Quail Café — Restaurant in Belmont

My friend and I got influenced lol. She saw a reel about their high tea so we decided to go on a whim.

What’s great about Quail Cafe is that you don’t need to buy a ticket to Filoli Gardens access it. High tea is first come, first serve and it starts at 1pm.

We got there early so we ordered a few things before ordering high tea. I hadn’t eaten anything yet, so I got the ham and cheese croissant. It was not worth $10.50. There was nothing special about it, not even the cheese on top. It wasn’t as warm as I wanted it to be - it was still cold at the bottom. I don’t recommend it.

The high tea itself was pretty good! It’s $65 for two people, which is one of the more reasonable prices in the Bay Area and the amount of food reflected that price because there were only two tiers. But I’ve had high tea at other places at higher prices where I felt there should’ve been more.

You get a choice of tea, which is Numi and you get one bag. There were 4 types of sandwiches and there’s 3 of each. There were two scones, clotted cream, jam, two macarons, and four petite fours. It was a good balance between savory and sweet.

The sandwiches were cucumber, chicken salad, egg salad with bacon, and a strawberry basil. For the most part they were yummy. I wish there was more egg salad than bacon bits. But I thought the strawberry basil was unique. And the desserts weren’t too sweet. I wish the cakes were more moist and relied on the frosting too much. The scones were delicious! They were buttery and flaky. I just wish they were warmer.

We sat outside and it was a lovely atmosphere. It wasn’t too loud, even with children. The weather was perfect and we took our time enjoying our meal. Just note that you have to pick up your tea at the counter, which is a bit heavy. And the ground isn’t even outside so you have to be careful when taking it to your table.

I’d like to come back in the future to try other menu options and to explore...

Filoli gardens are gorgeous and worth visiting, but this café is worth escaping from. We ordered a tea for 2 at 1.15 pm. We were told we had to wait 30 minutes, and we were absolutely ok with waiting; they gave me one pager. At minute 40' I went to check if the order was ready. They said no, even when multiple teas were waiting to be distributed and nobody was coming for them. Ok, I went back to the table. At minute 55, I went again to check, the same thing happened. I asked if it was possible the pager was not working. "No, wait for your order". Ok, I wait another 15'. My partner goes, same story. An hour and 30 minutes had passed, I went a final time to ask, and if the order was not ready, I would ask for my money back. This was the answer: "It has been ready for half an hour, we called you multiple times through the pager, you never came to check". It was the same person we have asked 4 times, always with the order number and the pager in our hand. I said "yes, we came multiple times". "No, you didn't, here is your tea". Horrible experience: expensive, the quality was ok but nothing special, the water for the tea was of course cold, and the mistreatment was unbelievable....

The Quail Cafe, like the rest of FiLoLi, is incredibly beautiful. The ambiance creates a garden-like atmosphere, and the patio is adorned with numerous greenery, including many bonsai plants. The menu offers a great selection that changes daily, with multiple options available for vegans and vegetarians. Since they were out of Fritata, we opted for the Vegan Muffuletta from the House Sandwiches, as well as the Udon Noodle Salad and Pea & Mint Soup. Unfortunately, the Muffuletta and Udon Noodle Salad were served ice cold, they had just been taken out of the fridge and placed on the tray. This affected the taste, and it would have been much better if they were served hot or at least at room temperature. The Pea & Mint Soup consisted of peas and mint ground together with some salt and pepper. The only positive aspect was that it was served hot. We had high expectations due to the higher prices and the overall setup, but we were deeply disappointed. We only consumed the food because there were no other...