Julian Tea & Cottage Arts — Restaurant in San Diego Country Estates

Interesting experience here. I agree the tea itself was the highlight of the place so made sure to max that part out and family and I got to share several pots of different tea flavors including iced tea (the latter which came in the tiniest pitcher ever) 😂.

My experience started several days prior when I emailed and included my phone number when asking to make a reservation for what I anticipated to be the busy Labor Day weekend. Edie, was very responsive and gave me a call back shortly to discuss menu options and requested I pre-order to ensure they would be prepared. I wasn’t ready just yet so we agreed I could send my family’s order via email which I did later that day and that went smoothly. Ordered the Tea for Two + some smaller sets for my teens. Easy peasy, nothing too complicated .

Fast fwd to today… we arrive a little earlier for our 2:30 reservation and place looks empty other than a few people browsing. Maybe we had just missed the rush? Anyway, there were a lot of workers in the place; a woman with short white hair who I guessed was probably Edie, and a bunch of younger staff who were cleaning up from previous parties and chatting in the kitchen.

We were encouraged to browse the items for sale which included some cool quirky items so that was fun. I was surprised that the square footage for retail space seemed to dominate the dining areas. They even had a second floor that was packed with stuff—aprons, hats, etc. but I couldn’t really stay up there long as the a/c was only downstairs and today was a very hot day. The whole vibe was a very “country-clutter”-type feel.

We were sat by a younger server (Ari?) who seemed initially nice enough. Edie also checked in on us + another party of 2 sat next to us in the beginning and was welcoming and accommodating. I think our two groups may have been the only people dining in.

The uncomfortable part came during the service portion. Not sure what it was, but the couple next to us seemed to get disproportionately more attentive service than we did- multiple staff checking on them, describing sandwiches in detail, etc., while our server kind of plopped everything on our table with minimal engagement . I use the word “plopped” because I could physically hear the items slam down onto the table, and we had to ask for tea each time whereas the other table was offered a new teapot by their server multiple times … heck, even by our server. Anyway, that rubbed me the wrong way. Not to mention there was a hair (def not ours because our family has dark black hair and this one was light brown) in one of the cups but considering how disregarded we were starting to feel throughout the service we just wiped it out of the cup with a napkin, ordered our tea and moved on with the tea “service”.

One thing I will say though is the tea came out in a timely manner and tasted great. The tea sandwiches, croissant sandwiches and scones were decent as well. I wasn’t expecting our socks to be knocked off because I’ve been to several tea places and I know the food tends to be very middle-of-the-road but expected the price point of this place to be justified by the experience and good customer service. Not sure why our group was treated differently and really trying not to make…assumptions…as to why. Glad we went with light bites and didn’t end up going all out because I worry prolonging the experience might not have been in our best interest but lesson learned.

That’s the tea...

I rarely write negative reviews, but hope this post provides constructive feedback.

My boyfriend and I came to Julian Tea and Cottage Arts and ordered the Afternoon Tea (priced at $28/person) after calling ahead. The tea shop is super cute and unique, decorations and music create a wonderful ambiance to go with the tea. Our main issues with the tea shop had to do with the service.

We were served by a very young girl (in her teens) who explained to us that our Afternoon Tea would come with 3 rounds of snacks (finger sandwiches, scones and jam, and finally a house desert) as well as one bottomless pot which we could choose different teas. If we didn't like the particular tea we chose, we were told we could get another kind. This all sounded great until after the first round of tea and finger sandwiches. Our hostess delivered the scones and jam as well as our check and then left the table promptly, without asking for our next tea selection (and before the last round of deserts) or explaining why we were brought the check so early. Our pot and teacups had already been well emptied by then. I was confused by this as we were supposed to have bottomless tea. We went up and let them know our second tea choice. They said, no problem, they would bring it to our table. Here we waited for the second pot for at least fifteen minutes until we had to go up and ask again. Finally, our hostess brought out our second tea pot, which, to our disappointment wasn't even filled up all the way. I asked again if we could have a third pot (this was supposed to be bottomless tea), and our hostess replied with the fact that they were running out of hot water and unfortunately wouldn't be able to get us any more tea... I had suspected by then that they were starting to already running out of hot water after our first tea pot, which is why we were brought the check so early.

To have a tea shop and offer bottomless tea yet run out of hot water (over 40 minutes before closing) seemed quite ridiculous. This was compounded by the steep price point (I was okay with this to start with given the unique experience and what was being offered seemed fair on paper). At the end of 1.5 hours, we paid $62 for basically one and a half pots of tea plus some snacks and were only asked about our tea choice once. I fully support hiring young people to work in businesses, but hope that they would at least be reasonably well trained. For the price point they are charging and the cost of the goods itself (mid to higher end tea bags found at any grocery store plus small homemade treats), I think they could afford to expend a few more dollars to enhance the quality and add more care into the service. They display hundreds of teas on the walls of the shop, but only have a menu of about ~20 tea choices. Yes, most of the reviews have had great experiences and I'd bet too we would have, maybe on a different day and with a different hostess. I personally will not be returning on the principle being a tea shop and running out...

So enchanting!

I'm crazy about afternoon tea. If I could I'd have a tea party every single day!

The ladies here are simply the sweetest and have major skills in the kitchen. Everything I've ever tried here was absolutely delicious.

Maybe my man and I were on a mountain high on our most recent visit but we keep talking about our time here. And how many men do you know that are down for a tea party? I was taking a chance when I surprised him with reservations here but he loved everything nearly as much as I did.

This historic place was once a home to a gold miner that was built in 1898. Can you imagine all the things that have gone on here?

There are hundreds of different teas to choose from and several different tea party experiences. I always go for the cottage classic because it's the most elaborate and so worth it. What you can expect is delicious seasonal soup, an assortment of finger sandwiches, scones with all sorts of toppings from jam & cream, and lots of tiny desserts! Each guest may also choose their favorite tea.

You can also purchase teas to-go both bagged or loose, gorgeous china, antique items, books, and many different types of gifts for tea lovers.

*During COVID your tea service will be in their gorgeous garden instead of...