The Taste of Tea — Restaurant in Healdsburg

Eh. Ordered the vegan ramen, two of their “happy hour” skewer sets at $5 each even though the server told us $2.50 (they only honoured the 2.50 for one set on our check), and had a pot of oolong tea at $6.

Ramen we think was reasonably priced since ramen is expensive normally anyways ($13 for vegan miso broth with tofu). But the pot of tea is overpriced since it’s just steeped with about a spoonful of leaf and you can get a whole box for the same price, and the skewers are severely. (The chicken one is three small pieces of meat interspersed with three small cuts of green onion? And the beef is three thin pieces wrapped around maybe a quarter of a slice of green pepper, each. $2.50 for either of those seems grossly overvalued)

One thing that was good about us being the only customers between 4:30 and 5:45ish pm on a Saturday is that we got pretty regular hot water refills for the tea. The darker-haired waitress (as far as I could tell for identifiers, she also spoke Spanish) hustled more outside the restaurant to get customers and hand out samples. If it wasn’t for the regular tea, since we were the only ones there and felt like we were constantly being watched & the servers seemed unsure about how to ring up prices, it was a pretty uncomfortable experience....

First off, the pros of this restaurant: Good atmosphere and very friendly and accommodating staff. It’s a very small place so when we got there at 4:45pm they said they were booked until 6pm, which was fine with us, we went across the street to get appetizers and drinks. When we can back around 6:15, they sat us immediately. The service was great, very efficient.

My issues: The ramen. Unfortunately, it’s pricey but that’s what is expected in this area. HOWEVER. If i’m going to pay $18-25 for a bowl of ramen I expect some flavor and complexity. My favorite part of my meal was the egg which was cooked perfectly. Other than that, it was disappointing and very underwhelming. It tasted like they just sprinkled half a Top Ramen flavor packet into the broth. The pork was super thin, noodles were “eh”. Maybe Chef Tokugawa wasn’t in that night? Maybe I got the “wrong” ramen choice? Maybe this restaurant isn’t known for their ramen and specializes in tea or something? Whatever the case, I wish I had known how bland it would be and gotten something else. :/ (We ordered the miso ramen and the...

We did a day trip to Healdsburg and made a reservation for a table outside for Sunday lunch. It was quite simply one of the most refined, peaceful, elegant and perfectly prepared meals and experiences we’ve had at a restaurant since pre-COVID. Each staff member was kind, seemed well taken care of/happy to be there, and clearly trained in hospitality and service. The tea selection was incredible- we enjoyed a robust and earthy Japanese green tea. The ramen and yaki noodle dishes were made with high quality ingredients and perfectly spicy (we asked for spice). Our 5 year old enjoyed the yaki noodles on the kids menu, and the kids tea. The icing on the cake was the delightful, modern serving ware: from the glass tea cups to the chopstick holders. Thank you so much for a wonderful meal and experience- we can’t wait to return next time we’re...