2 stars for excellent customer service and cleanliness and ambiance.
I came with great hopes of a decent afternoon tea which is almost unheard of in California. So my expectations were relatively low.
I ordered the house tea breakfast blend. A bit boring, but the gal serving me was kind enough to understand and change it out for earl grey with lavender. I went from boring to over the top with too much lavender.
Not really their fault. So we can move on.
Let's get to the food. Awful.
Tiramsasu cream thing didn't taste like coffee or chocolate just cream.
The chocolate cupcake with pink crystals reminiscent of a young girls birthday party was dry and tasted like it was in the fridge for a few days before thawing out this morning.
Beet rissoto in a cucumber cup. Why? Of course it was flavorless and strange. No. Just no.
Salmon roll thing was ok, the fishy taste was strong and I didn't go back for another bite.
They should call these things amuse bouche because it's all one bite.
A veggie roll with an aoili on top was ok.
The scones are crumbly and ok. But there's no. Effing. Clotted. Cream. None. What I have is a mascarpone thing with Lemon. Yuck.
You don't have to reinvent the wheel. Just make it tasty!
Update: spoke with the manager named George and he didn't seem to care much about what I had to say so I'm giving it 1 star.
When management doesn't care about its customers, I think people should know.
He said that "people are more likely to write a bad review than a good one, that's human nature". False. It's just an excuse to make the low rating OK in the mind of management.
I hadn't read the reviews before going (now I wish I had as I'm suffering from a stomach ache) which shows that I even with the low ratings I went anyway. Only to agree with the low rating.
Don't bother going here. It's not worth the price or the time.
Update 5 hours post reservation: I'm now ill with vomiting and more. Really really feel ill now. Ps. I didn't have breakfast so this afternoon tea was all I ate today. Even joked with the staff about my hunger.