I got the opportunity to go back to Son and Garden in Palo Alto! They change themes every once in a while, so while it's the same place with the same atmosphere several of the offerings were different this time around.
Happily they seem to be doing afternoon tea on the weekends now! I'm not sure if the previous theme of Barbie was the reason it was only on weekdays or what but I'm happy to be able to have a weekend tea experience here! The fact that it's so close and the OpenTable reservation system is a breeze makes this a great tea service spot for me. Still not great for dietary restrictions if you have them though.
Ease of access (location, hours, ease of making reservation, dietary menu options): 9/10
This tea place is still extremely Instagramable with its decorations and table settings! Unfortunately this time I went in summer, and right as a very large heatwave was sweeping the bay area- and PA Son and Garden does not have AC! It was very warm inside. The place settings for the theme had a laminated seashell under which was kinda cute but also felt a bit cheap somehow? Didn't quite fit the rest of the atmosphere.
Atmosphere (décor, place settings, staff): 8.5/10
Each person was $75 including tax and tip, prepaid, which eliminated any awkward bill splitting at the end which I quite like. I must admit this tea service defeated me! I couldn't finish everything which I try to do to get the full experience.
Price (value for money): 8/10
The tea served like last time was Harney and Sons. I like Harney and Sons brand but their selection is still kind of lacking. I got Paris again which is again delicious but the lack of flavored black tea options is kind of disappointing if you want to come back again and try something new. Several others at the table that chose other teas and were kind of disappointed with theirs. They also come in these individual sachets which isn't as nice as loose-leaf for getting hot water refills.
Tea: 6/10
The scones were blueberry the same as last time I was here. Again the same as last time they were kind of flat, crumbly and had only whipped lavender butter available as accompaniments (which was not quite enough for the party). The lavender butter was nicely flavored and not overpowering which can be easy to overdo with floral flavors. They tasted fine though, despite difficulty with eating!
Scones: 5.5/10
Savories: 7/10
The sweets were pretty hit and miss...but mostly miss for me. The two tastiest things were the ube macaroon and lemon curd tartelette. I really didn't enjoy the blue thing in a glass which turned out to be advertised as cheesecake? Totally unlike any cheesecake I've had before and not very tasty. The pandan cake had a nice texture but the topping was too thick, I ended up picking off the coconut topping to eat it. The cake pop was a good cake pop but I'm just not a fan of them overall- too sweet and dense. The chocolate was quite nice but was dark chocolate which clashed with all of the other light tasting desserts. I was overall pretty disappointed with this section though it looked lovely in the presentation.
Sweets: 4.5/10
I would recommend coming back here if you really like their theme for the month and want an attractive Instagram post. Unfortunately I think the tastiness of their food leaves something to be desired- much more style over substance at least for this particular theme. I would also recommend not going in the summer at any time during a heatwave...
Overall rating: 6.9/10
A cute background but unfortunately it hid the fact that I was in fact wearing my gold starry fairy wings! The theme was fairies and forest and I only had one option for fairy! All black was a mistake 😭 I should have tried something more creative to avoid all black in the heat, I thought a chiffon blouse would be sufficient and was definitely wrong.
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