Teavolve Tea Party

A few weeks ago, I had the ingenious idea of having a tea party with a bunch of 3 year old girls. After looking around at a few places, I contacted Teavolve and they agreed to accommodate us. After several exchanges with the very helpful Event Planner, Nicole, a menu was decided and, after several surveys with the moms, a day and time was cemented.

L and I arrived a bit early so we waited in the front where there are a couple couches. The employees didn’t say anything about L’s sudden burst of exuberance, especially when the first two girls arrived. Sadly I can’t say the same about some of the patrons, who were not impressed. 

After most of our party arrived, we sat at the table they reserved for us in a little alcove. Several people came to help take care of us and get things moving quickly, which was appreciated. We ordered a pot of kiwi-strawberry tea for the girls and each mama ordered a pot to accompany our very own afternoon tea party. The teas arrived with scones with clotted cream and jam, which was a mixed bag with the kids, but a big hit with the moms. 

Then the sandwiches arrived – each girl got 4 finger sandwiches: 1 pb&j on raisin bread, a cucumber with meint cream cheese on white, turkey on wheat, and hummus. These also didn’t go over well with most of the kids. Some of them ate one or two sandwiches, some ate none, and a couple (like mine) ate their own sandwiches as well as leftovers from everyone else’s plates. The adults had: cucumber with mint cream cheese on country white, roasted chicken salad with almonds on farmhouse wheat, sliced smoked turkey with scallion cream cheese, and goat cheese & watercress on cinnamon raisin bread with Pecans. The latter was especially delicious! However, the fillings were sparse for each sandwich, which I know is typical of Afternoon Tea, but for $19.95 they could have been a bit more hearty since I was treating it as lunch and I was hungry!

Finally each girl got a cupcake of their choice – vanilla or chocolate. Only two girls were smart enough to get the chocolate, the rest had vanilla. How is it that my daughter can be a vanilla girl?? Did I not gestate her on a healthy diet of chocolate cupcakes from Baltimore Cupcake Company?

Each mom got a dessert trio – a caramel tart, a chocolate coffee sort of tart, and a strawberry tart. the first was a little too sweet but the last was divine!!

As far as kid friendliness goes, our actual server was really relaxed and comfortable with us, but some of the other employees definitely seemed a bit nervous. After the cupcakes the girls had gone a bit wild, and I felt bad for the people sitting there on their laptops but it was a really fun event I hope to do again. I would probably skip the mom’s tea since it was a bit pricey, but the kids’ tea I thought was SUPER reasonable.  I would definitely take my kids to lunch there one day. 

Kid Friendliness: 3/5

Service: 4/5

Prices: 3/5

Taste: 4/5

Cafe Hon

I was in Hampden getting my kids silhouettes cut by Erik Johnson at Soft and Cozy Baby. Since the appointment was for 11:45 after L’s school, I decided that I would take the kids out to lunch afterwards. My plan was to go to Golden West because I seem to think I’m a hipster or something. We parked across the street from Café Hon, where I had already very loudly and vehemently (in my head) declared I would never go out of principal because of the scandal and, frankly, after seeing the owner on Kitchen Nightmares, I wasn’t too fond of her. As we are walking over to Golden West, I see a little boy walking down the street with a Café Hon balloon. Now, I know that almost all kids love a balloon. L loves a balloon. But B LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVES a balloon. I have never seen that kind of laser focused obsession as when B has a balloon or sees a balloon or thinks about a balloon or senses a balloon in the vicinity so I decided to throw my principals to the wind and step foot inside the infamous restaurant for the first time since the scandal broke.

The new Gordon Ramsey décor is very cool and actually served as a diversion for L for awhile, which was nice. We were greeted promptly at the door (which had never happened any other time I visited or tried to visit) and they set up a table with two high chairs. As soon as I put B down he started crying. Foolishly I assumed he was hungry, but it was really because we walked by the balloons and he did not currently possess one. The manager (?) came over and asked if I minded if she gave them a balloon now. Minded?? Hell, it was like she was an angel who descended from the heavens to make my dining experience more pleasurable. After securing the balloons to the high chairs and having two very happy children, I finally got a chance to peruse the menu.

Like most restaurants you get a paper kids’ menu with some coloring activities and a box of crayons. L very much enjoyed the tracing and maze activities. B enjoyed his balloon and the occasional crayon grab and scribble. The kids’ menu is standard fare and reasonably priced. No surprise that L opted for the Grilled cheese, which came with either fruit or fries for $3.99. I went with the fruit. Drinks were another 99 cents. The thing that I thought was really awesome was their offering of a toddler plate – slices of cheese, slices of bread, a pickle, french fries (the one downside), and cucumber slices for $1.99. I thought this was a really refreshing change since I hate ordering a 14 month old a meal and sometimes I’d like to order something that is just for me and not have to worry about whether or not a baby would eat it.

The one big negative was the amount of time between ordering and actually getting the food. The restaurant was pretty crowded, but you know how hard it is to sit and wait with a hungry kid who keeps asking about their grilled cheese, making 20+ minutes seem like 40+.

The food finally arrived and it was good. My Hampden Burger was perfectly cooked, though lukewarm. The caramelized onions and ‘special’ sauce really did make it quite tasty. And where the burger was very large, the bun was Too large. On the plus side, the fries were not too soggy and not too crispy and were the perfect quantity. Since I have trouble with not eating all my fries, I was happy that there weren’t 250 of them on the plate. The accompanying pickle was my favorite kind – not too sour and not too crunchy, kind of like a Claussen spear.  For the record, since I wanted to try the dessert, I didn’t finish my burger or my fries! Overall, I’d say it was good but too pricey at $12.  L’s grilled cheese looked good but the fruit cup that accompanied it was very nice. Strawberries, pineapple, bananas and blueberries.

B’s toddler meal was ok. I probably should have requested wheat instead of white bread if I was thinking about it, but he was happy with the offering and for $1.99 I can't complain. Apart from the cucumbers, which he refused. It’s amazing how different two kids in the same family can be! 

Because the cakes looked so good when I walked in, I ordered a piece of yellow cake with fudge frosting to split with B and ordered vanilla ice cream for L because she would eat that every day if she could. I assume the ice cream was fine, but the cake was a little dry or possibly stale. B enjoyed the non frosted pieces that I gave him and I enjoyed the icing pieces that I saved for me. To keep him from the chocolate, of course. However, it was definitely not worth $5.99.

Despite the wait, the scandal, and the prices, I would take my kids here again. The manager paid extra attention to my kids and the décor was charming. It was also loud enough that I didn’t feel that embarrassed while the kids were squealing with delight over the balloons or just being kids. 

Kid Friendliness :  4/5

Service : 3/5

Prices: 3/5

Taste: 3/5

Chopstix

My 3.5 year old daughter loves sushi. She has even been known to demolish 2 rolls without blinking. So when we finished their dental exam at Chesapeake Pediatric Dental in White Marsh, I decided to head across the shopping center to Chopstix.

Not sure how to word this, but when we walked in, we were greeted with joy. They honestly seemed thrilled to see us, and not because they were dead in there since they had a decently full restaurant. They were super accommodating and even took care of my stroller and stowed it somewhere while I got the kids in the high chairs. Just a note : my 3.5 year old L is very capable of sitting in a chair, but she is really in a high chair phase right now, most likely because of her 14 month old brother, and I’m ok with just going with it.

Anyway.  The menu is pretty large and features both Chinese and Japanese foods. Since we were here for sushi, I got two sushi combos: Shrimp Tempura with a California Roll and Chicken Teriyaki with a California Roll. They both came with miso soup and a green salad. I figured that with two soups and two salads, I would get one of each and I’d give L the salad, since she is a fan of cucumbers and carrots and try to see if B would eat the miso soup. And I’d give L one Roll and the shrimp tempura and I’d eat the other roll and split the chicken teriyaki with B.

Service was very prompt, so there was not a lot of waiting with hungry kids. When the soups and salads came and chopsticks were presented, I tried to make L’s kid friendly by MacGyvering them with a rubber band and some folded paper.When I asked for said rubber band,  they brought me this cool contraption instead that you put on the top of the chopsticks to make them easier. Genius.

The salad was ok. Very fresh and crisp lettuce but the ginger dressing was definitely not one of the better ones I’ve had. That being said, I’m a HUGE fan of ginger dressing and can be very particular. The miso soup was average. To my surprise, B loved the lettuce from the salad and L was chowing down on the miso soup! Not at all what I expected.  

Then our boxes came and were very disappointing. Let me start with the good: the California rolls were actually quite good. L gobbled hers up pretty quickly and B actually enjoyed the crab filling out of mine. I would eat those again. Everything else in the boxes, however, was sub-par. First of all, the chicken teriyaki was awful. The chicken tasted like it had been cooked in the microwave and the sauce lacked flavor and was very watery. My 14 month old carnivore would not touch the chicken, if that says anything. The tempura seemed to have been battered in a breadcrumb mixture (that might not be true, but that’s what it tasted like) and was over fried. The only thing I really liked was the sweet potato, but, let’s be honest, I would probably eat sweet potato dipped in old baby food. L wouldn’t eat the shrimp so I was really glad she enjoyed the soup as much as she did because otherwise I would have had nothing for lunch if she wanted the second roll.

The hostess came over several times throughout the meal to coo at B and to see how we were doing. They definitely welcomed kids there and I didn’t feel out of place.  Despite their friendliness and openness to two lively kids, I would probably not go there again for a meal. While the California Roll was good, I could get something similar at most other places. Overall the food cost more than it was worth.

Kid Friendliness: 4/5

Service: 4/5

Prices: 3/5

Taste: 2/5