival teas. The menu was vast… included many selections of sweet/​savory crepes, quiches, paninis, tea sandwiches, club sandwiches, salad bowls, and desserts. The most exciting thing was the tea selections whether hot or cold. The tea shop within the café was an adventure! From small sample sized bags to larger containers, you can really try your favorites after sampling their ‘sniffing bar’ without breaking your bank. Better yet, their Facebook page tells us what Today’s Specials are as it can be ever changing. Overall, a lovely tea room in the upstate NY region. Cannot wait to return!

I found a very large dead bug in my sandwich the other day, and their response was «oh, we can redo that one for you!» Um, no thanks…
Don’t eat here!

Eh their food is okay. It’s definitely not fresh (everything is processed and comes from prepackaged stuff) so it’s basically a fancier Panera (though I would prefer to go to Panera). If I were walking past thinking I was hungry, I would definitely choose to go to Placid Baker next door instead.
The atmosphere is nice. it’s definitely different than what you usually feel in Troy restaurants. It’s incredibly modern and I do like the whistling kettle light bulb sign they have along the wall.
If I were to rate just the service, I would definitely give this place a 1. It took forever to take our order, and even more time to get our coffee. Our black regular coffee took 45 min to come out. It came out after the food (which took 35 min). When asking the waiter about it after 30 min without it, he got obviously nervous and said «it’s because we’re one of those fancy places who make their own coffee»… since he sounded really nervous, I’m guessing it was made up. plus I’m pretty sure most places make their own coffee too so the reason itself was terrible. And after knowing that we were clearly upset by how long our coffee took, the waiter acted less friendly and sort of awkward toward us the rest of the time we were there.
Probably not a place I would choose to go to. If someone wanted to meet me there for lunch I would. but I will probably never take initiative to come here.

I arrived in Albany for my friend’s birthday during a very snowy weekend. She made reservations for 12 people here, at the Whistling Kettle. We arrived just after 11 and were seated in the back room. The front room had great natural light from the floor to ceiling windows and the shop is very bright and colorful. The restaurant itself is much larger than I expected. I enjoyed the atmosphere, plus, it smells amazing in there from all the teas. The bathroom was very very cold but I cannot blame them as much as the negative 3 degrees outside.
We were waiting on some stragglers and ordered some teas and coffees. The server was very intent on taking our order even though we had mentioned that we were waiting for others. Once everyone arrived, we placed our orders. Many of the party ordered the special of sandwich, soup/​salad and dessert. I enjoyed the apricot, ham and cheese panini. I tasted the Buffalo chicken sandwich as well and that was fairly good. The soup was chicken white bean chili but I was not blown away by it. My friend said that the apple squash soup was good though. The s’mores crêpe was amazingly good. When they delivered the meals, I was told that the crêpe would come out in a little while because they did not want it to cool off. However they brought it out about a minute after I got my meal so it was very cold by the time I got around to eating it. Don’t get me wrong, it did not stop me from eating it, but I feel like it would have been much more enjoyable if I had eaten it fresh from the kitchen.
Overall, I did enjoy it here but I believe I would only come back for tea and dessert. The scones were quite tasty as well.

This is an update to my prior review. We returned after the owner contacted us to give the Whistling Kettle a second chance. My boyfriend and I brought my mom for a birthday lunch and I was really happy that the service was much better this time. From the moment we walked in the staff was friendly and welcoming, a great change compared to our prior experience. We never had an issue with the food in the past and today it was excellent, just like it had been prior. We all had the roasted red pepper soup (amazingly good) and sandwiches which were also so good. We shared a goat cheese salad, it was fresh and the raspberry vinagerette that the waiter suggested was perfect. Our waiter was excellent. I’m happy to say that we’ll definitely be back and I would recommned this restaurant to friends and family.
We finally got to enjoy the window seat and we loved it.

I came for lunch with a party of 3 on a federal holiday and was surprised to see how busy the restaurant was. We were told there was a 15 minute wait for a table but it was more like 10 so that started the meal on the right foot.
We started with pots of tea, there’s a pretty large selection, I just wish the server had been able to answer more questions regarding the types of tea but she wasn’t very helpful. When the tea was delivered it was delicious. We had quiche, crepes and a sandwich. All were really good but my apple bacon and cheese sandwich was just a little too greasy. The prices were high but they didn’t seem unreasonably so.
Service was okay, nothing awful but could have been better. I’m pretty sure I’ll go back again for lunch and maybe to pick up some loose tea.

I’ve always seen this place but every time I suggest it to friends they say they don’t like it. I finally convinced one of them to join me for lunch and I’m glad that I was able to at least experience it for myself.
The first thing that really appealed to me was the environment. It’s so beautiful in there and you have the options of where you’d like to be seated.
The second thing I really enjoyed was the service. Our waitress was very nice and checked on us frequently. The food and drinks came out in a timely fashion and it was delicious! I ordered the eggplant panini with some sort of apple soup. It was delicious and very filling. The portion size is perfect and the presentation was great.
The place is a bit pricey for two orders of Panini’s, one soup, a salad, lemonade, and bottled water totaled to $ 32.00. However, as I’ve mentioned, the portion size makes up for that. You won’t be shorted meat or veggie. Everything is fresh and healthy choices are available. There are no fountain drinks served here, but their collection of teas are spectacular. I’ll certainly be a returning customer, mainly for their tea. If you’ve never been, try it. Don’t let price deter you from a lovely experience and great food.
Less one star for price and limited parking space.