July 2024
Address: Prince Tea House
203 North 9th St.
Philadelphia, PA (USA)
While on a little road trip vacation, my husband and I had afternoon tea at Prince Tea House. They have multiple locations in the new jersey new york state area - I counted 12 on the sign - we attended the location in china town on north 9th street in philly. We chose it b/c they didn't require a reservation and it was close to where we were at the time. I am not sure how similar or different each location is but this review is based on the location we attended on the day we went, obviously.
For ambiance and service here, I really liked the tablescape and teaware here. I liked the aesthetic of the white marble-y table, the white on white pattern plates and the flowers on the matching tea cups and tea pots. I was impressed to find that they have branded the teaware themselves. I guess that makes sense if you own 12 location or franchises. Overall, I was vibing with the aesthetic of the teaware and tablescape here.
However, I didn't like that I had to scan a QR code and order from my phone when there was a server standing right there who wasn't even busy. Maybe if it was busy this wouldn't bother me she was literally standing there while I was fumbling order my teas on the phone and writing in that I didn't want any seafood. Also, her level of service was sub-par during our entire experience. The service and ambiance is scored 2 out of 5 for me.
The tea selection here was vast with more than 25 options hitting all the main tea varieties. But the tea menu was on our phones which really took away from the experience of choosing and ordering a tea. Using my phone there would be no opportunity to ask questions about the teas to a knowledgeable server.
We each got to choose our own tea and they were served on top of tea light candle which may keep the tea pot warmer for longer. Again, the teaware was all matching which I liked. I am scoring the tea service as 4 out of 5.
Now, onto the food. We requested no seafood so we were doubled up on the pastrami sandwich and the cucumber sandwich. Overall, I don’t find these savories visually appealing…maybe b/c they are both open face? The cucumber had what I think was French onion sour cream dip on it (like helluva dip?) I missed the cream cheese but I recall being served French onion dip on a cucumber sandwich in florida so maybe that's a US thing. The pastrami was fine - it had some horseradish mayo slapped on part of the bread it. The devilled egg was wasabi flavoured which isn't my preference. Perhaps the 2 sandwiches with seafood would have been better than these? I'll never know! My score for savory is 2.5 out of 5. Obviously you’ll have to take this with a grain of salt b/c we had substitution made but I do feel that even substitutions should be better.
Next we like to eat our scones. We each received one scone, I do prefer when two scones are served at afternoon tea. They were served with a shared pot of jam and some type of cream. The scones weren't fresh enough for me; they were very dry. After my husband had a hard time cutting his in half I decided to break mine into pieces to eat it. The creamy mixture wasn't proper clotted cream but it was edible and the jam was fine. These scones are being scored 2 out of of a possible 10 points. Quite disappointing.
And for the top teir - the sweets - we each received a berry mousse, a macaron, and a tiny triangle of matcha crepe cake. yes, only 3 small sweets per person. I appreciated the mix of colours and textures for these 3 sweets. The berry mousse was light and fluffy and tasted decent. My macaron was caramel and tasted like nothing, just as macarons do. And the crepe cake tasted fine. I liked the texture but matcha isn't my favourite flavour. Of course I missed a nice yummy chocolate item so adding a 4th decadent chocolate brownie would have helped this tier a lot. As is, I scored it 2 out of 5.
This afternoon tea was only available in sets for two ppl and it cost $58 USD for two people (which is $86 CAD). Broken down by person (even though we couldn’t order for just one person), the price is costs $29USD or $40CAD per person. Even though this is on the low side price wise, this price would be fine for me if the food and service was better. I would not bring my grandma here and my overall impression score is 4.5 out of 10.
Nothing here was super tasty to stand out as the yummy. I guess the berry mousse was my favourite bite but that's not saying much. Overall, this food wasn't my favourite. The flavours weren't my preference but some people may really enjoy it here so take this rating, as you should ALL my ratings with a grain of salt.
On the whole, My “Queen of Afternoon Tea” final score is 17/40 or (43%)
