Lovejoy's Tea Room — Restaurant in San Francisco

I notice that most of the reviews for Lovejoys are from locals - which is why they were at the top of my list when looking for an Afternoon Tea in SF. So, after visiting them yesterday, I thought I'd offer my review as a visitor to SF and someone who's had Afternoon Tea in London and Cream Tea in Cornwall.

I drove up from Fresno to see a friend I had met while on vacation in England. She is from SF, but she's now retired and spends most of her time in London, so we thought it would be fun to try Afternoon Tea in SF, so I made a list of options and she chose Lovejoys.

First, I don't visit SF often because I don't care for the traffic and crowds of big cities, so I really liked that Lovejoys is in a residential area, and parking was easy, which was the first big thumbs up from me!!

The next thumbs up is the atmosphere, which I found perfect for an Afternoon Tea - quaint, cozy and friendly. Not as "posh" as the Afternoon Tea I had in South Kensington, London, but the perfect ambiance for meeting my friend.

As for the food - another thumbs up from me. They have a good selection of teas, sandwiches and petit fours, and everything was fresh and tasty. The Devon Cream was a nice treat in the US, and the scones were more English than American, which was really nice - reminded me of the yummy Cream Tea I had in Cornwall. Oh, and the Lemon Curd was super yummy and the crumpet was very authentic.

Another thumbs up for the service - I tend to be picky and ask a lot of questions, and everyone was very friendly and helpful.

Finally, the last thumbs up is for their prices - for me, Afternoon Tea is about the experience, not looking for the best bargain, and I thought they were very reasonable for the overall experience - especially compared to London.

So, those are my five thumbs up for...

My friend and I love checking out all the high tea places San Francisco offers. This one has been on my list for quite some time, especially because I've seen it in several magazines and travel shows.

I, too, recommend going to Lovejoy's Tea Room for high tea. They definitely have their aesthetic down. The atmosphere is very English grandma. There's cute knick knacks everywhere, and they even have hats available for you to wear while you dine!

What I like about their menu is that you can choose your sandwiches. I don't eat beef, and there have been some times where I can't substitute items without changing my entire order. I got the turkey with dijon mustard and artichoke hummus for my Queen's tea. They were both very good. The Queen's tea also came with a salad and coleslaw. I wasn't a fan of the salad because it has arugula. I'm not an fan of it, but it did go well with the coleslaw, which had the right amount of dressing. I'm glad there was salad, though, because I needed some greens with this meal.

Like most high teas, the Queen's tea came with scones, crumpets, lemon curd, fruit preserves/jam, and Devon cream. I really liked that it also came with fresh fruit. You also get a tea biscuit and your choice of a petit four at the end.

Some of the other places I've gone to were heavy on the desserts. Lovejoy's isn't, which is fantastic. I usually feel like I'm going into diabetic shock, but I felt that dining hear was well balanced.

And as for the tea, I got blood orange, and it was delicious. I didn't need any sugar at all.

Service was fantastic. I felt welcomed and well taken care of.

I suggest making reservations as this place is very popular. And give yourself at least 30 minutes to find parking if...

Let's start with Atmosphere: We made a reservation a couple of months early to ensure good seating and availability while my mother in law was visiting for my daughter's 17th birthday. We were seated at a table on the sidewalk out front. The parklet looked charming, as did the interior space. However, a group of women declined the little table on the sidewalk and got the last one in the parklet. This was frustrating, but we accepted the last table as it was also over an hour drive for us to get there and didn't want to wait. Maybe that piece is our own fault.

It was cold, and we had good jackets, so we were shaking off the dismay of a preferred table going to a group of other customers. As we settled and calmed, our server was polite, attentive, and clearly cared about us. This was difficult for us given the circumstances. Eventually, a bus came and sat at the street corner, filling the air with the aroma of diesel exhaust. It was a little too much now. Just 30 feet away was the parklet, not positioned for the diesel aroma that we had overpowering our senses. The only table that would have been worse than ours was a set for two, which teetered along the edge of the curb even closer to vehicle exhaust.

Given the stop sign at the corner and observed traffic flow, it doesn't make sense to me to have these two tables. In my opinion, the two sidewalk tables should go away.

For all of the planning and research my wife did to bring the four of us to this afternoon event, it was disheartening, to say the least. We will not make an effort to go back.

If you go, avoid sidewalk seating. The charm and flavor is smothered by...