Tao of Tea
Restaurant, Coffee/Tea/Juice
$$ - average
Tea House and Vegetarian Restaurant
The teahouse serves over 100 pure leaf teas as well as a variety of vegetarian organic appetizers, entrees and desserts from India and other parts of the world, including some vegan ones. Tao of Tea has a very creative interior design; it was built using reclaimed wood and bamboo materials. Similar to creating art work, the teahouse was built without any architectural drawings or illustrations. The resulting design has attracted lots of praise as well being chosen the 2000 Zagat Survey winner of the best interior amongst 600 restaurants in the Pacific Northwest.
Next door, they have a tea store that sells a huge selection of teas.
If you're undecided about where to eat, this is a good neighborhood to visit. Tao of Tea is right across from Paradox Cafe and next door to Kinta Restaurant (it's also fairly close to other restaurants in the Hawthorne area).
- (Mostly) Organic
- Quiet
- Romantic
Added by Ramona on Dec 8 06 (updated May 19)
Reviews
Great place to come and talk with friends. Huge selection of tea. They also have non-tea beverages and a food menu with snacks, sides, entrees, and deserts. Unfortunately most of the food is not vegan. All but one of the desserts had honey. The tea we had was very good, as was the hummus and pita and banana dessert.
This is a very beautiful restaurant! The benches are fantastic; they are made out of stone, but are also very comfortable. The tables in the center are made out of tea crates. Awesome interior design!
The menu does not say which items are vegan which is one of my small complaints about this place. My second complaint is that the menu is rather small and focused on Indian food. But dishes I had were good. The dessert was fantastic!! It was sticky rice (very sticky) with banana, wrapped and cooked in banana leaves and accompanied by cranberries, mango sauce, and toasted coconut. Very very yummy and very filling!! Highly recommended.
This is a very peaceful place to go to if you want to relax, have a bit of food (the portions are small and they don't have a huge selection) and drink some yummy tea. I wouldn't go there with a large group, or if you're in the mood to be loud and/or obnoxious, or if you are very hungry.