Chado Tea Room — Restaurant in Pasadena

This place came highly recommended so we made a reservation for 1PM on a Sunday. We were seated quite quickly but waited for our food for 45 minutes. Hope you’re not extremely hungry by the time you arrive!

Food/Taste/Flavor: 2/5 Chicken tikka panini: the bread on the panini was great but unfortunately the chicken was extremely dry. The house salad was light and refreshing butoo much oil in the dressing. Chado Afternoon Tea Service with Rooibos Burbon (T-211). The tea was pretty good but I wish there was a way to keep it warm since it took almost 45 minute for the food to arrive and wanted to save some for the meal. The four half sandwiches had meager fillings, were not toasted, and just on white bread with the edges cut off The scone was pretty good with cream which gave it some sweetness and the marmalade which gave it some tartness. It crumbled as you cut into it and this was my favorite part of the tea service Limerick sandwich was cucumber with cream cheese which was light Souchong chicken sandwich was a shredded chicken sandwich which was interesting with the cranberry sauce in the mayonnaise Punjab sandwich just tasted like an egg salad sandwich which was disappointing since it wasn’t really seasoned Smoked salmon sandwich was a bit dry and has a really fishy smell. Usually if the salmon is fresh, you wouldn’t have that smell association We ordered a cream of tomato soup enhancement which never came The macaron (not macaroon!!) was very sweet and sat on some chocolate drizzle with powdered sugar on top The butter cookie had half a strawberry on it which made the middle a bit soggy. Since it’s at the end with the macaron, it seemed a bit too sweet and almost a bit stale in texture where it wasn’t exactly soft nor crunchy either

Ambience: 3/5 - it was pretty crowded inside so thankfully we were able to sit outside. The seats outside were on the street but shaded. The tea sets are random and the tea cups are random and they don't match their plates. The tea pots look different size and the tea cups are different sizes. We got the same base plates but vastly different tea cups... Questionable for an establishment focused on tea.

Service: 2/5 - there may have been a shift change since the original server we had never came back but the second server was nice. We tried to grab his attention to ask about our soup order but he may have been preoccupied and just kept walking past our table. The soup still didn’t arrive as we finished our meal so we asked him to remove it from our order. When he checked on our orders, he was really apologetic and gave us a scone to go.

Value for price: 2/5 - quite pricey for the food quality since the sandwiches were mediocre and the macaron/cookie seems purchased rather than baked in house (notice it’s not on menu to purchase individually). Would recommend just ordering the scone by itself. Our sandwiches had paper-thin fillings and were not toasted like pictures from other reviewers. It was good to try once to have the experience but I would not do again at this...

It was such an embarrassing experience that I will never go there again. I visited this location once about sixteen years ago in the middle of the afternoon and it was okay enough. I have also been to other Chado locations (Little Tokyo and Hollywood) and those were good, so I figured I would try it again for Mother's Day. We had a 10:00 AM reservation and were promptly seated. They had an outdoor setup on the street as well which was really pretty. It was so downhill from there.

In short, Chado was only thinking about the money. They were way overbooked and completely understaffed.

The sandwiches tasted a little stale, like they made them way ahead of time. I suppose you would have to when you don't have enough people to work. The starter was a choice between mediocre tomato soup or an underdressed salad.

The scones were pretty inedible, the worst I had ever eaten. They should be renamed "stones" because they were dry and hard as a rock. No amount of clotted cream was going to save those glorified biscuits. My girlfriend said she almost choked because it was so dry. I'm certain some tea would've helped, had we actually had any available to drink.

Good lord, the tea! It was the weirdest experience with the tea. They were literally going around to each table, pouring tea into cups instead of just leaving us the teapots on the table. What the hell was that about? You're rationing tea? AT A TEA HOUSE DURING AFTERNOON TEA SERVICE??? We were so confused. They were also doing this odd thing where they first served cold tea in a champagne glass ("No refills!" we were told). Then they poured us the same white tea from the teapot (lukewarm). They came back a third time to pour us a now different green tea (again, lukewarm). I don't know what they were thinking. Why not just ask us what tea we want and leave the dang thing on the table? It was so frustrating and we were so freaking thirsty.

They offered nothing else-- no water, no plates to eat from (we had to ask for those twice)... They didn't even ask us one time if we needed anything or how things were tasting. We constantly had to flag an employee down for service and when we did, they looked annoyed that we were stopping them because they were flying around all the place, trying to just drop the food off at all the tables.

We were so disappointed in how bad all of it was. When we left, there were parties waiting to be seated, even though there were empty tables as well as dirty tables still waiting to be...

Prior to celebrating my birthday at Chado Tea Room, I was walking around Old Town Pasadena to see what restaurants were having patio dining due to Covid 19. I happened to stop by Chado Tea Room and Samuel came out to talk to me and asked me if I had any questions. He was so attentive and went through the menu with me. I asked if they served alcohol and he said no but that I could bring my own bottle of wine. Also, the restaurant would provide glasses but I would have to open the bottle myself. I told him I was celebrating my birthday and he mentioned that he would set up a very nice table for me and decorate it with linen and make it look beautiful. Samuel was so nice, and with that pitch, lol, I was so excited that I made the reservation right there and then. I'm so I glad I did. True to his word, Samuel set up a beautiful table outside with a pink table cloth and he remembered me. On my birthday I brought a bottle of sparkling wine and he provided lovely champagne glasses. I celebrated with my favorite person, my mom, and we both ordered the celebration afternoon tea service which included a choice of salad or soup (we chose the salad), a 3 tiered rack serving of four half sandwiches on toasted bread, a scone with jam and berries, and delicious cookies and macaroons. I'm not sure if chocolates are included but he served a plate of chocolates that were yummy. The sandwiches were okay. The sandwiches are not your typical English small sandwiches which I prefer. They are actually big sandwiches: chicken (with cranberry), cucumber (with cream cheese), salmon (I did not try it), egg (with chicken). All the sandwiches were decent. And I ate them all, lol. As for the teas, my mom and I were drinking the sparkling wine we brought at the beginning so we didn't actually choose any teas to drink. Samuel brought out a cold tea in champagne glasses. I can't remember the name of it but it was very good. And he also brought a mango flower tea. It was delightful looking at the tea bulb open up inside the pot. It was delicious. Then to top it off, he brings out a complimentary ice cream dessert and blasts a Happy Birthday song through the speakers. I joyfully laughed when that happened. Samuel's service is what made my birthday celebration at Chado's very special and I would...