Royal SILC: Hooray for Kelly by Sarah

At our very first ever SILC meeting, before we even knew it was SILC yet, Kelly told us that she wanted to us to go to the tea room in Arlington Texas. Two years later... she finally got her wish. Bless her heart.

Side note: bless your heart is a term created by old Southern women to give them something pleasant to say when they see an ugly baby. "Well bless it's little heart..." And don't try and tell me there are no ugly babies. There are and you know it. Now, if they ever add in the pea-pickin part, you need to pray for your child right then. "Bless it's little pea-pickin heart..." is the worst possible thing that could be said. Now you know...

But back SILC. The Rose Garden Tea Room was located inside The Decorators Warehouse in Arlington. It took us just under an hour to get there but the decorator part to me really made it worth it. There is a sign on the side of the building that reads "#1 Christmas Store in Texas". And as you know, everythings bigger in Texas. Including Dorothys hair.

The tea room part was so so to me. I know Kelly will hate to hear that, but it's true. It was ok decoration but it just wasn't my cup of tea. (you get it!? I made a funny...) There was nothing wrong with the decor really, it just wasn't for me. I did, however, like their big TEAROOM sign!

The thing that really erked me the most was the chairs. I get that it's the rose GARDEN and that it was probably a big cost savings.... But they were lawn chairs. Green plastic and some white iron with slip covers. Maybe I'm being snooty but that's how I feel. There. I said it.

I feel better.

Let's talk about the food! After all, that's what we come to tea rooms for! HHEELLLLOO??

Eileen and I had the Chicken Salad Sandwich. Shocking, I know. The sandwiches themselves were very good sized and filling. A good overall chicken salad sandwich. It also came on some very pretty bread we haven't seen before! Something new and refreshing! The sandwiches only came with your choice of one side. Either fruit, salad, or a cup of soup. That disappointed me. Most places give you at least two sides. Eileen got the fruit and I had a cup of the soup of the day which was a chicken tortilla. Eileens fruit was good but there wasn't enough of it. She also enjoyed the poppy seed dressing that they make there in house, which is a big deal since Eileen isn't big on poppy seed stuff. The soup I had was good. Not great but it was good. Dorothy ordered a bowl with her sandwich. And this was a BOWL.

Just look at how big that bowl is next to her hand! I was impressed. Dorothy opted to have the club sandwich rather than the tuna after hearing they put onions in it. Bleh. I think the sandwich was ok. She didn't really say much about it. I do recall one comment that it was a little on the small side though...

Kelly I think had the sliced turkey which she seemed to really enjoy. She even mentioned how much she always enjoys it when we were first looking at the menus. It came with a dill dressing that she ordered on the side and used more as a dip.

We all had the house tea which all I can remember about it from the waitresses description was that it had rose hips in it. I was a little foggy brained at the time since I had no food. Food = good for my brain. But the tea was rather good!

Oh! I almost forgot to mention they did have these weird long garlicy crisp crouton like things on each table for us to snack on when we got there. But most of them got left behind due to lack of interest. Pay attention now: we left behind food. That tells the story right there.

Oh. And then there was this over priced from a box tasting strawberry cake that they had microwaved to make it warm. Hardly even worth the picture but the bunny ears make me laugh. Not good when your saving grace to make it into the review is Eileens bunny ears.