Long waits, small menus, good desserts, and bunnies By Sarah.

April. Spring. Fresh starts. FINALLY meeting.

Dear LORD! How long was it between meetings? December? January? Waaaaaay too long. We finally met again for lunch on April 24th. We went to a tea room in Plano not far from where I live called Patti's Place Tea Room and Bakery. This location was really quite cool. It is in the Wells House.

Click Read More below to get the full description of our April Meeting.



Here is the description from their website:

William H. L. Wells saved his money while working in Virginia, and he then came to Texas. He built this house in 1893 at the cost of $1,500. Mr. Wells was very particular about the lumber that he used to construct the house. If there were any boards that weren’t the best of quality, he hauled them back to the lumberyard.
The cypress siding was hauled by ox cart from Marshall, Texas. The original farm consisted of about 258 acres stretching between the current streets of Spring Creek and Parker Road. Corn, wheat, oats and cotton were among the crops farmed. Plano, Texas. The Early Years.

The house looks quite different now.

They describe it as a Tea Room with a Texas twist. However, the only Texas twist that I could see was having some Texas stars pop in the decor every now and then. Everything else looked like a normal tea room to me. I think the idea of "a Tea Room with a Texas twist" is a really cute and exciting idea, but I don't think they quite achieved what they were looking for.

This is what the general table setting consisted of. You can see that the table and chairs are wood with Texas stars carved into them. They also have Texas star salt and pepper shaker holders. But, everything else, the vase, the sugar holder, the glass jar, they all look like normal tea room equipment. Standard issue. Maybe they were just trying to be eclectic... but it just ended up looking miss matched.

Above you can see some great examples of what I mean when I say things just don't match. On the fire place mantel they have decorative tea cups and tea pots. You can see the floral old lady wall paper. Even the shelves along the perimeter of the room that house more tea and bakery related items... and then you see the frames on the wall. Most were unfinished wood, trying to add to the rustic decor of it all... but once again, it failed. I was actually okay with the black and white photographs. Those were really nice to look at. They were a great historical window into the past showing you what the house and town look like in its hay day. I think they might have looked a little more "in-place" if they had been printed in sepia and not straight up black and white, but that's getting very picky.

Decor is just something to nit pick at, but what really annoyed me and I think everyone else in SILC was that they did not accept reservations. Because of this, our wait was a hour. Seriously. One solid hour. Maybe it was good that we went to this tea room after not having seen each other in a really long time, it gave us time to catch up! You would think with us having to wait an hour to be seated, they would come by and offer us a drink or an appetizer or something, but no. We were never offered anything. After being there for one hour Dorothy went and let the hostess know that she thought it was quite strange that we were not offered anything. The hostess pretty much just let us know that they do not normally offer you drinks unless you have been seated at the table. However, I think when your customer has been waiting for a complete hour to be seated, it just common courtesy to offer them some sort of beverage. Even if she had just brought by small waters until we were seated that would have been something! She did eventually give us our drinks while we waited a little while longer, and mmmm... they were some goooood drinks. Or maybe we were just hungry? No. They were good. :)

Of all the drink options she told us about we only had two different drinks between the four of us. 

 

A fruity pink slushy was had by Dorothy, Eileen, and Kelly while I had the raspberry iced tea. I guess I'm the black sheep of the group when it comes to drinks. Baaaa.

We were all a little worried about the menu going in. You can view it online but as you can see the selection is a bit more limited than what we are used to. And, GASP, there was no chicken salad sandwich! Since they were out of the special, we had the following: The Deli Delight and the Roasted Turkey Salad Sandwich. All were served with the soup of the day: Chicken Tortilla. 

Everyone enjoyed their food. It was sooo good. Even though it was a limited menu, the items that were on were very good. And the soup! Oh the soup... I wanted to lick that drip right off the side of the bowl so as to not waste any of it. Mmm... and then came... dessert!

Brace yourselves.
Kelly.

...
..
.
Here it comes....
I'm warning you...

Coconut cream pie... Oh. My. Lord. Do you see how good that looks? That's how it tasted. Too bad Kelly got the only and last piece. Poor Eileen. She wanted one so... 

Can you stand to see more?

I think yes.

Oh Jesus. Take the wheel.

This my friends is what the landscape of my dreams looks like. Somebody please, pull me back down to earth. There is a reason that it is "Patti's Place Tea Room and Bakery.

After we finished our food and conversation it was time to go. Which means... time for photos. Lip gloss and eyeliner and hair teasing, oh my! However, while taking our photos the most exciting thing yet happened. What is it you ask? We got to go drinks? No. We got a free dessert to take home for waiting so long? No. We had a deep meaningful conversation about SILC and its purpose? No. Jesus came back? No. 

We saw... a bunny!

A BUNNY! Can you believe it? Who knew bunnies liked tea rooms too. Although I can't say I blame him. That is some pretty luscious looking grass to hop around in.

Hop. Hop.

The End.