Our 8th Spot:

Tal-Y-Tara Tea & Polo Shoppe

6439 California Street  San Francisco, CA 94121

http://www.talytara.com

“Oh. You have more people in your party??”  That’s how we were greeted.  Apparently, a couple had walked in right behind us…  But let’s not forget the awkward 90-second stare down we received from the ENTIRE establishment (YES, including all the wait staff) as soon as we walked in, where you can hear the crickets just like in the movies!?  No welcome, no warmth.  That right there, was the discouraging foreshadow of what our future meal was about to entail.

The menus were suuuuper confusing.  It seems they have 3 levels of tea service, but are all ‘for two.’  If you want a single serving of anything, it must be à la carte.  No one offered us any explanations either, so we were left to figure this for ourselves.  We did ask, and our assumptions were then confirmed.

How are you a tea house when you discourage your customers from ordering any tea??  Since we couldn’t figure out how or what to order, our server wanted to know if she could get any pots started for us.  She says for our party of SEVEN, that she recommends maybe only 2 pots of tea (get this) “because any more wouldn’t fit on our table”!?  What in the world is that!!?!  Since we had such a limitation, we told her we’d have to discuss these important choices.  She did say we could switch em out during the course of our meal…but still-  really?  Plus, we still needed to figure out HOW to order and WHAT to order.  We were so sorry we asked, since she kept insisting we order this tea sandwich “platter” (wait for it) that they ALREADY MADE FOR US!!?!  They’re supposedly known for this motorloaf bread (we know, we were thinking about ‘motorboating‘ the whole time too!), that she talked up saying it was a hearty bread filled with walnuts, etc.  Welp, they must’ve been unable to be seen with the naked eye as my girlfriend pointed out there wasn’t anything in there!?  The “platter” (there goes that word again) suppooooosedly served two people “maybe even 3” she says.  We so badly wanted to order single servings of tea sandwiches as opposed to this ALREADY PREPARED infamous platter just to be rebellious, ’cause-  who does that??  Whyyy would we want something that was sitting out for who knows how long and nooo one wants anything that’s being pushed on them.  Even still, the “platter” was the better choice since we didn’t want to pay for any more of what they had to offer in support of a tea house we were ready to walk out of as soon as we were seated.  So it was decided: we were ordering the 2 stale “platters” they thoughtfully (insert sarcasm here) prepared for us.

That took care of the tea sandwich selections, now for the scones.  At 6 bucks for ONE scone, we wanted to make sure not to over-order.  (No we’re not cheap, but trust me-  you wouldn’t feel like you’d wanna give this place any of your money either.)  They had 5 kinds to choose from today: Lemon, Blueberry, Black Currant, Orange Ghirardelli Chocolate, and a savory Bacon Cheddar.  We ordered 1-2 of each flavor except the blueberry.  Okay, that choice = made.

Now the teas…  My earl grey gf who’s on the hunt for the perfect one, wanted an earl grey selection.  But, there were 2 listed on the menu.  I guess they had 2 types from different vendors.  When she asked what the difference was between the 2, our server said she’d have to get her manager to explain that to us.  Ohhh…kaaay…  Of course, the manager never came.  Our server finally comes back with a container in her hands, and says that they’re out of one so my gf can smell the loose leaf tea of the one that they do have.  This particular one had lavender in it, so my girlfriend said she’d try it.  My girl had really good things to say about it.  And, although I didn’t get a chance to taste it, I could smell it and it reminded me of the spa!  It smelled really good.  We also ordered the Wild Strawberries black tea and Vanilla Bean Creme black tea.  Lots of good comments from my dolls about the strawberry, and I liked (not loved) the vanilla.  How-  ever-  when they refilled the vanilla, they made it SO strong it poured out BLACK girrrl!?  I joked that they were mad at us, and my other gf said that they wanted us to be up all night thinking about their bad service!  Lol.

This is what the “platters” looked like:

WHAT ARE THESE??  And did they really think these 2 lousy things were gonna fit 7 whole people!?  I was livid.  How were we even supposed to eat it?  It’s like they concentrated so hard on trying to make their presentation stylish + cute with all this wax paper, when it really makes you think “where are my sandwiches?!”  We had.  To.  CUT.  These little things.  In FOUR!!?!  20 bucks for each of these plates and we only get a BITE!?  What is that??  How are you a restaurant??  You don’t even FEED your customers!!  You demand they eat something you already made for them and there’s nothing to eat!?  Ooh, I was hot.

At one point, I asked my girlfriend how she liked a certain sandwich and she says to me “Oh, I haven’t tried any yet.   They’re still being distributed.”   What kind of mess is that?!

Here’s the egg and cucumber:

The egg was bland + dry, and tasted like it had been sitting out ‘CAUSE IT WAS!  The cucumber bite I had (I feel like my reviews aren’t even complete, ’cause I didn’t even have a whole sandwich to base em off of!?) was a dollop of cream cheese (no dill or anything) and a soggy piece of cucumber.

This is the ham and smoked salmon:

I liked the mustard that was made with the ham, but that’s about it.  And the salmon (again) tasted like it had been out for awhile.  Again, with a chunk of cream cheese, but the capers made it better.

When she brought out the scones, she told us which flavors were which the says “SOME of which were made today.” EW!!!

This is all the piece of scone I got to have:

The orange chocolate was pretty good.  I have to say, I did really like the cream + preserves that were served.  And, the scones had good crunchy edges + nice soft centers.  I ate as much scone as I could to fill my sad tummy.

Here’s what the place looked like, in case you’re interested…

We basically left that tea house STARVING.  We were scared to ask to use the bathrooms, because the place looked creepy + we were just treated so COLDLY.  So, we all had full bladders upon our exit.  The customer service was really just terrible.  We had very little food, then felt like we were being rushed out.  They quickly bussed our table, and we got stares + hands on hips as we tried to enjoy the last of our limited pots of teas while girl-chatting. Not only will we not be returning, but I will be going a notch further to tell my readers NOT to visit this tea house.  They do not deserve service from any sweethearts as yourselves looking to enjoy some afternoon tea.

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Our 6th Spot:

Secret Garden Tea House

721 Lincoln Way  San Francisco, CA 94122

http://www.secretgardenteahouse.com

Ugh.  I’m so not excited to review this place…  This is basically how I felt about it:

Period.  But…you know I will ALWAYS give you my honest opinion, and I think it’s only fair that owners know what their business is putting out there.  And hopefully, in some way, my blog posts (and Yelp reviews) help them to better their service.  As a business owner myself, I would welcome the same treatment.

Let’s start with their website.  It wasn’t inviting or appealing to me, so already my anticipation for this spot was lowered.  They communicated very well, when making arrangements for reservations.  The owner (I believe she was), called me within a reasonable amount of time to acknowledge my voicemail message.  She even left her personal cell phone number, and assured me she was available to confirm my reservation whenever I was ready.  We exchanged emails regarding my head count number, and our preordered tea service selections.  I liked that email was an option for corresponding, as being a busy mom a quick email is sometimes preferred than a telephone conversation.

Okay-  this is why they are getting a negative review from me.  Their tea room was F-I-L-T-H-Y.  We are all well aware of those local restaurants that are too dirty to be in business.  This tea house reminded me of one of them.  Décor was cute.  Reminiscent of all the shabby chic elements with that vintage floral print.  The china was right, and the chandeliers were gorgeous.  BUT-  the curtains were disgusting!!  Not just dingy, but outright soiled + offensive.  I WISH I got a good picture of them, but I do not want to remember those.  It was bad enough, they were my view for the afternoon that contributed to my ruined appetite.  They brought our tea kettles with USED labels on them!!?!  Whooo knoooows how many people have put their gubby hands on those!?  It was sickening.  Forreal.

The teas were okay, not the best.  At our table, we had Jasmine Blossom (green tea layered with jasmine blossoms), Cherries in the Snow (cherry flavored), Mango Moon (black tea from India with mango pieces + marigold flowers), Chocolate Raspberry Truffle (chocolate raspberry flavor), Mid-Summer Night Dream (creamy overtones with vanilla + orange flavor), and Victorian Vanilla (black tea + natural vanilla).  Since I’m on this black vanilla kick, I had to order that option.  I was hoping it would be similar to the one I had at the last spot, but not even close.  First of all, it had a ‘curry’ smell to it.  (Yes, I said “curry.”)  It didn’t carry over into the flavor, but it was nothing to rave about either.  I thought it was rather bland.    The others I tried were the chocolate raspberry [very disappointing], and mango [I hurried to finish that one, so I could move on].

The food…  You saw my first photo, right??  I couldn’t handle more than a bite of ANYTHING!?  Yuck, yuck, and more yuck.  I tasted em based purely on having to tell you guys about it.  Took photos, but those wouldn’t be helping anybody.  I had the Smoke Turkey with Baby Dill and Lemon Capers Cream first.  It tasted like turkey with margarita mix!!?!  I would not do that again to myself!  Next, I had the Egg + Chives.  Egg = yum.  Chives = yum.  Theirs = eh.  Even though it was eh, that was the only sandwich I finished to have some savory breaks in my mouth from all the sweetness.  They must love sugar.  They had a Sweet Orange Cranberry Cream sandwich.  (Yeah, who told you to make a diabetic tea sandwich option?!)  My girlfriend really liked it, but I thought it was really sweet.  Cucumber + Hummus, was my next choice.  I like both of those, they shouldn’t be bad together right?  Right??  “What the mother of crap is up with this stuff?!” -Phoebe.  Uhh, the hummus was oh so wrong.  Please, please add garlic or something to your hummus recipe.  I went for the Sweet (uh-huh, sweet again) Curry Chicken with Raisins.  Not bad, this is the second one I had to finish to ease all the sugar.  Apple Cinnamon and Vanilla Cheese (also had slices of green apple), wasn’t a half bad sandwich.  But, it was just PACKED with the cream cheese…picture a dog eating peanut butter.  Mm-hm.  The Tuna Salad (I was very unhappy I saved that for last, let alone put it in my mouth) tasted like it’s been left out ALL DAY.  It was so fishy, forreal.  Probably should not have been served.  After all this disapproval, my SIL persuaded me to try (their answer to a savory) this spicy curry mixture on a crostini.  It was good, but still something was off about it.  I wanted to have more of the crostini BY ITSELF, then have to eat any more of what was served to me this afternoon.

The service was remarkable.  Each of the ladies that came to our table were very sweet.  The price point wasn’t bad.  We left a good tip, since they were kind.  However, I will NOT be coming back to this spot.

Ohh, the scone!!  The scone was delightful!!  It was Apple Cinnamon, our server said “she thinks.”  At first, they felt so hard!?  I had to saw it open with my butter knife, crumbs everywhere.  The clotted cream was fine, but whatever the preserves were-  it reminded me of slices of tuna sashimi!!?!  It was so gelatinous, you couldn’t even spread it?!  Funny thing though…it was good!  Best part of the tea service was that darn crispy scone that we “think” was apple cinnamon.  Thanks for the scone guys!

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Our 5th Spot:

Lovejoy’s Tea Room

1351 Church Street  San Francisco, CA 94114

http://www.lovejoystearoom.com

For having a 4.5 stars Yelp rating, I expected a lot from this place.  Off the bat, I NEVER got a live person on the phone when I called in.  I didn’t like that.  From wanting to place my reservation, to wanting to change my headcount, to wanting to ask where the nearest Bart station was, to how parking was out there-  every time I called, no one ever picked up my call.  So, I was stuck having to wait for their call back or get tired of waiting + find the info myself somehow.  Are you that busy that you can’t pick up a phone and say “Thank you for calling Lovejoy’s Tea Room, may I please put you on hold?”, before you get a free minute to answer a simple question??  To me, this already speaks volumes about your customer service…

The ambiance was okay.  I thought it was more “old” than “vintage.”  It didn’t have all the cutesie things I wanted from a Tea Room or Tea House.  Their website says “in a most unique and unpretentious setting.  We believe our tea room reflects the diversity if San Francisco, blending together the traditions of tea service with an eclectic, quirky, and playful spirit.”  I wasn’t impressed.  See for yourself…

There was a lot to read when you order.  Front and back!?  (If you watch F.R.I.E.N.D.S, you know what I’m referring to there!)  There are 8 tea service selections to choose from.  I like that we got to choose the tea sandwiches that were included.  We weren’t just given the 4 kinds they made that day, like other tea rooms typically do.  Again, a lot though.  There are 17 options of tea sandwiches, including their Special of the day.  They also have a Pub Fare column of foods, like Shepherd’s Pie + Quiche, etc.  They have a good selection of teas, too.  I enjoyed that part.  Not too many, but a good enough amount that you have the excitement of choosing which one you will enjoy for the afternoon…and not feel like you have homework!

The food was good!  Nothing spectacular (that’s the phrase I kept saying all afternoon), but good.  For my two tea sandwich selections, I chose the Special which was a turkey with cranberry chardonnay (I THINK?? It was some kind of wine, that made it sound too good to pass up!) mustard and the chicken + asparagus.  I reeeeally liked my asparagus sandwich!!  I’m a sucker for all things asparagus anyway, but I was not expecting how they prepared it!?  At first, it looked like avocado.  Then, I realized the asparagus was sort of smooshed (that’s the best word I could describe it with sorry!) in there!  I loved it.  I was not a fan, however, of how they served it to us.  So-  3 of us at our table ordered the Queen’s Tea.  We had 1 tier for all of our orders.  Top tier was fruit for 3, middle tier were our scones with fixings, then the bottom-  I mean, look at it!  Can YOU make sense of it??  The server was nice enough to explain who’s was who’s, but once he left we wondered again.  It seemed they put each of our two tea sandwich selections on top of each other, cut that in four, then lined em next to each other on the bottom tier!!?!  VERY confusing.  I thought 2 slices were one sandwich…it was hard.  Once we figured it out, we still had to guess again every time we went back for another slice.  We did get a complete 2 sandwiches, which was nice.  So at least nobody was left hungry.  The scones-  eh.  I couldn’t tell if they were blueberry or currant, but whatever they were there were a ton of em!!  I cut mine open, and barely saw any batter?!  It was speckled everywhere.  I took a few bites, but that was all I could handle.  Could not wait for my crumpet though!!  Since my first time having the perfect one at Crown & Crumpet, that’s what I look for on the menu.  Was happy to see em on this one’s.  They came later in our tea service, and were served fresh.  Even better right?!  Um, they got soggy!  I was so disappointed.  It was like eating an eggy piece of bread.  (Insert sad face here.)  At the end of your tea service, they come with a tray of petit fours, tell you what flavors each are, then you are allowed to choose ONE.  I think for the price we pay, we coulda got two more each!  Just sayin…  And there are no other sweets, just those.

My tea choice was F A N T A S T I C !!  I chose the Black Vanilla (vanilla oil and pieces of vanilla pod give this mellow tea its light, sweet taste).  I love me some black tea.  And the vanilla part of it sounded intriguing + comforting.  SO GLAD I chose what I did!  It smelled heavenly!!  I joked to my girls that I just wanted to set my nostrils on the rim of my teacup and stay like that forever!  But-  sometimes teas smell delicious, then taste horrible.  Nope!  Not this one!  I got a two-fer.  I think I was the only one at our table that asked to be topped off (meaning they add hot water to your loose leaf pot of tea) 3 times!  I didn’t even taste anyone else’s, for the simple fact that I felt I would be missing out of more of my precious Black Vanilla tea selection!  Let’s see, the other girls chose their: Passion Fruit (dried passion fruit gives this tea its tropical flavor), Mango (Ceylon tea and pieces of ripe mango merge to create this fruity treat), Strawberry (black tea, flavored with pieces of dried strawberry), Decaf Chocolate Truffle (this rich and creamy decaffeinated tea contains actual bits of chocolate truffle), and Earl Grey (its unique flavor comes from the natural oil of Bergamot).  All my girls were happy with their choices!  They came to top off anytime you wanted, and each pot of tea came with strainers.

*Note: tea descriptions are taken directly from Lovejoy’s menu.

Customer service was good.  Not bad, but not fantastic either.  I mean, they did their job.  But, I didn’t see any extra efforts made for my enjoyment or for a better experience.  Maybe I’ve had better treatment at other tea houses, I don’t know.  But for a 4.5 star place, I thought they could have been a bit warmer.  Our server did take several shots, from each of our cameras (I know, and there were 6 of us!).  But not without making a snarky remark “Maybe you all should exchange phone numbers…”  He. He. He.  #jokingnotjoking  So what, we each asked you to take our group picture?  “Photographer” may not be in your job description, but we asked nicely + thanked you nicely.  Coulda done with out that comment babe.

Overall = nice experience.  Would I come back?  Maybe not.  Would DEFINITELY visit their sister antique shop across the street again though!  And for sure pick up some of that loose leaf Black Vanilla tea!!

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Every month or so, my SIL + I have a date.  After visiting The English Rose Tea Room last month, we couldn’t wait to go back.  Why not for our date!?  I’m SO GLAD we did!!  We got to try more of the teas we were curious about the last time, but didn’t get to have.  And I starved myself, so I had an appetite ready for ALL the tea sandwiches + savories this time!  🙂

[Disclosure:  I wondered if I should bring my professional camera for this visit, even though it was an off-Tour stop.  My husband discouraged me from bringing it, since it was just going to be a casual date with my sister.  So-  SORRY in advance!!  These pics are all taken with just my iPhone 4!]

Our server was a sweetheart!  She had just started working there a month ago.  She was very swift with her service and tended to us so lovingly throughout our visit.  I forgot to mention in my last post about this spot: an OCDers dream!!  They bring you hot towels!!?!  So nice huh?  During the month of November, this tea room was celebrating their 10 year anniversary.  She brought us a complimentary celebratory sparkling cider and offered us the Tea of the Day.  Today’s was Lisa’s Sweetheart Tea (I think??), it was a chocolate raspberry rose tea.  Smelled delicious and tasted wonderful.  We ordered the Pumpkin (again OF COURSE, pumpkin-freaks we both are) + Birthday Blend first.  The Pumpkin obviously was just as perfect as it was when we had it first.  In heaven with that one.  We were so happy with our decision in ordering the Birthday Blend.  It was so nice!!  It was what you would expect a ‘birthday cake’ flavored tea to taste like.  It was so creamy + comforting.  I could have had that one exclusively for the rest of the afternoon and would have been content.  But, we had more teas to try!  The other 2 pots we exchanged for were my sister’s choice, the Almond Joy (I absolutely adore the creamer, so I thought this one would be similar), and my pick the Lavender Lace (I’m fond of lavender, and then “lace” makes it just sound so pretty!?).  The Almond Joy was a fail!  It smelled like playdough!!?!  I mean, it wasn’t BAD.  We just didn’t like it.  I even told my sister to pour the rest of hers back into the teapot, since we knew we wouldn’t be having any more of it.    The Lavender Lace was just delightful!  It smelled like the spa and you were about to get a massage!?  Hehe.  But it tasted incredible.  Perfect for our finishing tea.

Okay, the food…  I was stuffed!!

This was the stuffing roll.  Yes, I said STUFFING!!  It was remarkable!  I’m a stuffing FAN, so when she described this one I knew I was going to have it first.  It was interesting + delicious.  Wrapped with a spinach tortilla (I’m guessing), and -BONUS- the stuffing had cranberry in it!

When our server said “sweet potato tart,” my eyes became big like that one emoji with the huge circle eyes!?  I looove sweet potato.  This was as yummy as it sounds.  A nice mix of sweet potato in there, with a nice flakey tart.

This was their salad sandwich.  A perfect mix.  Very filling + a wonderful addition to the tier of tea sandwiches.

There was also an egg + black olive on wheat.  Awesome combo right?!  Tried it, but only had a bite.  I thought it was bland.  And the cucumber option had green onion in it.  I don’t do green onion, so I stayed faaar away from that one.  My sister liked both of hers though!

I of course had my scone.  Plain scone with clotted cream, lemon curd + strawberry preserves.  The crispy edges of their scone makes it addicting!  The sweets tier had so many GOOD THINGS!  I liked everything I had.  Ate em so fast, no picture!!  I started with the French macaron that was staring at me the whole time.  I believe it was lavender flavored.  I joked with my sister that it smelled/tasted like shampoo!?  It did!!  But, even so, I ate the whole thing!!  The texture + filling was perfect for a French macaron.  Then, the petit four was calling me!  I have these things once a month, at every tea party.  They’re pretty much all the same, in my book.  But this one, this one was terrific!!  I inhaaaaled it.  Ugh-  so they had this pecan bar.  So chewy + crunchy + gooey!!  I made out with that thing!!?!  I was sad that my sister didn’t have hers, but so happy that I had another opportunity to relive that pecan goodness!  🙂

They sent us home with these lovely lemon curd cupcakes!  (We coulda had em there, but we didn’t have anymore room!?)  Another complimentary celebratory treat!  Oh these were good!  Not too sweet + not too lemony.  The sprinkles on top were nice too!  😉

All-in-all, a SPECTAULAR AFTERNOON!  They got all A+’s from me.  Still maaaaany more teas to try (I mean, they have over a hundred of em), so I’m sure we’ll be back again.  Just 2 more weeks and I get to have Tea again!!  Check back for our thoughts on Spot #5…

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Our 4th Spot:

The English Rose Tea Room & Gifts

163 West Neal Street  Pleasanton, CA 94566

http://www.theenglishrose-pleasanton.com

We walked in just as a baby shower party was being seated.  I think the hostess thought we were with them, so we were kind of ignored + left to be standing around.  I was beginning to be perturbed, when our server caught eyes with me.  I told her we weren’t with the big party, and she took care of us right away.  There were 6 of us.  We were sat in the corner to the left of the place.  By the way, UL-TRA CUUUTE!!  It’s a tiny place, very intimate.  All the decorations were gorgeous and ‘to the T’ with respects to tea houses.  (or ‘to the Tea!’ hehe)  However, I was slightly uncomfortable as we were so squished!?  I felt like both my knees were touching each of my girlfriends’ to the left + right of me.  And my boobs-  preeetty much resting on the table.  LOL.  I wasn’t sure where to put my purse.  They also have really cute pillows on each chair (that were comfortable, but more in the way in my opinion).

As you sit down, your server comes and gives you some sort of sugar biscuit then offers you their feature blend of the day.  Today’s was: Victoria’s Harvest Blend.  A mix of apricot + almond.  Right off the bat, you can smell the almond.  Oh my it was delicious!!  She then explained we get UNLIMITED TEA!!?!  We were allowed 2 pots of tea per table (we had 2), and we can exchange the pot for another flavor at any time.  And boy, did they have a LOT of flavors!  I thought that was good + bad, as there are plenty to try but it does make it hard to select.  They offered close to a HUNDRED TEAS!!

At our visit, we tried:

Chocolate Mint – Smelled incredible!  A table favorite, but I thought the smell was stronger than the flavor.  Not bad though!

Pumpkin – My all-time fave of the day!!  I’m a sucker for pumpkin-flavored stuff, and this tea was delectable!!  It was ultra “clovey” (word of the day: had a strong clove flavor), and made for a very interesting tea!

Strawberry Kiwi – I didn’t taste this one as I’m not much into fruity teas, but my girlfriend said it was good.  Not great, as it was rather bland.  But, not horrible either.

Passion Fruit – Didn’t try, but gf said it was lovely!

Crème Brulee – Gulped my last cup of the almond one down to make sure I tried this one!  It was nice smelling, and a perfect finishing tea.

Mango – Again, didn’t try but the table said it was good!

The food came out in the usual 3 tier set up.  Sandwiches on the bottom, a few savories in the middle, and scones + petit fours on top.  I went for the scone first.  Fluffy middle + crispy edges, still warm.  Plain scone, which I’m starting to really enjoy (I can appreciate the fixings more!).  The clotted cream was thick + firm.  I’m used to a looser consistency, but I liked this one.  The lemon curd was homemade!  Nice touch.  Then, they offered strawberry jam.  I can’t give a fair review on the food, because I wasn’t really feeling having too much of it.  I tried to at least take a bite out of everything, so that I can comment.  There were new flavors than the saaame ole sandwiches, but nothing that really excited me.  They offered one with sundried tomato, an egg with green onion (love me some egg salad, but I despise green onion), a chicken salad with cranberry, and of course the infamous cucumber.  The savories, I liked.  They had one with mushroom and a quiche-like one with butternut squash (…I hope I’m getting these right, because I totally forgot everything that our server explained as soon as she walked away!?).  The sweets were alright.  The highlight of that tier was this mini pumpkin cheesecake thing.  Again, I really only had BITES of stuff.  Take it for what it is.

Their service was impeccable.  Our server was just lovely.  Explained everything as it came, was prompt in our requests, and just a total sweetheart.  The owner came to our table, and we had a nice little chat about the Tour.  The service really impressed me.  At first I was annoyed that we weren’t seated right away, but as our visit continued the service just kept getting better + better.  It was really hard to say anything negative in my testimonial, as they were just so wonderful to us.  But-  I will always be HONEST with you (my readers!  😉  ), as that’s what you deserve.  I would come back again for the teas, definitely.  Actually, I can’t wait to come back, as there were lots more on their tea menu that I really wanted to try!  I hope you all do, and please share which ones you enjoyed!?

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Our 3rd Spot:

Palace Hotel Garden Court

2 New Montgomery Street  San Francisco, CA 94105

www.sfpalace.com/afternoon-tea

You have to live it up once in a great while.  We all work hard, we all have stresses, and we all like to enjoy ourselves.  When I researched the tea houses to include in this tour + came across this one, I KNEW I had to experience it…and soon!  The snippet on their website made it sound so lavish!  Sure, this isn’t something you could do every weekend (well, maybe the wealthy can)-  but why can’t we be fancy this once!?

If you’ve never been to the Palace Hotel, it is simply breathtaking.  It was just so…GRAND!!  I felt so privileged to be walking down the beautiful carpeted hallways, knowing I had business walking down them!  We arrived at The Garden Court, and this is what we were welcomed with…

I wouldn’t be doing the place any honors if I attempted to explain just how exquisite our surroundings were.  Stunning, absolutely stunning.

The menu was very simple.  Nice selection of teas + three levels of tea service.  Of course, I chose the one that included the champagne!  Our server was very swift.  He immediately asked which pots of tea we would like, and shortly after here came the pots!  At our table, we enjoyed the Earl Grey (aromatic autumn Darjeeling with bergamot citrus), The Palace Blend (babaco fruit with pineapple, kiwi + plum), Morgentau (sencha, flower petals, mango + lemon), Mint & Fresh (mint + lemongrass), Pai Mu Tau Silver Typ (delicate white tea), and Red Fruit (elderberries, black + red currants with hibiscus).  The mint tea was amazing + the perfect choice for me!  What we thought was fascinating was this interesting tool that was part of our place setting.  It was later explained to us that this was used to sift the loose leaf tea that was steeping in our pots.  We all had fun trying em out!

We were served our tea sandwiches first.  Different from having the scones in the beginning.  But, we weren’t complaining!  Not only were the tea sandwiches gorgeous, they were full of flavor!  Flavors you may not be used to having together, but they just worked so well!  And I can’t say enough how much I appreciated the portion.  They were the perfect size to enjoy, without being stuffed.

Just when you thought it couldn’t get any fancier, they serve caviar!!?!  This is their Smoked Salmon tea sandwich (cream cheese mousse + caviar).  Our table’s best pick.

What is a tea house without a cucumber finger sandwich?!  This is their Cucumber tea sandwich (avocado mousse + tomato).  The avocado flavors definitely makes this stand out from the rest.

Made simply, but surprise ending!  This is their Turkey tea sandwich (cream cheese + raspberry).  That tiny berry makes a huge punch in your last bite of this one!

This one was my favorite!  This is their Zucchini tea sandwich (roasted bell pepper mousse).  So refreshing!!

Good choice for the last sandwich.  This is their Ham & Pineapple tea sandwich (cream cheese mousse + sun dried tomato).  If you’re thinking this will resemble a pizza, you’re mistaken!

We were beyond thrilled when they brought out the tiers of sweets!  If they were as yummy as the sandwiches, we were in for a treat!  Hands down-  best part of the meal.  Everything was sooo GOOOOD!!  The scones were superb.  The table favorite was definitely the double decker mini cream puffs!  My favorite was the chocolate layer cake topped with GOLD!!  My friend from Samoa said her overall thoughts were: “oka oka se manaia!”

The service was delightful.  Will we come back?  Uh…YEAH!!  We’d totally skip the rest of the Tour and just dine here every month!  Okay, maybe not.  😉  Check back for our next stop!

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Our 2nd Spot:

The Quail & Thistle Tea Room

911 Capitola Avenue  Capitola, CA 95010

quailandthistle.com

We drove about an hour to reach this spot.  I’m a fan of small towns and have visited Capitola before, so I figured this place was going to be cute.  The website doesn’t give you much of a feel for what to expect.  Very little photos.  I guess that’s nice, so you have an element of wonder + surprise!?

It was hard to get through on the phone at first.  I wanted to talk to a live person to ensure my reservation.  I made the reservations online and hoped for the best.  However, I had a party of 10 and the online form only allowed you to input 8.  The next day, I finally got through and spoke to someone.  The party number change was easy to make, and they did have record of my initial reservation so you can trust the internet!

AB-SO-LUTE-LY adorable.  The outside is this cute little tiny cottage with a pink door!!?!  Can it BE any cuter?!  (in my best Chandler voice)

It just got CUTER as we walked in.  The décor is very old school tea party.  Not too many pieces, fairly simple, but #cutenessoverload for sure!

I feel like the menu was kind of confusing.  For tea sandwiches, there was a ‘meat’ side + a ‘veggie’ side.  Maybe it was just me, but it took me a second to figure out how they wanted you to order this.  I think at our table of 7, there were a few head-scratches about this as well.  Our server helped us make sense of it all, then we were happy.  😉

The food-  okay, here we go.  I ordered the California Country Tea.  They offer soup (which was new for me).  It was a Tomato Bisque today.  Good flavor + texture, pretty chunky.  I couldn’t have too much of it.  The rest of it (4 tea sandwiches, 2 savories, scone with fixings + their sweets of the day)…came all on ONE PLATE!!?!  And you were just left to figure out what was what.  If we didn’t question our server, we would’ve just never known!?  I thought it was very overwhelming.  No tiers.  😦  Let’s start with the Scone.  It was a plain scone (which I now appreciate, thanks Leticia!).  It came with some sort of cream (which our server described as “sour cream with sugar”) + strawberry jam.  Not what I’m used to, but it worked.  My SIL described the cream as “frosting.”  It was rather thick + chewy for a cream…  Scone was good.  No complaints there.  I went in for the Roast Beef tea sandwich.  Very plain!  Bread with mayo + roast beef, nothing special there.  But, the roast beef was such a thick cut the whole thing fell out when you took a bite of it!?  Awkward!  You’re sitting there trying to bite this piece off, and it just continues to fall out of the finger sandwich.  The Chicken Salad was okay.  The Cucumber with Mint Butter (sounds divine right?) was bland!  And open-faced??  We didn’t even realize that was our 3rd sandwich!?  The Olive Cream Cheese (which our server raved about) was sooo salty!!  The kalamata was so overpowering!  I couldn’t have more than one bite.  I also just had one bite of the Sundried Tomato Crostini (1 of the 2 savories).  The other was a Pesto Quiche-esque thing.  That was good!  But so tiny.  For the desserts today, they offered a Mini Cheesecake Bite, Chocolate Covered Strawberry, Earl Grey Cookie, Peanut Butter Cookie, Raspberry Loaf + fruit.  Here’s what I thought of those:

cheesecake-  melted + fell apart as soon as you forked it, more like a cheesecake SHAKE

strawberry-  good, but the chocolate was so thick it wasn’t a perfect ratio

earl cookie-  nice texture, but nothing really “earl grey” about it

peanut cookie-  tasted like it came from a supermarket box

loaf-  ehh

fruit-  I didn’t even taste it

The Teas were fun!  We ordered the Chocolate Rose (black tea with cocoa nibs and rose petals), Raspberry Earl Grey, Hojicha (toasted for a nutty flavor), South African Rooibos (a mellow fellow with a vanilla signature), Peach Oolong + Earl Grey.  They were all very yummy.  My favorite was the Chocolate Rose for sure!  Nothing stood out or was very memorable for me.  But all-in-all, we were happy with our tea choices.  What’s nice is they give you to-go cups if you didn’t finish your pot!  🙂

I have to say-  what I liked best about this spot was the service.  Our server was very personable.  He gave us everything we needed and was a nice guy throughout our visit.  At one point it got really warm (doesn’t it always, after you’re having cup after cup of hot tea!?), and he opened the window for us.  He took a few shots from [like] 4 different cameras + camera phones for us!  When he had to leave, he ensured us the owner + cook in the back would take care of us and they sure did come out a few times to check if we needed anything.  When it came time to pay, they broke down our bill for us + made it easy to divide.  Very sweet people.

If you’re looking for a “CUTE” place to hang out with your family or girlfriends, this is your spot.  But if you’re more of a foodie or want a quality meal, I wouldn’t recommend this place.  I’m still very happy we came.  Always a good time with your gf’s of course, but the experience + ambiance made up for the quality + flavor of the food.  Not a total waste of time.  We still loved coming!

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Our 1st Spot:

Crown & Crumpet Tea Stop Cafe

1746 Post Street  San Francisco, CA 94115

crownandcrumpet.com

I knew I wanted this place to be the first spot, as I’ve seen photos there from my friend’s baby shower years ago.  I have to admit, these photos were what opened me to Tea Parties in the first place!?  It was all just so darn cute.  I’m so glad this was our first spot, because it was TONS of fun + perfect for our Tour opener!

Reservations were fairly easy to make.  I spoke with the owner Amy, and she was very pleasant + easy-going.  I told her about the Tour, and she was excited that their place was first on our list.  She wanted to accommodate our big party as best she could, and offered us their best order which was their Afternoon Tea.

When we got there, it looked a lot different from the photos I saw years ago.  I learned that this was their second location, and the one prior had closed.  I was kinda bummed that the ambiance was very different from what I was expecting.  Don’t expect any antiques or vintage pieces at this Tea House.  The environment there is very modern, with lots of white ceramics.  Their kitchen was in front of us, and the entrance door was behind us.  I thought for sure we would be in the middle of the cafe’s hustle + bustle, but was mistaken!?  None of it bothered us.  Actually, it was neat to see the different people visiting + leaving the building!  Crown & Crumpet showed us a good time.  The owner came to our table a few times, and even took pictures + visited with us.  She’s a riot!

The food was outstanding.  They offered plain scones (sweet biscuits) + crumpets (like English muffins) with all the fixings.  SO GOOD.  They were still warm when they brought them to us.  The sandwiches they had that day were a chicken curry (my favorite!), roast beef (with fattie pieces of meat + HORSERADISH!!), and cucumber with mint cream cheese.  All were very delicious + MEMORABLE.  The desserts were all yummy too: a shortbread with apricot topping, caramel brownie, snickerdoodle-type cookie, and this cute chocolate edible cup with chocolate mousse inside topped with a raspberry.

The Teas…  They had a very nice selection of Teas.  We got the “Marie Antoinette” (strawberry + rose), “Star of Africa” (very spicy + my favorite!), “Blue Eyes” (tropical flavors), and “Happiness Is…” (green with fruity notes).  They come with cute little labels too!  The collection we chose was a nice variety.  They have sugar on the table, and cream by request.  They came back to warm our pots, if needed.  Toward the end of our meal after we had slowed down, we were offered their “Keep Calm & Carry On” blend (chamomile + peppermint) to relax.  It was very nice, and the perfect ending.

The wait staff was very lovely + treated us well.  Answered all of our questions before we ordered, and took their time with us as it was our first time visiting.  The place is clean, open + airy, bright.  Make sure to check out the bathrooms downstairs!  The toilets have bidet options!!  And there are little shops throughout the building to take a look at afterward.

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