In its new building for sometime now, it is a respectable libray for its size and the nature of Salt Lake City.\t\n\t\nThe main concern is that it can be extremely noisy for a library. It was badly designed to allow sounds from its "marketplace" to flood the building. \t\n\t\nIn addition, the library staff does very little to keep the quiet - be it loud patrons or constant cell phone use. ...read more

I have been to the tea room dozens of times over the past few years, and it is always a bittersweet experience. I keep on going because I love the tea, it's the only place I know of with violet tea, and the atmosphere is very nice. However, every single time I go, I usually go in at times when the place is nearly empty, and I have to wait about 10 minutes to even get someone to look at me! Yeah, I understand things take time, there are even signs that say "we are not a fast food restaurant estimated wait time is 5-45 minutes" or something very similar to that, but I think these are just disclaimers for bad service. They make tea, simple sandwiches, serve soup, scones, etc. I understand things take time when you're busy, but none of those things take 20 minutes (my usual wait time) when you are only waiting on one table. Also, they are exorbitantly priced, I think they're petit fours run about $3-$4 each or something, I bought a stale cookie for $3; I could get a fresh one at Coffee Garden for less than $2. The spinach artichoke sandwich spread is from Costco, it's not like they're even making it themselves so I don't see why it's so costly. \t\n\t\nI believe good service comes from the top, i.e. the owner/manager sets the standard. Well, from what I've seen the owner is not one to set a good example, she's neurotic as far as I've seen, and doesn't seem to care about the lack of service even when you bring it up to her directly. How can she take pride in her business? \t\n\t\nI only go back because I love the tea, and it's a nice place to catch up with friends. I suppose I can thank the terrible service for giving us something to converse about... ...read more

Beehive Tea Room is one of my favorite sandwich places in Salt Lake City. It's also one of the only places you can get a genuinely good vegetarian sandwich. However, that being said, expect to wait. Those with little patience probably shouldn't go here. But if you have an afternoon to waste, and want some incredibly good food and tea, go to Beehive. ...read more