Taking Christmas Tea At the English Rose

Last weekend I was fortunate enough to get to celebrate the upcoming Christmas season with some old friends

We decided to go to the English Rose in nearby Pleasanton since this is one that I've told one of my friends so much about! It was kind of a late time for tea but our appointment (the last available table open for that day) was for 4pm. We arrived to gorgeous festivities not only at the tea room but also all along the downtown Pleaseanton area.

Upon arrival, our cozy table was set up and waiting for us decked out with a tangerine ambrosia salad and a sugar cookie for each of us. While we perused the tea selection deciding on which tea we would like the tea server came around with a pot of their seasonal candy cane tea for samples. She soon then came around again with warm moist towels for us to use before our tea service began.

The tea spread was a lovely prix fixe menu for the holiday season. It started with the sugar cookie and tangerine ambrosia salad and was soon followed by a three tiered plate of five assorted tea sandwiches which included a cucumber sandwich, egg salad sandwich on wheat, chicken salad on butter croissant, a sweet and savory wrap, and a basil and tomato filo, then there were two savories, a fresh scone accompanied by lemon curd, clotted cream, and strawberry preserves, a mini raspberry tart cake, mini mocha cheesecake, chocolate coconut petit four, grapes and slices of oranges, all finished with a small tiramisu. I'm sorry to say I forgot to take pictures of the small tiramisu but I am not sorry I ate it.

While it was a fine tea, there were some things that I had a bit of gripe about. For instance, the menu itself, while seeming a bit fuller than their usual tea fair, did not really seem to come with any special Christmas theme in mind which was a little disappointing. Another aspect of this tea which caused me a bit of heartache is that for the Christmas season the English Rose added an extra seating to their usual three seatings for Saturdays but because they had more seatings than usual it seemed they also rushed us out a bit faster than usual. I am one that really likes to eat slowly and enjoy my meal for any meal time but especially more so while out to tea. I feel like tea should be a leisurly affair and should not be rushed. It was sad to see that during a holiday tea when you have even more reason than usual to relax and enjoy celebrating with good company, that it would be a somewhat rushed affair. Another change that the English Rose did during their holiday tea which I did not care for was that they only allowed two tea pots per table at a time, meaning each of the guests had to agree and pick teas to share. While they let us change out the tea as often as we liked, I found it made things a bit difficult. I'm usually really careful about getting decaffeinated or herbal teas when I go out for tea but since we were all sharing teapots it made it especially tricky to control this while still be gracious to the friends I was out with.

Overall though, despite my misgivings about the seasonal changes the English Rose made, we had a lovely time out to tea out celebrating the Christmas season and enjoying good company. I will definitely come back to the English Rose again but will probably skip their Christmas tea in the future.

Outfit of the Day: 
For this day's festivities I chose to wear something that would be in a bit of a Christmas theme. I picked my Bernie Dexter Sugar Doll dress in Red Toile which I bought a couple months ago from a friend. I paired it with a red cardigan I got several years ago from Nordstrom Rack, red Ecco flats I found on ebay, a red toggle button overcoat I got a couple years ago from Target, and white ankle socks. To keep extra warm, I also wore nude tights under my socks.  For finishing touches I wore a lollipop necklace I bought recently on sale at Macy's available here and red ruby and diamond stud earrings my mother-in-law gave me for Christmas a few years ago.

Bernie Dexter Sugar Doll dress in Red Toile- Front View

Bernie Dexter Sugar Doll dress in Red Toile- Side View

Bernie Dexter Sugar Doll dress in Red Toile- Front View

Bernie Dexter Sugar Doll dress in Red Toile- Front View

Bernie Dexter Sugar Doll dress in Red Toile- Side View

Lollipop Necklace by SIS By Simone, Bernie Dexter Sugar Doll dress in Red Toile- Close Up

Out To Tea: Summertime Tea at the English Rose

It's been a long while since the last time I properly went out to tea! 

I was so happy when my friend and I finally got to make out for another tea outing last Saturday! We decided to go to the English Rose in nearby Pleasanton, one of my favorite tea places and one that was new to her!

The English Rose is located in downtown Pleasanton among the cute boutique shops. It's a one room tea shop that also has a garden area. I have yet to sit out with tea in their garden area but there's always plenty to enjoy and see in their indoor area. The style of this tea room is distinctly shabby chic and is so cute, girly and, frilly-- a perfect place for a day out with your good lady friends.

For our tea this time around we got a table with great cushy chairs. Right away there was a cookie waiting for us as we sat down! I'm always happy to see a little treat waiting for us at the table upon seating! It's kind of like the chocolate they sometimes leave in hotels on your bed when you check in. Also, early on they offered us samples of their Coconut Chai black tea. I love having a little sample to get you started before you tackle their impressively long tea selection list! Another thing that I really appreciate about having tea here is that before you are served, they come around to your table and offer you warm moist towels to wipe your hands with. I believe this place used to have glasses of water waiting for you when you sat at your table too but I think it's because of the severe drought we've been having in California that they now wait until you ask for water to bring it out. One thing that hasn't changed though, and one of my most favorite things about this place, is that you can change your tea selection as often as you like! If you don't like the tea you selected or even if you just want to sample some of the other flavors, all you have to do is ask for a different tea and they will gladly bring you out a new pot! This time around I started with the Southern Pecan black tea, then had the Cinnamon Chocolate Brownie decaf black tea, and then ended with an Oatmeal Cookie herbal tea. As you can tell, I'm a big fan of the desert teas! Next time I would like to try their Carrot Cake rooibos tea! My friend had the Creme Brulee Black tea and another flavor I can't remember.

It was a great time at tea indeed and always great to spend good time with a good friend.

The English Rose in downtown Pleasanton, CA

Our table set up and waiting for us at the English Rose

A cookie to start at the English Rose

The full tea spread, English Rose, Pleasanton, CA

A Belated Mother's Day Tea at the English Rose

Over the weekend my husband Tim and I took Tim's mom out for a belated Mother's Day tea!

Tim's mom hates going out for Mother's day during actual Mother's day so she opted to wait until this past weekend for her special day. We asked her what she wanted to do for Mother's day and she said she wanted to go out to Pleasanton, walk around and look at the shops, then go get something to eat. I knew that in downtown Pleasanton they have a farmers market on Saturdays and also a tea room so I asked her if she wanted to go see these two things and thus, walking around the Pleasanton farmer's market, looking at the downtown Pleasanton shops, and going out for tea at the English Rose was our outing for her belated Mother's day.

The English Rose in Pleasanton has been on the top of my list of local tea places for well over a year even though I've only been there once before. I was very much looking forward to revisiting this tea shop. Unfortunately, I was not as impressed the second time around with this place. The first time I went there the tea service was impeccable. We were seated for our reservations right away and I was so surprised and delighted to see that they had cool glasses of water as well as a sweet sugar cookie waiting for us at our table. This time around we walked in at our reserved seating time of 1pm after previously being turned away because we got there too early. After waiting a few minutes standing around at the door and not seeming to be able to catch any of the tea staff's attention we walked farther in to where the register was at in the back of the tea shop. Once again, even though we were standing right in front of two ladies on the tea staff, and even though there was no one ahead of us in line, I found it very difficult to get the tea staff to acknowledge us. One lady, who appeared to be the manager, was standing almost directly in front of me behind the register counter looking at pictures on her co-worker's smart phone. My patience was being tried! After we were finally acknowledged and I let them know we were there for our reservations the lady pointed and said our table was over there by the fireplace rather than have someone escort us to our tables. I felt like we were off to fend for ourselves. Furthermore, after we sat, I noticed there was no cups of water waiting for us, though there was a cookie each.

Soon after we sat down, our tea server came and let us know about their tea selection and the menu for the day. We were told that we could have two different flavors of tea for the table. I had to stop and ask about this. There were three in our party. Does this mean one of us had to share a tea flavor and we weren't allowed to pick our own flavors? This seemed really odd to me since this is supposed to be a higher end proper tea place. We were not at someone's house for tea but out for tea. I was very polite about it but still had to ask. She said that actually with the little table which was set up next to our bigger table we could probably manage to have our own flavors of tea. This mix-up/restriction on tea flavors dashed the second thing I enjoyed most about my first experience at the English Rose. I remember each person being able to pick different flavors of tea and changing them so we can try at least two different flavors each while we were there. I guess they have changed things since I was last there. Or perhaps the young lady working that day was new and did not know it was supposed to be each person being able to try two different teas rather than each table only getting two flavors per table? I hope it was the latter and that the girl was just getting it wrong that day.

The rest of the tea service went alright. The food was great, the company was great, and the service went by smoothly. Also, my pick of Carrot Cake flavored herbal tea was delicious! And so we ended up having a lovely time at the English Rose despite the unfortunate hiccups at the beginning.

English Rose, Pleasanton CA

Our Table Set Up And Waiting For Us

Tea Selections From the English Rose. Any of the flavored black teas can be made decaffeinated up to 80% at the English Rose

Three Tiered Plate For Three At the English Rose

Tim, Me, And Tim's Mom Enjoying A Belated Mother's Day At the English Rose

Around the Tea Shop:

At the Front of the One Room Tea Room

Giftables at the English Rose

Outside In The Lovely Garden Area:

Sign at the Side of the Tea Room By the Garden Entrance

Lovely Tea Table Set Up in the Garden

Garden Area at the English Rose

Side Entrance of the English Rose

Outfit of the Day:

For this special tea outing I wore a light blue and white floral dress by Taylor which I got from Nordstrom Rack. What I love about this dress is that the material is thick and so keeps its shape well including, especially, the flair of the skirt! Also, the fabric has lots of texture to it giving it a very rich feel. This thick, textured polyester dress is completely lined in 100% cotton giving it a nice feel while making it easy care with little worries about wrinkling. I paired this with some navy flats, a light blue and white polka dot wired headband I got as a free gift from Modcloth, and a bold navy and white striped cardigan by Chaps from Kohls.

Outfit of the Day, Taylor Dress Chaps Cardigan- Front View

Outfit of the Day, Taylor Dress Chaps Cardigan- Side View

Outfit of the Day, Taylor Dress- Front View

Outfit of the Day, Taylor Dress- Side View