Crown & Crumpet Tea Salon, San Francisco

I went to Crown & Crumpet Tea Salon the other day for Lucy’s baby shower. She used to work at our office here in SF but now works remotely from her new home in South Carolina. The beauty of the Internet! Lucy was here on a business trip and this was the last time she was to be in the office before the baby is due. So the day before she headed back to SC, we all went to Crown & Crumpet, located on scenic Ghirardelli Square to celebrate her new addition to the family, wish her well and bid adieu!

Crown & Crumpet Tea Salon interior view

How to describe Crown & Crumpet? Classic? Kitschy? Stylish? Girly? Perhaps all the above? Check the pics and decide for yourself 🙂 I really liked this place, what with its beautiful views, vibrant colors, the decorative stuff with lots of light blues and pinks, adorably mismatched tables and chairs, and pretty China. I am a bit sensitive to scents, and this might have been an issue here, but the air inside the Salon was marvelous and inviting, infused with sweet aromas, tannins from different teas, herbs, bergamot, berries: a real treat!

Crown & Crumpet Tea Salon tea bar

enjoying the company at Crown & Crumpet Tea Salon

congratulations on your new baby, Lucy!

On the website the owner invites you to slow down… allow the delicious food and libations to transport you to a classic, traditional tea salon experience, as if you were in England. Forget that cup of Starbucks-in-a-hurry and enjoy the world’s most popular drink. I must say I did feel transported.

I think this is a perfect spot to impress your out of town guests. Besides C and C itself, the Square offers the traditional touristy Ghirardelli chocolate store, numerous great shops and beautiful views of the Bay and Golden Gate Bridge. The only caveat is that Crown & Crumpet is a small place so make a res before you go.

The menu was fabulous. As you might have guessed, they serve several types of tea: Strawberry Fields – green tea, strawberry, vanilla; Marie Antoinette – black tea, bergamot, blue mallow and roses; Minted Green – green tea blended with peppermint; Paris – black tea, bergamot, vanilla. I tried them all except for the mint—it’s not my cuppa tea. My favorite ones were the Marie Antoinette and Paris. Some of these herbs are supposed to promote spiritual healing and peace, something from which we can all benefit in our rushed weekday lives.

our lovely triple tiered tray

Aside from the tea, we had lovely triple tiered trays of mini sandwiches, pastries and assortments of petit fours. Delicious! The list is long. Among the sandwiches, we had cucumber & crème fraîche; curried chicken; salmon &cream cheese; and egg, chives & mayo. For pastries, we sampled the lovely crumpets, mini scones and apple Danish. The petit fours were assorted baby cup cakes, macaroons, date bars, butter cookies and chocolate and raspberry cream puffs.

This was my first visit to the Salon and my first exposure to the mysteries of an American baby shower. Both were delightful. We all left Crown and Crumpet happy and satisfied.