In the middle of rural Missouri sits an old Victorian house made over into a tearoom. Beautiful garden and flowers welcome you to the front porch. Open the door, and you're greeted in the old foyer. Pass through the hall and you see nooks and rooms filled with Victorian-embellished tables, chairs, antiques, etc... beautiful tea accoutrements for sale throughout the first floor. This has switched owners several years ago and the new owners have made many repairs and remodeled the ladies room. While the first owner had a lot more items to purchase, there are still wonderful items for sale. We had the Queen's Tea lunch ($16 per person) which includes one small pot of tea (menu has a wide variety of teas to choose from) , chicken salad on a croissant, bacon -n- cheese mini quiche, four tiered tray filled with fresh fruit, assortment of scones, egg salad on toast points, petit cucumber sandwich, celery topped with cherry chutney, and sweets included rhubarb lemon bar, homemade mint, teapot shaped sugar cookie and coconut and marshmallow square. The tiered tray with savory and sweets change, but are always tasty and thoughtfully prepared! You can choose the Queens Lunch, Princess Lunch ($14 per person) includes the tiered savories and sweets minus the quiche and croissant sandwich or The Duchess -(Which is just tea, scones and sugar cookie) This is ALWAYS a lovely, peaceful and quiet time to sit and relax with friends and relatives. I look forward to it every time! read more

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The Shop at Shady Gables is a must see if you are in the Versailles area. Even if you have to drive an hour to get there, it will be worth it. Located in a Victorian home, "The Shop" is a quaint tea room with several seating nooks that make you feel you have the place to yourself. Decorated to the faux-flower hilt, it's perfect for elevating average gossip to aristocratic converse. You WILL want to put your "pinky" out whilst drinking your strawberry shortcake tea and eating your pineapple scone. You'll also find yourself wanting to use words like "whilst". If you have a little girl with you, it's the perfect time and place to practice good manners and good vocabulary. The proprietor is also the Mayor of Versailles and quite a character in his pin-striped pants and lavender shirt. He's a dandy (as they used to say) and very accommodating. Whilst there (please stop me) I picked up some lemon curd and clotted cream in jars. Hopefully it will help me recreate a similar experience at home. I recommend the Queen's Tea which feature's many treats and tea for the table brought one pot at a time. What is proper tea without cream and sugar cubes? "The Shop" has both. We learned the hard way to watch the little girls table before nearly all the sugar cubes were gone. The tea menu is vast! Take your time with it. Every variety we tried was delicious although the chocolate was my least favorite. They no longer let the little girls wear their hats and gloves. They all have price tags now. They do still have scarves to try on. If I ever make it back to Versailles, or near it, The Shop at Shady Gables is at the top of my to-do list. read more

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Wonderful place! The food is all homemade and awesome. Chicken salad sandwich, quiche, buttermilk scones and tea cookies are crazy good. Anytime we go to the lake we make sure and get reservations at Shady Gables. Even our younger daughters think it is the best! read more

It's been years since I've been to this tea room, and I still rave about it. I have yet to find a tea room of its equal. The tea selection is superb! The food was delicious. The service made us feel so special and really helped us to relax and enjoy ourselves. I live out of state now, and I hope I can return here someday! read more

My friends and I first visited Shady Gables 10 years ago, then, we returned just a couple of weeks ago. We are still very impressed with the friendliness of the staff and owner, the food which was delicious, the selection of teas, and the pleasant atmosphere. We had a wonderful afternoon and will return again in the future. read more

We drove out of our way to visit Shady Gables because of multiple great reviews and we were extremely happy with our decision. We have visited over 100 tearooms and this place gets our highest rating (right up there with the Phoenician in AZ and the Drake in Chicago). The food was excellent, the tea selection fantastic, the surroundings lovely, and the owner was a wonderful conversationalist. Make this a stop if you get the chance! read more