Rose Garden Tea Room at The Huntington Library (San Marino, CA)

The Rose Garden Tea Room is one of the few places to get food inside the sprawling Huntington Library & Gardens but it's also one of the relatively few places in the area to have afternoon tea.

While afternoon tea here is usually not cheap ($27 per person plus tax - that's on top of the admission to the library itself I think - please double check) I got lucky and made it to the list to attend Caltech's Annual Huntington Tea. For $20 or so, I get enter the library AND have afternoon tea at the Rose Garden.

The sandwiches and sweets here are served buffet-style, displayed in the middle of the room.

Standard sandwich selections: egg salad, cucumber sandwiches, smoked salmon.

The scones are served warm in a basket though and I quite enjoyed them, both the plain and the chocolate chip.
They're warm and moist. If you're averse to scones because you think they're hard, bland, and dry, then don't worry because these are not.

The Tea Room does have special blends of tea, which unfortunately are served in tea bags. The tea isn't bad at all, though, especially as far as bagged teas go. The desserts? They are the standard mini fruit pies, chocolate cake, and other petit fours. Nothing special, but nothing to complain about.

All in all, it's a mediocre afternoon tea. I enjoyed the scones and since I didn't pay the full price I had no qualm. Should you go visit? Only if you're visiting the garden itself and wanted to eat, drink tea, and relax.

I mean, the tea room is right next to this:
and this:
Since it will take at least two hours of walking to see a sufficient portion of the gardens, you might as well do it on a full stomach.

Rose Garden Tea Room
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108
(626) 683-8131
http://www.huntington.org/huntingtonlibrary_02.aspx?id=310