One of the saddest “blows” of the pandemic for Bay Area tea room aficionados was the closure of the English Rose tea room in Pleasanton, California. I had judged it to be the best run of all the for-profit tea rooms in our area. However, on May 1st, while lunching with a friend in Pleasanton, I decided I wanted to walk by the former English Rose–just so I could feel even worse about its closure, I guess! I was totally mystified peeking through the front windows–the tables and chairs, the table settings, and much of the rest of the English Rose’s furnishings were still there! Better yet was the new sign on the front of the building! What became clear after a few stunned seconds is that the English Rose (or most of it anyway) had been sold! It took a few months of patient persistence, but finally I discovered that the Royal Tea Garden was open, so I scheduled a Meetup for this past Saturday!

THE BEST

• The arrangement of the many tables needed to seat us all was soooo comfy! Many members commented how happy they were to NOT see the former couches that some guests had to be seated in. Also, during our many Meetups at the English Rose in past years, our tables were always separated from each other and up against one wall. So, having everyone together out in the center felt like we were indeed royal guests!
• The desserts! There were three fabulous miniature desserts–a vanilla bean cheesecake, a pecan-pie bar, and a panna cotta in a tiny glass bowl.
• The roll-up sandwich, which was placed with the two savories in the middle tier. There was a LOT of discussion at my three-person table over the ingredients. Two of us thought it was tuna salad and the third person didn’t like tuna salad. But the waitress said it was chicken salad! Whatever it was, all three of us judged it delicious!
• The Royal Tea Garden management decided to retain the English Rose‘s policy of allowing guests to have as many different teas and fresh pots of tea as desired, as long as there were never more than 2 pots on a table. This policy was always a highlight of tea at the English Rose so it was great to experience it again in the new tea room.
• The mini-quiche was colorful and tasty!

THE OKAY

• All three traditional sandwiches were too large! Better to have had 5 tiny ones than 3 overly large ones.
• The egg salad sandwich was particularly lacking in flavor, at least partly because the bread was a bun.
• The scone was totally plain–no cinnamon chips, no blueberries, no raisins, no cranberries, etc. It tasted okay but it’s unusual to be served an unadorned scone in a tea room.

THE NOT SO GOOD

• There were more flies buzzing around the table than I’ve ever seen at a tea room! I think the problem may have been that somebody forgot to close the lid on the large garbage bin which was in a high enclosure outside the tea room on one side. The enclosure was brand new, so I’m not sure what the English Rose did with respect to garbage disposal. It’s possible the new location simply won’t work.
• The placement of the tiers on the tables was NOT well-planned. My table of 3 had a tier for only 2. The table of 2 that was 2 tables down from us had a tier for 3! This necessitated me to serve myself from a tier on the table next to me! And it required a woman at that table to serve herself from the tier for 3 from the next table. It was so obvious that the tier for 3 should have gone on the table for 3, and the tier for 2 should have gone on the table for 2, instead of vice versa! I’ve NEVER had to reach over to an adjacent table at a tea room!

But I’ve saved the very best for last! As the Organizer, I had collected payment in advance from all 9 members who had RSVP’ed, then paid the required deposit for all 10 of us. When the waitress brought me the check for the remainder of our bill, she explained that they had deducted the charge for the one member who was unable to be present due to having come down with something just the night before. I was sooooo surprised and pleased that the management did this. It allowed me to refund the 10th member’s prepayment in full, which undoubtedly lessened her disappointment in not being able to attend. Kudos to the Royal Tea Garden for this very unusual and compassionate response to a last-minute no-show!

As was the case with the English Rose, the Royal Tea Garden will definitely merit a yearly visit from the San Jose Tea Room Lovers Meetup members!

My tea pal Joanne and I hadn’t been to the Lisa’s Tea Treasures in Los Altos in years, so we decided to close out July with a return visit. We didn’t care for the description of the special tea plate for the month so decided to go with the Tea for Two from their regular menu. The tea tiers included:

• Four different sandwiches each, which we were allowed to select from a long list of sandwich types
• Two different savories each
• Two different scones, which we cut in half so we could each try both
• Four different miniature desserts: cream puff; eclair, cheesecake, and macaron
• A few grapes and strawberries sharing the dessert tier

I was particularly impressed by the desserts. I do not like ANY of the four desserts served. However, the desserts were so miniaturized that they were actually tasty, taken as a whole! And it was fun to have such a variety!

Overall, this tea was not spectacular. However! It was perfectly executed! I couldn’t find a single thing to criticize in the service, food, or tea! (Okay, I didn’t like the walnut-fig spread in the brie and apple sandwich, but I agreed to that sandwich, knowing that I didn’t like figs!)

All in all, our luncheon at the Lisa’s Tea Treasures in Los Altos was a PERFECT ending to our July!

A couple friends and I trekked up to Alameda, California, this afternoon to try a new (for us!) tea venue–the Malaya Tea Room.

We were seated at a lovely window table soon after we arrived. Our order was taken, followed by the arrival of our teapots, and then the delivery of our delicacy-laden tiers, all within a few minutes of time. This was literally the fastest tea room service I’ve ever experienced!

For $33 (plus tax and tip), we were each allowed to choose two sandwiches from a list of British flavors and another list of Malayan flavors. Each order included a scone, savory, three mini desserts, and of course, a pot of tea!

Tastewise, the sandwiches and savory were the best. The savory was a thin cracker topped by a decorative green dollop consisting of pureed peas, mashed potatoes and herbs. Definitely a unique savory for afternoon tea.

The scones were very plain and not super fresh. Their most interesting aspect was the curd served (along with cream) with them. It was lime curd instead of lemon (!), and rather runny compared to the typical lemon curd served at tea rooms. I wound up dunking pieces of my scone into the curd instead of spreading the curd onto the scone.

The three sweets were pretty ho-hum, although the vaguely coconut flavored Pride-themed one was apropos for a June tea.

My friends were quite pleased with their Golden Monkey tea, but being an aficionado of flavored teas, I chose the No. 14 Grapefruit and Cocoa Nibs. Seriously weird! Some sips tasted entirely of grapefruit and others tasted entirely of cocoa nibs, i.e., the tea was somehow NOT a blend!

All of us concurred that the tea service would have been improved if we were each allowed to pick four types of sandwiches instead of two. Each of us received four “finger” sandwiches of each of the two types we ordered. This was plenty, quantity-wise, but we would have liked to have had more variety, i.e., two fingers each of four types.

Besides the absolutely stellar service, the other outstanding characteristic of this tea room experience was the charming look of the tea room, inside and outside! The pineapple chandelier was gorgeous! And a couple of wall hangings were literally a variety of tea china glued to a backing so that one was looking “down” at a tea table while viewing them! Super clever and attractive!!!