A Lovely Time at Tudor Rose English Tea Room

There is nothing quite like a good cup of tea. I have never been a lover of coffee, but I dealt with it out of the necessity for caffeine for many years. That is, until I found a much better option, tea. Despite my love of all different types of tea, I had never been to a High Tea until we lived in Hua Hin and my mom came to visit. I thought that Afternoon Tea at the Centara Grand in Hua Hin was amazing, but it was nothing in comparison to the lovely time I had yesterday at Tudor Rose English Tea Room here in Santa Rosa, California.

Yesterday was my moms’ birthday (Happy Birthday Mom!) and my sisters and I decided to take her out for afternoon tea at Tudor Rose English Tea Room in downtown Santa Rosa. I called as soon as they opened at 11:00 a.m. to reserve a table. The owner, Angela, answered and was so helpful and kind. I first asked if children were permitted in the tea room (you never know) and was told that they loved having children come in and they were more than welcome. I was able to make a reservation for 6 of us (including my three-year old! Hooray!) at the time we needed with no problem at all.

When I arrived at the tea room, I was impressed with the lengths that were put into the decor. The entrance was decorated to look like the entrance to an English cottage. (Ok, what I think an English cottage entrance looks like, I will have to back that up when we visit the UK next month.) There were mismatched tables, with mismatched china, and vases of flowers, and a fountain on one wall that made it so comfortable and interesting.

We were greeted by Marsha (hopefully I am spelling that correctly) and given an option of what table to sit at. We chose the nook in the back, which was a perfect spot for a group with a child.  Marsha gave us some time to go over the menu and then came and took our tea order so the tea could steep the appropriate time before we were served our snacks.

I ordered the Tudor Rose tea, a sausage roll, a beef and vegetable pastie (which I crudely and embarrassingly pronounces like the wrong pastie… oops), and the bread pudding. My sisters, aunt, and mom ordered many other things, but I didn’t try them so I will just tell you about mine. They did tell me that their food was excellent.

So, my tea time meal was better than I could have imagined. The Tudor rose tea was served perfectly steeped and had a warm, nutty, and vanilla flavor. I liked it so much that I drank two pots all by myself. The sausage roll was not a hot dog wrapped in pastry like I had assumed, but was actual flavorful sausage with a hint of spiciness wrapped in a flaky savory pastry. The beef and vegetable pastie was much larger than I expected and tasted fresh and a little sweet which surprised me but was actually delicious. The bread pudding…. oh, how can I even write how tasty it was… the bread pudding was served in a glass cup covered in whipped cream. It was sweet and savory at the same time, with a touch of cinnamon and full of plump fresh raisins. I am a bread pudding FAN and often leave eating establishments wanting for a good bread pudding and I felt that Tudor Rose English Tea Room was spot on. Everything I had, I thoroughly enjoyed and want more of (seriously, I really want it now).

One of my favorite parts of having afternoon tea at Tudor Rose English Room was that they provided hats for you to wear! They had new and vintage hats, and I think Zoë and I tried all of them on. I may be a bit of the “family clown”  but I most enjoyed the crazy looking hats and made my family members do a mini photo shoot of me with them on. Z and I also shared the joy and made everyone else wear hats as well!

After we had laughed, and eaten, and drank many pots of tea, we paid the bill and left. The food and tea were fairly priced for the quality and experience. I would definitely recommend having tea time at Tudor Rose English Tea Room, the only suggestion I would give you is to make sure you are hungry and ready for fun!

Have you ever been to a tea room? What did you like best: the tea, snacks, ambience, or something else?