Our 31st Spot:

The RoyalTea Garden

163 West Neal Street Pleasanton, CA 94566

http://www.royalteagarden.com

Early during the Pandemic, daydreaming about tea party food, I found out that one of my favorite Tea Spots closed. I was so sad! I mean this Tea Spot, The English Rose Tea Room, had remained on my number 1 spot in my raTEAngs for twenty-one spots!!?! That means something. There were many times I visited, not just the part 2, that I didn’t even blog about. There were a hundred teas to try, good quality teas. And everything I ever ate from there was spectacular. So naturally, when I heard a new tea room was there in its place…I was intrigued.

It was the first spot I scheduled on my new Tour. (I know I know, we’ve already visited iChina, Four Seasons, and St. Regis… But don’t forget: iChina was a date, Four Seasons was a surprise, and St. Regis was leftover from the previous list. So this really was the first!!) They had some big shoes to fill. Not that they never stood a chance…I know enough to be fair. I asked my Assistant 😉 (remember the girl from iChina, this will be her Blog nickname!), her daughter-in-law’s sister (a new friend + sweetest girl ever), and some other new friends (who I love!) that I haven’t seen in a while since they moved, to come with! This was also the first time I’d be having tea with ones who’s never seen me at a “working tea”!? So, I was a little nervous about that. I didn’t want them to think I wasn’t enjoying myself as well or part of the conversation. But they were simply the best! They let me do my thing and had a ball themselves! So much laughter at this tea!! I even got quite a few quotes from them, so they were totally helpful too. I have to take a moment here to thank my husband… I didn’t put this is the last post, but- a really cool thing that happened from taking my family to Muir’s, was that I was able to get their honest feedback for how it was to watch me or be with me while I was working. The Huz says that it was neat to see how I could take my photos + notes, and then seamlessly transition into the conversation with them. So knowing this, put me more at ease about having tea with new ones! (sigh!) And *shout out* to my Regulars for sharing me and understanding/allowing me to experience tea with my new friends until their turn again. (three gratitude emojis here)

Our reservation was at 3p. We were hauling booty to make it there on time! We got there with 5-minutes to spare. Walked up to the door…and there was kind of a crowd outside. No one was inside. One of the girls from this party said we should go inside to let them know we were here, cuz she said she waited a good 10-minutes before anyone came out to see her. The door was unlocked, so I walked inside. I was met with a frantic girl, saying they weren’t ready but that they would call us when they were. I asked if I could take a few pics of the interior and she let me. By the time I got back outside, there were another 2 parties that showed up. With us, that made four groups of people congregated at their front door. Not cute. Their door is right on the sidewalk too, so we were probably also violating some penal code haha (shrugs) I don’t know!? I should’ve looked at my clock by the time they let us in, but I believe it was after 3p. “I don’t like that Raymond.” (if you’ve watched Everybody Loves Raymond you’ll know what that’s about)

I was taking it all in. Relying on my photographic memory of The English Rose. (again, NOT COMPARING) Just wanted to see what was different… I liked it! Not as crowded, not as much vintage floral. The decor was more minimal: the same green striped walls, but with these huge big flowers on the wall. Pretty! They walked us to our table, and I was excited to get the one all the way in the back in its own special nook. (I always wanted to sit there at The English Rose) (You guys are all probably like: “If she talks about The English Rose one more time…” huh!? Haha, sorry.) Cute minimal tablescape. What I didn’t like: our scone was already sitting there. Ew. Who knows for how long. Aand, one of my friends didn’t even get one. (of course I asked for one for her)

Upon being seated, our server offered us an arrival tea. Pear & Cinnamon, she says. I don’t think I’ve talked about it much on here, but when I created my tea line- I love me a PEAR TEA!! (if yall don’t know about pear tea, get on board) So of course, I welcomed some! Eh. Bland and luke warm, very mild cinnamon flavor, no pear whatsoever. After we settled in, she got us their tea menus. Looked very familiar. (I’m gonna say it, get ready) Looked a lot like The English Rose’s (haha), there were def some tea names and flavors that I remembered. [And because I’m a detective, when I got home I looked and did a side-by-side. Yes, most of the same tea offerings. And I’m only saying this cuz for those of us who miss The English Rose so dearly- at least you can get some of their tea flavors again if you wish.] This was a good thing, because The English Rose had some SLAMMIN TEAS. So at least that.

Okay tho, so for what I didn’t like. (ugh) They only allowed THREE pots of teas for our table of 6. Isn’t this a TEA party yall?? Shouldn’t we get to have tea? The tea that we want to have with our tea party food? I’m just checking. (rolling my eyes) Yeah, another I-Don’t-Like-That-Raymond moment. That meant, that, 2 of the girls that I took with me (cuz I would’ve had whatever so that they got to choose), wouldn’t get to try the teas that they wanted to try!! And that wasn’t fair. Granted, they allow you to ask for another pot(s) later in the tea service (which wouldn’t’ve mattered anyway…more on that later). BUT, you don’t get to have the tea you want initially…after dangling those hundred tea flavors on their menu in front of you first. AND, they didn’t tell us this from the get. So we all took a moment to narrow down our choices, only to find out when she came back that we better get our act together and compromise on just THREE while she’s standing there waiting. We did Creme Brulee, Marvelous Mango, and Earl Grey.

Creme Brulee – I know I had had this one before. A great cup of tea. More on the sweet side. But if you’re a creamy tea lover (like I am), you’ll like this one. The caramel and sugar are highlighted.

Marvelous Mango – I hadn’t had this one yet, but was hearing so much about it. The Table Favorite for sure. Here’s what my girls were saying: “Not too sweet, not overwhelming” … “fruit teas have the tendency to be like a liquid fruit, but this one tastes like a mango just got boiled in there”. They also said it reminded them of their favorite mango boba. When I finally had some, it was nice! Smelled and tasted like a body lotion, but not in a bad way.

Earl Grey – Didn’t get to try this one. But they said that it was “simple”, “worked well with the savories”, and “perfect for breakfast with the scone”.

You guys- (I’m really not trying to be mean) this is how forgettable this food was… I forgot to add a picture of the tier!? I’m here a month and a half later, updating this post, only because I was creating + scheduling posts for our social media aand lo + behold: no tier! So here it is:

[Oh, I forgot to put my Disclaimer… So- I was sitting in the furthest + darkest corner of the tea room, so these pictures aren’t great. I like to use natural light and I don’t fuss or filter anything when I post on here. She keeps it real mmkay. Maaaybe add some brightness sometimes, but that’s it. So just know, that these are the best I could get. Not my best work, but they’ll have to do.]

Scone – [Btw, they didn’t leave a menu or have one posted on their website AND I don’t memorize when they do a rundown of what’s on the tiers…so I don’t have the official names or titles of these food items.] Too fluffy and cakey. Didn’t break open good, not sturdy enough for the fixings. It will crumble. Not very flavorful either. Oh and I hated that fixings carousel they put the cream, preserves + lemon curd in! It was flimsy.

Cucumber Sandwich – Crunchy + thick cucumbers, I liked. House bread (meaning it wasn’t a quality bread or anything fancy) and way too much cream.

Egg Salad Sandwich – Not much flavor, very homemade, did like the pepper tho.

Turkey – My friend goes “oh the burrito”. Haha! Not cute guys, come on! Her sister said “such a millennial thing to make it a burrito!” It was dry and needs more flavor.

Smoked Salmon – I had to take a poll at the table if I should try to bite this in half or not. It’s a one-biter, or the thing will fall apart. And if you have a small mouth like me, it will take some time and maneuvering things around in there before you could swallow it all. (awkward emoji) So good tho! Flavors all worked wonderfully together and the crackers made that thing. Fun crunch + texture. (I know you were waiting for me to use that word) (at least I’ve stopped talking about The English Rose ha!)

Tomato Tart Thing – Had nice pastry. I didn’t like how the tomato jerky didn’t bite well. Like, you have to bite down hard and saw it with your chompers for a while before it breaks apart. Again, too much cream.

Beef Wellington – I remembered the name of this one! Before I even tried it, I could hear the table talking about the strength of the ‘horseradish’ or ‘wasabi’ they were saying. The pastry was dry. It was too much sauce and too strong. I couldn’t taste beef or mushroom or anything. Just all sauce.

At this point in our tea, we were offered another pot. The girls wanted more of the Mango, and my Assistant wanted something different and asked me to choose. I spotted their Peaches and Cream and asked for a consensus. A resounding yes, so that’s what we ordered.

Peaches and Cream – Smells so good! “You can smell the peach but taste the cream,” one of my girls said. It was a great choice and I am glad we tried it. I had that one for the rest of our visit.

Macaron – It was okay. It was lemon that day.

Cream Puff – Eh. Mine was hollow.

Raspberry Mousse (I’m guessing) – “It looks like brain matter!” one of them said! Yuck. This was NOT aesthetically pleasing, at all, by far. Much too sweet, tasted like medicine, reminded me of Kool-Aid. I could only tolerate a taste.

Mini Chocolate Cupcake – This was nice for the last bite. Again, dry box cake. But the frosting and crispy sprinkles were nice, just a lot of it.

I took the leftovers (cuz I had a lot of it) home to my family. And even the Huz says: “Did they give you anything to cut the flavors…? Cuz- everything is creamy!?” So I wasn’t the only one! I was sitting there waiting to be wowed and got nothing. You can tell when I have short notes about a food, I am over it and just want to get through this post.

Why I mentioned it didn’t matter if they offered us additional flavors of tea to try later in the service… They kicked us out!! They came around after an hour and a half, looked at their watch, and told us it was time to go cuz they had to clean. We were the last seating! I’m not saying to let us stay well into 5 or 6 o’clock or anything…but dang, can we go pee first?! Haha. I came out the bathroom and all my friends were gone. One with my backpack and one with my leftovers. WHY not offer us EACH a tea flavor? WHY offer us a new flavor to try mid-tea service? IF you’re just gonna kick us out and not even give us enough time to enjoy it anyway?? Frantic to seat us and frantic to get us out. Not what a relaxing tea time is about, RoyalTea.

After we left, we took some pictures right outside of their side gate. Someone came out and asked me about my card I left. (I don’t mention anything about the Tour when I make reservations, and leave a card about our Tour when we pay at the end.) It was the owner, she wanted to know more about the Tour. She was nice. Now, I was told a lot of experience, travel, and thought went into the tea and food here. And in my history with afternoon tea (owning a successful tea company and catering), it didn’t come off that way. I’ve been doing this Tour for a long time and have visited tea houses with less experience, no international experience, but was presented with amazing flavorful teas and food that is top notch. It’s hard to write a post that isn’t exactly positive, after meeting with the owners who are perfectly nice. However, as I always promise, I will give you my FULL and HONEST opinion whenever I visit a place. Hopefully the owners can appreciate constructive criticism and if they are moved to– make changes for the better. If they are confident about what they are offering, then keep it that way. I am just one person who is allowed an opinion. Don’t come for me because I know how to be honest, just sayin… [Real quick Story Time: One time this guy didn’t like what I said and came for me across all our social media accounts. Like this dood LOOKED UP my government name and found me on facebook to message me his complaint about what I said about their Tea Spot.] Don’t do that. That is not necessary, people. If you’re so bothered, that means you are defensive about something. Defensive people know they have things they got to work on. So just work on it and move on. Thank you for listening to my TED Talk. Hahahah! But really- there are thousands of people that read this Blog (a thousand lost followers on Instagram but we’re back on there so we’re starting from scratch again! Follow us!), and it is out of my control what they choose to take or not. I love when I get messages from you that say you took a suggestion and were happy you did! And then I get some who not really argue but insist that a place I didn’t like is one they frequent. IT’S OKAY! There is room for all of us! I am just one person who visits tea rooms in the Bay Area and writes about it. As my last IG post on how I like to eat my scones says: DO YOU BOO!

Follow us @parTEAwithmeBlog on Instagram | Threads | TikTok