The Whistling Kettle

Had mushroom, bacon & Swiss quiche and farm style crêpe — both wonderful — and Thai chicken soup was very yummy (and perfect temp, not tepid but hot). Hot green tea was recommended after we described what we preferred to our sweet server and I don’t recall specifics as many tea choices available but it was delightful. We would return again in a heartbeat. Thank you!

Food was actually good, but the service was HORRIBLE! We’re still sitting at the table waiting for our server to bring us the check… We got here before noon and it is now 2:30pm! Good food, terrible service.

Very tasty lighter fare of food for in between lunch and dinner. Prices are well and big selection of teas with explanations of all. Definitely enjoy coming here.

Good sandwiches, good vibe, friendly but busy atmosphere. Lots of teas to choose from, reminds me of my home places in NYC with the exposed brick.

Just dropped to a one. Horrible customer service. We walked in after the lunch rush with a party of two. They had THREE open booths but the girl wouldn’t seat us because they were reserved for parties of three or more. Told us we would need to wait 20+ minutes for a smaller table. No thank you. We’re now happily waiting next door at The Roost with our complementary coffee.

Best tea selection!!! They have great paninis and crepes, food has always been super tasty. Great place for brunch with girlfriends. My kid loves their grilled cheese.

Good food, nice prices, love the huge selection of teas and nice friendly service. Just wish they prepared more food instead of running out after only an hour or two of being open. They should expect and plan for it. That’s what a professional restaurant would do instead of letting their customers know on every occasion that I’ve frequented this establishment that they have run out of almost everything I’ve ordered.

A well-​run restaurant with fresh, healthy food and attentive service. Mostly a ladies-​who-​lunch place.

Like the newer sister in Troy, this Whistling Kettle offers very tasty light fare, a very nice array of whole leaf teas served or dry, and a vibrant presence in a cute old downtown. It’s nice to see a place like this so busy on a Sunday afternoon, which bodes well; the junktique store adjacent was open at the same time, and I hope the WK continues to draw people in to Ballston Spa.
My quibbles about the WK-​BS High Tea experience, for whatever they’re worth:
— one cannot get a true high tea «tiered» tray with a variety of sandwiches and sweets; they really must add this. You order sandwiches, etc. a la carte, suitable for cutting into fours, but they should really have the classic selection available. For two, you can’t quite do enough sharing to get a good variety.
— they don’t steep the tea long enough for my taste, and they ought to be able to take orders for minutes of steeping. Weak tea weakens the experience.
— still a touch pricey, all things considered, making it more of a special trip place than a habit.
— staff still need a primer on their teas. While our server was more knowledgeable on face value than our experience at the Troy WK, when one of the teas we ordered was out she brought out a substitute that was completely different in character than the one we’d ordered. We’re omnivores so just sucked it up (literally!) but if you’re going to be a Tea place, you have to commit. Especially at the prices.
Still, recommended and a very welcome part of the reviving Ballston Spa downtown.

A nice venue with lovely staff (David was our server).
Disappointed in the pricing/​management structure.
i travelled 60 miles to meet a business associate for a meeting. We chose this venue for the wi-​fi and the menu selection.
Sadly, the menu did not list any organic teas, so my friend asked for hot water and lemon to go with her sandwich. We were informed there was a $ 3.80 charge for hot water, which we reluctantly agreed to pay. I ordered soup and salad with chicken along with a pot of jasmine flower tea. When I asked for a refill on the water for the jasmine, I was informed that there were no flowers in my tea and I would have to purchase another pot, which I did, reluctantly!
We were working while eating and midway through an online function, the wi-​fi quit and I had to login again, only to learn that their was an hourly charge for wi-​fi, though their Unilocal page indicates free wi-​fi.
We were in the region assessing venues for a weekly women’s business gathering. this is definitely not business friendly and we will not return

Perfect place for tea but even better for sandwiches. Walking into this relaxing establishment will give you the stress reliever you need for the day.
Oh, the service is always top notch with a little lite sass sometimes giving a gentle spunk while waiting for your meal.
The presentation of the food is to die for. The sandwiches are always perfectly cut and layered making anyone’s eyes glow like its Christmas morning. The dressing on the sandwiches have the right amount making it drip free but also not to dry. Also the menu has dozens of healthy choices
Picking a tea out of the dozens available is exciting on many levels from green to black to white teas, yum. I always pick a hot tea but I hear the ice teas are phenomenal to choose from with out disappointment.
The only thing lacking is variety of deserts. Good but lacks flavor making them average.
I will definitely be stopping by in the near future though to enjoy some hot tea and soup for this cold winter to come

High tea, this place is for me! They have an awesome 3 tiered meal option which allows you to choose a soup, salad, crêpe, panini or dessert and a tea. Beware of the up charges when you upgrade to certain sandwiches, salads or desserts. The copious up charges are the reason they are receiving a 3 star.
The quality of the food is definitely a 4. The roasted red pepper and gouda soup is delish. The vegetarian triple decker sandwich is a vegetarians dream! Try a crêpe or two! Sweet and savory choices make it hard to decide.
The flourless chocolate cake is my favorite. The lemon berry mascarpone cake is a close second. Both are sure to delight.
The restaurant also has a miniature tea shop where they sell kettles, loose tea, to go mugs and other tea accessories.
Great place to dine and service is usually pretty snappy. I would say this is not a quick working lunch location. Give yourself a bit of time. It’s not rushed but it’s not exactly speedy either.

Lovely little tea shop, where, unfortunately, I didn’t actually order any tea. We had lunch here and I had the delicious brie, ham, and apricot panini with a side of their wonderful lobster bisque. (Very tasty, considering how far from the coast they are!) My companion ordered the turkey, ham, and swiss panini with maple syrup for dipping, which was also wonderful.
Would definitely come back for tea and a scone!

Perfect afternoon find … orange cranberry scones and orange ginger tea … I actually passed on coffee!

Met up with a friend here for brunch and really enjoyed it. The food is good, but a little pricy (thus 4 stars rather than 5), they offer lots of tea options, and have a cozy vibe which is great for breakfast, brunch, and lunch.
We ordered the High Tea which is served on a three level metal frame — a little bulky for the small tables, but still lends to the fun English Tea feel. My friend got the chicken curry sandwhich and loved it. I had the lobster bisque which was very tasty. I had a savory crêpe with artichoke hearts, spinach and tomatoes. We both ordered the Tea Cake, which is like a dense pound cake and it was heavenly! I ordered the lemon flavor which had a good balence between tangy lemon flavor and sweet cake with glaze.
Its a great place to stop by if you’re in the area or want to linger over hot tea during the dreadful Upstate winters.
Tip — take a stroll down the main street to window shop at some of the consignment, jewlry, and home furnishing stores.

I have been here a few times and I have always had a very positive experience. To be honest, the prices are fairly high for a casual lunch but the food is good enough to be worth it every once in a while.
During my last visit, I got the turkey and avocado panini ($ 11), added bacon (+1.25-ish), and upgraded to a cup of lobster bisque (+$ 3, I believe). The bisque was delicious and as always, the sandwich was out-​of-​this-​world. I haven’t tried any others because I always want the same thing again!
I asked the waitress for a tea recommendation and I got a smoky green tea which wasn’t my cup of tea (haha) but wasn’t bad. There are a lot of options and I like that you can smell the teas towards the front of the store so I think that next time I’ll be able to make a better decision.
The atmosphere here is very casual and relaxed and the staff are always supremely friendly. I haven’t had a bad experience yet and it could only be made better by a cheaper bill (I paid $ 42 after tip for two people this last trip)!

I’ve eaten here a few times with friends, but since I recently decided to try to go vegetarian, I stopped in by myself to see if the food was just as good!
I ordered the hot garden panini, the roasted red pepper soup and the flourless cake. Everything was absolutely amazing! The panini surprised me in how delicious it was — full of flavor and depth. Thesoup was rich and filling for a cold day. The cakewas even richer and almost too much for me, but I ate it all!
I took off a star for only two issues: the iced tea of the day was a bit over steeped and had a slight bitter taste. Not a big deal because I’ve had the perfect cup from them before, so just a small error.
However, I was disappointed by the small vegetarian section. I used to order the apricot, ham and brie sandwich or the chipotle chicken sandwich when I was eating meat. Now, my options were pretty basic. Either a salad (blech, I hate salads) or one of three hot sandwiches. I was slightly disappointed. I loved the apricot and brie sandwich because of the sweetness combined with the salty. And the spice and flavor in the chipotle chicken was amazing! So I’d love to see some of those amazing flavor profiles translated over to vegetarian dishes. It would up the score to five stars, for sure. Maybe if they even offer an option like a grilled eggplant instead of chicken or portobello mushrooms or some substitute that you can use across the board, it’d be perfect.

This place is well worth going to.
It may not be cheap, but I wouldn’t label it expensive either. A great place for breakfast or lunch.
I got one of their two quiche specials, of which they have two every day. I got sausage and leek. With it I got a scone and a coffee. I’m not a big fan of quiche, but I wanted to try it, and I ended up loving it. It wasn’t dry at all, and the crust was buttery and flakey. I was very happy.
The coffee comes out in its own little French press. The server plunged it down for me and put her entire body weight into it. Not sure why, I’ve never done that, but whatever… A great cup of coffee.
Of course they have a huge tea selection and they probably have something for anyone. Black, green, oolong, pu-​erh, red, herbal, and flavored. All loose leaf and it comes in a pot!
My girlfriend got a crêpe and a cup of chowder. Both were fantastic and I’ll definitely try a crêpe next time.
I’m not sure where you could go wrong with there menu. Everything really does look great, so give them a try!

Obvious reference by name… decorated in tea… the menu devotes twice as much space to drink options than food options… I’ve dined here, and I’ve gotten specialty teas from here as gifts. This has been a nice add to Front St. in Ballston both for atmosphere and variety, and a pleasant place for lunch, casual time, or a light, early, dinner.
One thing I have not noticed in other reviews: you should be aware that the kitchen shuts down 30 minutes before closing (the waitresses do an excellent job of making sure you’re aware).
The tea selection is impressive. I would have explored it had I not come in at the end of the day. I instead opted for one of the iced tea selections of the day. That was quite refreshing, and served in a tall glass with a lot of ice… interesting since the glass of water you get when seated will be room temperature with no ice. Then again, in a place that serves hot and iced teas, are you really here for the water?
The menu offers an assortment of soups, paninis, salads, and such. I opted for a bowl of one of the soups of the day, a chicken and white bean chili soup. It was reasonably priced and large enough to serve as a light meal. It was also quite thick — no doubt a bit of bean purée — and just the right amount of cumin to give it warmth without being overwhelming.
I found the seating to be comfortable and the service to be easygoing and adequate for what we ordered.
I do enjoy visiting specialty tea shops occasionally, and the fact that you can get a nice meal here as well is definitely a plus.

Awesome food, service, ambience. Highly recommend the «afternoon tea» off the menu. I got an eggplant panini and mushroom soup and (the highlight) the s’mores crêpe. AMAZINg!!! Literally best crêpe ever. All coffees here are French press. They’re known for their tea. I loved everything about this place and wish I lived close so I could go all the time. Everybody in
our party of 6 left super happy.