The Tea Around Town bus leaves from the Shops at Rivercenter, and the tour lasts about an hour and 15 minutes.
Emma Weidmann/MySA
A San Antonio attraction is facing backlash after guests allege a series of issues, from mechanical malfunctions to inadequate cooling systems, have tainted their experiences. It comes as Tea Around Town reaches its roughly half-year anniversary in the city.
Top View Sightseeing, headquartered in New York, hosts the Bridgerton-like, 90-minute activity. Attendees board a pink double-decker bus and enter a world of mini sandwiches, tea samples and faux florals. Typically, trips feature live music and a tour guide who shares facts about the city streets and neighborhoods the shuttle rolls through.
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Some guests who purchased tickets, though, say their recent journeys haven’t met their expectations. One Facebook user, Veronica Rhodes, wrote in a Monday, August 10, post that it “was a complete let down.” Rhodes wrote that the bus picked up guests later than both the original meet-up time and the rescheduled time, then experienced a slew of operational glitches.
“No AC, stale, hard, warm, and melting food … No disclaimer that the AC was out so the impression was that conditions would improve after take off,” Rhodes wrote online. “The bus shut off completely during the route.”
Guests began to show symptoms of heat exhaustion, Rhodes claims, and food was left mostly untouched to avoid food poisoning. Others asked “when the tour would be over” as conditions worsened, according to Rhodes.
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Ryan Prescott, TopView Sightseeing’s director of Content Production, Social Media and Creative Marketing, told MySA via email that the aforementioned trip took place on Saturday, July 25, at 1:30 p.m. MySA reached out to Rhodes to confirm but did not hear back in time for publication.
“The bus was experiencing some mechanical issues that we were hopeful had been resolved prior to the trip,” Prescott wrote. “Unfortunately, the trip did run behind schedule, and the air conditioning was not performing at optimal levels, resulting in a warmer-than-intended experience for our guests. Additional mechanical issues also occurred during the tour.”
Prescott said the company followed up with Rhodes on Tuesday, August 18, and informed them they would receive a full refund. Tickets can be purchased only for a minimum of two guests and range from $79 to $99.
“We are continuously and actively making improvements to the experience,” the statement read. “Unfortunately, mechanical issues can still arise from time to time, and we do our best to address them quickly and minimize any impact on our guests … we’re so sorry that the customer’s experience did not live up to expectations.”
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Rhodes’s post, shared in a public “San Antonio Restaurants” Facebook group, had gathered nearly 200 comments as of Thursday, August 20, many from users who allege their trips were similar.
“It was horrible and had the same exact experience,” user Laura Lu wrote.
Castroville resident Kimberly Lopez said they waited two hours past their reservation time, and the food was not at “proper” temperatures because it had been sitting on the trays for a while.
“They ran out of tumblers, so most of our party didn’t get one,” Lopez said. “We’ve tried contacting the business multiple times and have yet to get a response back.”
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Back in February 2026, numerous social media creators reported that their trips were cut short due to route obstacles, and others were canceled at the last minute. When MySA tried the event the following month, staff witnessed the lights occasionally flickering off and speaker malfunctions, but no AC or rescheduling problems.
Since the July 25 incident, TopView Sightseeing has documented two additional trips in which mechanical issues may have negatively affected the guest experience.
Prescott says that when a trip is canceled at the last minute or on the day of, guests are immediately contacted and offered a full or 50% refund, along with the option to reschedule for another date. The same options apply when a mechanical issue prevents the tour from continuing, the company said.
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“For trips that do operate but experience some smaller hiccups or otherwise don’t meet a guest’s expectations, we evaluate those situations on a case-by-case basis,” Prescott adds. “Our goal is always to communicate with guests as quickly as possible when an issue arises and work to find a solution that makes the situation right.”