Madhatters Tea House & Cafe
| Address: | 320 Beauregard St, San Antonio, TX 78204, USA |
| Phone: | +1 210-212-4832 |
| Site: | madhatterstea.com |
| Rating: | 4.3 |
| Working: | 7AM–6PM 7AM–6PM 7AM–6PM 7AM–6PM 7AM–9PM 8AM–9PM 9AM–3PM |
Location
Photos 100
Reviews 5
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Adam Gatley
What a way to start the day! Woke up wanting a good, original place for breakfast, you know, not the same old same old, like Dennys Jims or IHOP, headed in to San Antonio from Boerne to do Jims as a backup, but asked my girlfriend to hit Google to see if we could find something nice and unique, you know, like one of those cool placees you see on one of those food channels, the hidden gems that you can never find near you. WOW! - Boy did we get lucky, we finally foumd a place that gets it, and heres why: I knew as soon as I heard the name Madhatters Tea House & Cafe it was gonna be unique, so that was my first good vibe. We walked in, no dumb annoying teanager to greet us - good vibe #2 Relief, its early, its sunday, I havent had any caffeine or sugar yet, I dont want to listen to a high pitched teenager zinged up on caffeine asking me a bunch of questioons "how many" whats your name", Im in sunday chill mode. Instead, Im greeted by a quiet little sign that said "grab a menu find a spot you like, inside or out and grab it, look over the menu, when your ready come up to the cashier order and pay, return to your seats well take it from there" - good vibe #3 Simplicity, what a novel concept! Huge cleverly put together menus sitting next to the sign that greets you - good vibe #4 Conveience, large readable text laminated for longevity, very witty names for the menu items cleverly thought out, exciting descriptions, with pleanty of choices, not overwhelming, enough for you to want to come back and try new items, but not so many as to put you in a spin. No waitress, Yay! If you dont have a WAITress you dont have to WAIT! - great vibe #5, Peace, remember its sunday, Im going with the whole chill out vibe and Im new to the place, so I need time to review the cool menu, I dont need someone bugging me with more questions, "are you ready to order?", "do you need more time?", I like to slowly meander the menu, when your done, no calculating a tip, there is no tip, even though you could afford a really nice one, because the pricing is so damn reasonable! - I love this place and Im coming back as fast as I can! P.S. I even thought about not writing this review, so as to keep the place to myself, only problem is, I did that with another good find, and the place went out of business, they could never drum up enough customers, due to an Isolated location no one knew of.
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A Private User
Whenever I eat here, I leave both satisfied and disappointed. The food is pricey; some dishes, like the eggs benedict with salmon, are worth every cent. The "high/afternoon tea" is $18 and enough for two, but not what you might expect. The tea sandwiches, though tasty, are not the dainty ones you are used to, but rather thick bread smeared with 1/2" of cream cheese, whatever filling, and the crusts then hacked off. The "tea cakes" are basically bite-sized chunks of leftover brownies from the bakery case. The scones, on the other hand, are served warm, soft and delectable with biscuity goodness. Ill never eat a scone at Starbucks again. I might also mention the all-you-can-drink $10 "fishbowl mimosas", served literally in a fishbowl. The service is something else. This is a cafe for locals- the first visit was so confounding I almost didnt come back, but Im glad I did. This is a self-serve cafe with entrees and teapots delivered and sit-down restaurant prices. You order at the counter and seat yourself. The first time we went, we stood at the menu-rack by the door and waited 5 minutes while we were passed left and right by staff who did not even glance at us. We finally noticed a sign below waist level indicating we should order at the bar. You have to go to another counter to get your teacup, but silverware is brought to you. Once your tea is brewed, you go to another counter to use honey and milk. We finally figured out that nobody minds us using a coffee mug to keep milk at the table, and honey is in individual packets. Problem solved. However, I would think that would be a standard condiment at every table at a tea house.... The location is excellent. While the main street does not look too promising, the neighborhood to the west is full of gorgeous old homes if you want to walk off your meal. Or, if you really want some exercise, you can walk to the end of the street and take the east side of the Riverwalk all the way to the mall- the walk is less than 3 miles roundtrip, and very refreshing. Or, if you just want to sit and relax, there is a really friendly house-kitty that likes to make the rounds, and is extra friendly if you have a little bite to offer. To sum up: great food, questionable prices, mediocre service, but still worth it.
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Alyssa Thayne
I love tea and getting tea here is just such a fun experience! I first tried this restaurant/tea house with my husband for breakfast. I loved picking out my tea cup and the tea pots they use are both beautiful and functional (they used a cast iron pot, which kept the tea hot for long enough). The potatoes with breakfast are delicious! The second time I came to the tea house I went with a friend and we got the high tea for two. This is the adult version of the little girl tea party of my dreams! It was so fun getting the three tiered tray with sandwiches and pastries and sitting in comfy chairs to talk. The other thing that I really appreciate about this place is the amazing level of responsiveness of the staff. I was missing an item on my tea tray and when I asked about it they immediately checked on the item. When they found they were out of it they gave us some alternate options and brought them right over. Whenever I needed a resteeping for my tea they got the hot water for me extremely quickly. Overall, this was a fun and delicious experience! Im definitely planning to return!
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Fallon Fraker
This place was cool, but it could be cleaner. It needs to be freshened up. New teacups and more whimsical sandwich stands. The food was good, the people (guests and staff) were friendly and helpful. The seating was cool and i liked the "stay a while" ambiance, complete with books to read and comfy couches. We took our 6 yr old here on a vacation to san antonio because i found a groupon. She had a great time in her "tea party" dress, drikiing real tea for the first time. They were somehow out of all of their herbal tea varieties that day, so we got a low caffeine pomegranate green tea, which was a pretty pink color, and really tasty. My husband had a turkey sandwich that he said was "ok", and i had a warm chicken sandwich with spinach which wasnt what i had expected, but pretty tasty. We shared the pot of hot tea that came with our daughters kids tea combo, a $20 3-tiered stand of crustless white bread sandwiches and bite sized brownies, perfect for kids. Overall, the experience was good for the discounted orice i paid on Groupon.
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Brenda Love
My daughter and granddaughter and I went to Madhatters on Sunday for brunch. This was one of our worse experiences of eating out that we have had. I have to ask myself why they make you pay for your food before you ever get it??? Now I know, it is terrible. I ordered scrambled eggs (2) and bacon and fresh fruit. What I got was (1) scrambled egg COLD and thin stips of pieces of bacon. The cantelope was so hard you could not eat it. The food was not seasoned and the waiter leans across everyone to lay your plate down. We ordered mimosas and they were watered down with ice and we asked that they take the ice out of it and they went and dumped it back in a large bowl and then dipped more out. This is considered contamination at this point. The plates that my daughter and granddaughter got eggs benedict and they were so over cooked they couldn hardly cut the egg on top and the yokes were hard. Never going back to this place and would not have included a tip when we paid. Service was terrible.
