Sue and Esther's Tea Room

Last weekend I had to travel six hours north for a corporate party in Michigan. Whilst there, my mother and I decided to make a weekend out of it by visiting the nearby city of Frankenmuth.

The holiday theme shops were gorgeous and a gem to walk through. Even with it being only the beginning of November, seeing all of the Christmas décor definitely put me in the holiday spirit. All of the shopping eventually made us hungry for lunch. Luckily, while browsing for things to do in town, I had come across a tea room that recently opened near the main strip of shops.

Once I stepped inside Sue and Esther’s Tea Room I noticed the interior is much prettier than the exterior, as the tea room is tacked onto the end of a brown brick mini-mall. We were greeted with the friendly face of the owner and shown to a table in the back of the restaurant. The owner was soon replaced with our waitress who not only donned a friendly smiled but a cute tea party hat.

After looking over the menu, I found their prices to be reasonable for a typical tea room. I ordered “Sue’s Savory Salad” – greens, tomato, cucumber, cheese, cranberries, almonds, chicken, and house dressing – plus a cup of Ceylon tea. All of that came to around $10 before a T.I.P. The salad was rather large and all of the ingredients tasted fresh. My complaints would be with the chicken – it was dry – and the house dressing – it was spicy. A marinade of brine with the chicken would help.

However, I am not going to pick on the food too much because this is a tea room… in which I expect emphasis on the tea – and there was!

I could not find a list of their tea selection online which worried me if this was going to be another tea’d off disaster. However, once in the restaurant I was more than pleased with their variety of teas. They had a little of everything for just about every style of tea drinker. There were unflavored teas of the basic four; then they had a few flavored teas for each type. They also had iced tea and even bubble tea.

The cup of Ceylon tea that I ordered was perfectly steeped. If we had had more time I would have ordered the endless pot of tea ($3.50 per person) and tried more.

In retrospect I should have ordered the green tea to see if they knew about the correct water temperatures and steep times. Although, I believe the staff is very knowledgeable in the field of tea. I didn’t personally ask any questions, but I overheard a few groups of ladies inquiring about certain types of tea in which the wait staff seemed happy to answer. They described the flavors of tea and even the correct pronunciations which is more than I can say for the last tea room I went to.

Walking to the front of the restaurant to pay the bill, I took a peek into their small gift shop to find a trio of ladies oohing and aahing over pastel colored tea ware. After the cash exchange with the smiley, friendly owner, we were on our way out of the door properly satiated and caffeinated.

Even with the overall girly theme of pastel colors and frilly hats, if I lived near this tea room, I would most certainly be a frequent visitor.

Tea'd Off

I literally needed tea to pick me back up from this horrible experience!

When you look at this picture, I hope you enjoy the lovely scene of tea and flowers… because, for me, it reminds me of a total nightmare! Here’s the story:

My family and I took a trip to Branson, Missouri. We stayed for a week, seeing shows, going to shops, just winging it as we went. Before the trip, I went to teamap.com and looked up the tearooms that were in Branson, so I could visit them while there. Sounded like a good plan, right?

Sure, I mean, I have never been to a tearoom before. In the little town that I live in there is only one tearoom and it’s the fancy British style – which doesn’t interest me too much. On teamap.com I found a tearoom in Branson called The Gardens. This tearoom’s profile on teamap.com did not list the style of tearoom, but I thought “What the heck, we are here. Let’s check it out!”

When we finally found the place, it looked very upscale and professional. We walked in to see the beautiful paintings and decorations on the wall and the elegant tables and chairs to match. It was a lovely scene and I was hopeful that my first experience in a tearoom was going to be memorable.

I got the memorable part right, but what happened was no where near pleasant. We were seated at a table and given menus. My dad and younger brother took one look at the menu and saw the “sophisticated food” and walked out – saying that they would just look at some shops while mom and I ate. When the waitress asked for our drink orders, I asked her about their selection of hot teas. She gave me the weirdest look and said “you want hot tea?” I paused to return a slightly confused look back to her and said “well, yeah.” She left and brought back a very small box with Stash and Tazo brand tea bags stuffed inside it.

Let the ranting begin!

I know it was about 90 degrees outside, but it was about 60 degrees inside the tearoom. Also, if I’m not mistaken, it’s a TEAROOM! After looking at their menu, there was “iced tea” and “hot tea.” That was it! No selection of iced tea and the selection of hot tea was the nastiest brand I have had yet, Stash, and a mediocre brand, Tazo.

I eyed Zen from Tazo which is the type and brand of bagged tea that I take with me when I am not able to make loose leaf during my trip or while at my destination. But, like I said before, this was a TEAROOM. A place in which one of their specialties is TEA! I was a little enraged by this point. One main reason is that while on our way to Missouri we stopped at Cracker Barrel to get breakfast. I ordered hot tea. The hot tea that they serve there is Twining’s Darjeeling – a higher quality of tea than any of the Stash or Tazo brands I was given. They also listed the type of hot tea they serve on their menu… something that The Gardens (a TEAROOM) did not do.

Anyways, back to The Gardens. My mom and I each ordered an $8.00 salad that was the size of a salad you would get with your entrée at any other restaurant – i.e. really freaking small. I was not in the happiest of moods at this point and to make things worse the owner of the store came over and not so quietly said to my mom “Where did your husband go?” My mom and I were in shock but she recovered and told the owner that they left to look at a couple of shops.

My manners finally flew out of the window at this point and I said to the owner “Is this really your selection of tea?” She did not sound too taken aback and laughingly said “Yes, and we also got rid of the coffee and espresso machines when the company changed hands…” and then took the time to mention that they would soon be open until 8pm, serving steak and seafood on the menu while entertaining guests with a singer. She promptly left, mom and I finished eating our half a lettuce leaf, paid for our meal, and left thinking of where to actually get some food.

The sign on The Gardens says “café and tearoom.” It, however, is neither of those. There is one customer review on teamap.com about The Gardens. I am now realizing that this person goes on about the service, food, and interior design about this place, but never mentions tea or coffee. Now I know why… The Gardens is not a tearoom, nor is it a café.

If our small salads were $8.00, I can’t imagine what seafood or steak is going to cost. If you have no interest in the type of tea or coffee served to you, have loads of cash to blow, and want some random guy in a tux to serenade you… then head over to The Gardens. From now on, I am going to make sure the TEAROOMS I go to will actually serve TEA… and the RESTROOMS I go to will actually have TOILETS… and the BEDROOMS I go to will actually have BEDS… and the…