Your Cup of Tea

Went with my best friend for tea service today and had a lovely time. Mary was very friendly to us from start to finish, though we were finishing up around closing time (she never tried to rush us, far as I could tell). I noticed it seemed like some of the other patrons there are regulars, so clearly she’s doing something right. After she sat us, she quickly brought us the berries with cream and the house blend tea, which was followed with the finger sandwiches (cucumber, smoked salmon, egg salad, and chicken salad), and finally the scones. While both the berries and scones were delicious, I especially loved the sandwiches. I usually don’t care for cucumber ones, but hers were very flavorful and blended in the cucumber taste so that it was very subtle. This was my first western style afternoon tea experience, so I can’t compare the value of it to other establishments, but with tip I paid $ 22 and had a very enjoyable afternoon. I’m certainly wiling to pay more for a good experience – the service was wonderful and the room very beautifully decorated. It was exactly the kind of experience we were looking for. I know some might prefer to pick their own tea, but I think that as with wine, it requires some knowledge to pair the right tea with your food and I’m glad she thought about that for us.

Had birthday lunch for my sister here. It was lovely, it was perfect! Food was great, service great, beautiful little spot. We enjoyed everything and all plates went back empty. Atmosphere was so nice, we just relaxed and chatted for 2 hours. So pleased!!!

I took my wife, mother in law, and sister in law here and they loved. it. We started off with fresh strawberries with yogurt. The house blend tea was really smooth and needed no cream or sugar. The finger sandwiches were creamy, delicious, addictive. The ones that we ate up were the smoked salmon. The scones were cranberry orange, served warm. Really good as well.
This place is not cheap but it is really good for special occasions or if you want to treat a member of your family that is visiting (for example your grandma or Auntie Tilley).
Mary, the host/​owner was very gracious, sweet, attentive. Her hours are not normal American business hours so it is best to call ahead and make a reservation.
Check out my photo of the tea pot with cozy. The cozy was really cozy.

You want a great English lunch or a real English tea? Then this is the place in Houston. The ambiance is perfect and the service could not be better. Call ahead is a must.

When all was said and done, I paid $ 20 for ‘afternoon tea’ (inc tip) and now that I’m home I’m trying to decide if it was worth it. I think for research sake, I’ll try the Serenitea tea house and see what I think of their $ 19 afternoon tea menu and compare that way.
Here’s the menu (and what I thought of it)
Choose from a selection of plain or aromatic teas served in individual china tea pots
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We weren’t offered a selection, we were told they had a house blend that came with the menu and if we wanted caffeine free that we could have an alternative pot of tea. The house blend was light, easily drink able and, like she told us upon arrival, it didn’t need milk or sweetener.
Strawberries with Yogurt Cream
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I liked this, it was light and refreshing, but I’d have rather she/​they served the strawberries with the cream that comes with the last course, scones.
Assorted Finger Sandwiches (to Include Chicken Salad, Roast Beef, Ham & Cheese
and English Cucumber)
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We had no ham and cheese, instead we had egg salad which was delicious, probably my favourite of the lot. There was a lot of sandwiches, plenty to take home.
Home Made Chocolate Chip & Fruit Scones served with Cream
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This gives you the impression that you get chocolate chip scones and fruit scones and you can chose between them, or, even have more than one. Maybe I misread, but that’s what I thought. Turns out you get one scone that has both fruit and chocolate in the same scone. She said it was cause Americans don’t like English style scones and she had to make them more ‘interesting’, which I think is a shame, because traditional tea doesn’t tend to have mixed scones.
It was nice, the atmosphere was fun and the store is quirky for sure, with lots to look at. It seemed like the lady run it on her own but service was still pretty quick (and she kept instructing us to finish our sandwiches). But when I think of the 5 of us paying $ 100+ for afternoon tea, and I think of the 5 scones, 3 pots of tea and selection of sandwiches that we got, I could (and have) made the same or better for cheaper in my own home (I had a tea party for my birthday party in February) it wasn’t something that blew my socks off. I can get a pretty fab 3 course master chef lunch at Phillipe’s restaurant on Post Oak for $ 20, so I think this place is certainly over priced, but since I’ve not much to compare it to here in the US, maybe that’s just how it is?

Rude best describes this hole in the wall place. I took an older friend to lunch there and we arrived at 12:30. The owner (I presume) rushed us through the meal. My friend is 80 and has difficulty eating quickly. The woman kept trying to take my plate and repeatedly asked me if we wanted her to box the meal. At 1:00 we were still the only customer. The sandwiches consisted of a thick helping of ulta sweet chicken salad on bread (nothing else) with chips. I only ate a small part of the disgusting sandwich. A York mint was the desert. It was the highlight of the meal.

I was looking for a place to relax and have some tea and this seemed like a good place to start. I walked in and it was empty. The lady came from behind a corner area and asked if I needed help. I told her I wanted to see what they had and look around. She stared at me like I had two heads. Not very welcoming and cold. I didn’t get far, I turned around and walked out. Too bad, I have family and friends I would’ve love to introduce them to a place like this. Oh well, I’ll keep looking! :)

Does not open till 11:00 a.m.
It was 11:05 a.m. when I was wanting to walk in to see if I could get a reasonable tea set or browse and see any «wow“ness but nobody showed up yet, it was a Tuesday.
From what I saw from the outside this isn’t your regular $ 40 tea set that you can get at your favorite China town. A lot of what was displayed had a lot of design and did not look cheap, will be back when I’m in the area, but not until it’s 11:30 a.m. The door sign said open at 11:00 but I guess the owner/​worker must have already been on a coffee break. :D
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