Fourteen of us from the San Jose Tea Room Lovers Meetup trekked out to Lodi, California this past Saturday, so we could try out the new-to-us Hidden Tea Room. We had been warned by another member who visited a few weeks before to expect slow service. And that was indeed the case for the first hour–we were served only tea, scones, and sorbet. But things sped up during the second hour of our two-hour seating. And some of us found the slow pace more relaxing, and conducive to chatting with each other.
The highlights of this tea experience were the ambiance, food quality (literally, every item was tasty!), and the completely superb tea!
The inside seating area, which we had requested, is a single medium-sized room with attractive decor, well-spaced tables, and fairly good acoustics. We were comfortably seated at two large round tables with plenty of elbow room in-between us.
After our first two pots of tea were served, the scones arrived still warm, with blackberry jam, lemon curd, and homemade whipped butter. The latter was an unusual choice of scone condiment, but seemed popular with those members who tried it.
A teensy serving of very lemony sorbet appeared at each place after the scones had been consumed.
Two warm and somewhat oversized savories with a few berries started off our second hour. One of the savories was a Quiche Lorraine, which didn’t seem like a good choice since bacon is not an appropriate ingredient to serve a diverse group. The other savory was an excellent Spinach-Feta Puff.
Scone with condiments 
Savories
There were just two sandwiches for the next course, which is the smallest number I’ve encountered at an afternoon tea. They were both delicious but a third one would have been a nice-to-have.
One oddity about the service is that the scones arrived on a serving plate, the savories arrived individually plated, and then the sandwiches were on a serving plate again. Our tables were a bit too large for us to be able to comfortably reach the serving plates or the dessert tiers that came later, so I think the overall experience for large groups could be improved by the staff plating the entire meal.
Individual two-sandwich stacks 
Snickerdoodles, lemon bars, mini cupcakes
This tea room did a fabulous job with the tea itself! We must have gotten to sample half a dozen different teas at each table. Each pot arrived with the tea leaves removed, after having been carefully steeped with a timer. No warnings to “let it steep for a few minutes.” No teapot refills with hot water. No over-steeping due to the tea leaves having been left in the pot. Every tea was ordered by us, made fresh, and there didn’t seem to be a limit to how many different ones we could try! And the teapots themselves were gorgeous eye candy!
All in all, our Hidden Tea Room afternoon tea was a very good experience, especially for the low price of $29.50, which included tax and gratuity. And for many of us, the trip was our first visit to Lodi. Several members headed to the Historic Lodi Downtown area afterwards, for wine-tasting, shopping, or both!
| Ambiance | ★★★★★ |
|---|---|
| Service | ★★★★ |
| Food Quality | ★★★★★ |
| Food Quantity | ★★★★ |
| Tea Quality | ★★★★★ |
| Value for Money | ★★★★★ |
| Overall | 4/5 |
A Tea Room Lover Opines! 