Editorial by Citysearch
In ShortAs its name suggests, this posh yet welcoming dining room offers an elegant setting to enjoy a traditional afternoon tea. Known for the signature Scarlet Tea Ceremony--a five-course meal featuring exotic loose leaf teas, assorted tea sandwiches, homemade scones with lemon curd, preserves and Scarlet cream, petite desserts and strawberries romanoff--the spacious salon also offers a lunch menu of organic sandwiches and salads. On Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, guests are treated to live jazz sounds while enjoying entrees from a separate gourmet dinner menu.
The Inside Scoop
- The Extras - Having a bridal shower, birthday party or baby shower? The Scarlet Tea Room is available for any special occasion.
- Know Before You Go - Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays offer dinners and evening teas with live music and an extensive wine selection to compliment each dish.
Insider Pages Reviews for Scarlet Tea Room
For our 10th anniversary, my husband took me to The Scarlet Tea Room. We live in Northridge so I did not know that this wonderful restaurant even existed. The beauty of the place is truly breathtaking. It was dimly lit with beautiful light fixtures and chandeliers. There was an amazing jazz group performing that night which was perfect because we went to a jazz club on our first date. We were sat at a quiet candle lit table next to a window. It was perfect and so incredibly romantic. Our server was very attentive and so were the other employees which regularly checked on us as well as our server. Everything was delicious. We weren't sure what we felt like drinking so they brought us samples of two chardonnays and two of their most popular red wines. They also brought us a sample of their "blonde" sangria which is what we ended up ordering. I ordered the Tuna Tower as my appetizer and my husband order the Hoisin Shrimp. They were presented to us on beautiful platters and looked like they belonged in a food magazine. One word..YUMM. I had the Filet Mignon and Roger had the Chicken Roulade which were cooked perfectly and served with just the right sides to bring all the flavors into a truly glorified union. After our entrees we were very full, with the sangria and the bread we had eaten before hand, but our server brought us out an anniversary dessert anyway, on the house-and the band played us a special song. I will never forget my ten year anniversary or the Scarlet Tea Room for making it such a special evening.
Posted 09/08/08 | Report Abuse
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I should have read these reviews before we came to this tea house. All the negative reviews are right. The people and atmosphere there is very snooty and rude. Do not make the mistake I did and waste your money on under-par tea and tiny little sandwiches. This place is way too expensive for its bland food. Try some other tea room and avoid this one!
Posted 09/07/08 | Report Abuse
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i came here with a friend who i lost touch with and thinking we would indulge in tea and have ourselves a good time was foolish. The stingy server jillian rushed us in ordering and then walked away and ordered for us the most $$$ meal. Then when i complained this server said she would spit in our sandwiches if we did i was appalled and upset. I really wanted my friend and i to have a good time and we didnt. beware that server jillian should be fired for her rude comments and maybe they need to hire people who actually know what good customer service i mean seriously how hard is it to have decent moreals and ethics.
Posted 08/26/08 | Report Abuse
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I read some of the previous reviews and wonder if they've changed management as our experience today was absolutely wonderful. Everyone was so attentive to us and the five course tea was the best I've ever had. I'd go back in a heartbeat. My friend treated me for my birthday and it was exactly that - a real treat!
Posted 06/24/08 | Report Abuse
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I love the charm of this tea room as well as the versatility. It has something for serious Tea fanciers, as well as salad's for serious dieters. They now serve dinner and have entertainment on the weekends. I have been 10 times and will continue to go with friends and family. I found the owner to be talented, friendly and very approachable.
Posted 06/10/08 | Report Abuse
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I was rushed and my plate was removed before I could finish. The owner was sooooo rude telling me that I mustn't put cream in my tea saying that she studied tea all over the world for 'many' years, and that this was unproper, although this was my favorite way of drinking it. I was sick of her snobbish glances as I poured my cream and longed for my half eaten removed scone and strawberry. I was embarrassed to have brought my parents here. My mother said 'forget it, lets just get out of here.' We really recommend High Tea at the Huntington Hotel (Ritz Carlton). You will be served with grace and dignity amongst a beautiful ambience, and the snobbery and bad taste of the Scarlett Tea Room will soon be forgotten.
Posted 05/28/08 | Report Abuse
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Very Rude!
by Anonymous
I can not begin to tell you how rude the service is at this place! They do not return phone calls or emails and when you do get someone, a person that calls herself a general manager, she was so unbelieveably rude we cancelled our reservations and went else where! so glad we did!!! especially after reading the other reviews! Highly recommend the Four Seasons Tea Room, they came to our rescue! and the owner Rosa, is a lovely lady!
Posted 12/12/07 | Report Abuse
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Karen Mikaelian is digging herself into a grave if she continues to staff her restaurant with awfully snobby, rude employees. I had an incident with her general manager and due to a misunderstanding, she demonstrated extremely poor judgement and customer service and was blatantly RUDE to my table throughout our dinner and showed no shame in front of her half filled restaurant. I don't care what business you're in, there is just no excuse for making disgusting facial expressions, piercing eye contact and pointing at her customers. This is the WORST CUSTOMER SERVICE I have ever experienced.
Posted 08/29/07 | Report Abuse
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Do not recommend
by Anonymous
I took my daughter and a large group of friends for her 2nd birthday and was nearly finished with the tea when the owner came up and was quite rude and insulting. I have never returned and recently was talking about tea rooms in Pasadena with another person and she had the same comment about the owner being rude. Apparently it was not just me. She is ruining her own business.
Posted 03/08/07 | Report Abuse
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Sad But True
by Anonymous
I have loved going to Scarlet Tea Room on several occasions with my daughters, friends, grandmothers, any one that we emjoy ggetting together with. A week ago my daughter had a birthday party there - and it waas a lovely experience - up until the point that the way too talkative owner told the 5 girls that there is no such thing as Santa clause or the Tooth Fairy. She burst their entire belief system in the 3 mintued it took me to pull up the car. Plus, she showed verly little remorse. If you go for tea - don't let the owner talk your ear off!
Posted 02/19/07 | Report Abuse
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Latest reviews from Citysearch.
Best Tea in Pasadena
by LoveToEatGreens
this place has always been a fabulous place to escape the world for a couple of hours, but it has really shaped up in the past 6 months or so. the food is without a doubt the best on green street and the service is different than anywhere else. the best way i could describe it is over the top helpful and friendly. you will not go wrong when ordering, everything is delicious.
Posted 03/12/09
Great server, horrible owner
by yummieyimmie
I walk into this tea salon on a Sunday afternoon. We are greeted by a friendly staff. Note: Make reservations. Don't know why, but I think they are nicer if you do. We are led to the owner who refers herself as Scarlet. She is very friendly, asks us for the name the reservation is under, and then proceeds to tell us that she has our table ready. I then told her that we may have one more guest, and all of a sudden she turns mean and snaps at us that we would have to wait off to the side for 5 min. She becomes rude because of one little change.
Besides the owner, our server was incredibly nice and social. She told the secret rule; you just need to tilt the top of your teapot upward, and that would be the symbol for more tea. My friends got the scarlet tea ceremony ($29), a five course meal (sandwiches are small, but the entire meal is filling). I preferred to order mini tea ($11) = 2 scones + your choice of tea, which was enough to fill me up. Scones are scrumptious, yet not as dry and crumbly that Starbucks tend to have. Maple scone was my fav.
Funny thing, there is only one bathroom for each s e x. You would think that at a restaurant where they serve lots and lots of tea, there would be more stalls since customers would feel more needs to relieve their bladders.
If you are looking for a place for a loud party, this place is not the right place. It is incredibly quiet. You feel as though you should be proper and talk in low voices. Occasionally, there would be polite cheers/songs of happy birthdays... Don't think it would be the right place to take guys either. Saw only one guy at the place.. he looked very awkward. Also, I used the boy's bathroom since there was a line for the girls' b/c of only one STALL.
Nice + about the place, they are not too pushy about making you leave. The place closes at 4 PM, but we were there till 5. Not so nice: if you're going to split the check by card, there is an additional fee. Either pay with one card, or bring cash.
Pros: variety of tea
Cons: split check fee
Posted 09/08/08
AN EXQUISITE EVENING!
by DreaminOfTea
For our 10th anniversary my husband took me to the Scarlet Tea Room. We live in Northridge so I did not know that this wonderful restaurant existed. The beauty of this place is breathtaking. It was dimly lit with beautiful light fixtures and chandeliers. There was an amazing jazz group performing that night which was perfect because we went to a jazz club on our first date. We were sat at a perfectly candle lit and romantic table in a quiet corner and next to a window. Our server was very attentive as were the rest of the employees who regularly checked on us throughout the evening. Everything was delicious. We didn't know exactly what we felt like drinking so they brought us a variety of samples of different wines and their sangria, which is what we ended up drinking. I ordered the Tuna tower and my husband ordered the Hoisin shrimp. They were on beautiful platters and looked like they came right out of a gourmet food magazine, and tasted like it too. I had the Filet Mignon and Roger had the Chicken Roulade which were both cooked to perfection and served with just the right sides to make your tastebuds scream in ecstacy. After our entrees we were both pretty full but our lovely server brought us out a dessert anyway, on the house, to celebrate our anniversary. Not only that, but the band also played us a special song which made things that much more special. Thank you STR for making our 10th anniversary so special.
Pros: Ambience, Service, Live Music, Comfortable seating
Cons: ZERO!
Posted 09/08/08
Pleasure to all 5 Senses!!!!!!!!!!
by springchicken320
Though it was a little difficult to find, the minute we walked through the door we were warmly greeted by the friendly staff. They led us to our beautiful table as they gave us a little history of the place. Beautiful decor, fine china adorning the tables, I could see why they wouldn't encourage 2 year olds to come...after all, this is no Chuck-E Cheese. We celebrated my daughters sweet 16 with the Tea Ceremony. It was all of our first time and we enjoyed every morsal. The delicious strawberry sorbet which is served first (for palette cleansing) was served on the most delicate leave shaped china with a sprig of fresh mint. It did the job brilliantly and left our mouths fresh and watering for the scones. The scones were so light and delicious, we had apricot, maple and vanilla, and they were served with the most tongue tickling lemon curd, cream and strawberry jam I had ever tasted. The assorted tea sandwiches we had next were perfection. I have never been a finger food person but these were slightly larger than other tea sandwiches I've seen, and with so many different ones we got enjoy many diverse flavors. My favorites were the Brie with walnut and watercress and the egg salad with tarragon. The mini desserts were delectable as well as immensely visually pleasing, and the final course was exactly what our waitress told us it would be, the perfect ending to a wonderful afternoon. Not only a great place for afternoon tea and holiday celebrations, but also for a power lunch as well as an unforgettable dinner experience. See you soon Scarlet!
Pros: service, special diet accomodations, ambience
Cons: zero!
Posted 05/13/08
Wonderful place to take guests!
by robert4009
One of the best restaurants I have visited in a long time. Great staff, delicious food and wonderful atmosphere where you could forget time and get away from your everyday norm.
I have been there for an afternoon tea and for dinner. All my guests loved it.
Robert k.
Pros: food, ambience, service
Cons: Difficult to get in on weekends.
Posted 04/14/08