After living in Orange County for about a year, I haven’t really explored as many tea houses as I’d like to explore. While New England had some cute, kitschy, etc places to check out, Southern California does have it’s share of tea houses all over this side of the state. However, Southern California Lolita comms are generally split up and are hit / miss. A few colleagues decided to meet up for tea in San Juan Capistrano. While not technically a Lolita meet, it was an excuse to dress up in frills…just cus.
The Coord
I decided to keep it to a calming, yet cute classic coord. This is my Little Lady JSK from Innocent World. It’s one of my personal favorites from my closet because it’s one of the first brand dresses I owned (and scored on a 50% discount!). The socks are from Baby the Stars Shine Bright. The wig is from Epic Cosplay. The shoes are from Bait Footwear. The blouse is from Bodyline.
The Venue – The Tea House Restaurant (San Juan Capistrano, CA)
I love this place! It’s a cute craftsman house repurposed into a tea house. Hats are available for ladies who wish to get dolled up. Not only you could enjoy afternoon tea indoors, you can also enjoy your tea outside on the patio. This had a very kitschy feel to it; all rooms were different, but kept a small town old world charm. This is also great for all budgets. Not only you had afternoon tea sets, you can also order a standard meal with your tea. $10 minimum purchase is required. The atmosphere really has that small town charm of San Juan Capistrano.
The Food
I ended up ordering the Los Rio set for about $23. The Los Rio set includes a heart shaped scone, finger sandwiches, fruit, and your choice of tea. I ended up ordering the herbal tea, Romance of the Mission. It had a very sweet cherry flavor to it. I was in the mood for something herbal and relaxing, and it did it’s job. The Los Rio set was already filling enough that I could do without the dessert. The tea was already a treat!
The Town
San Juan Capistrano’s Los Rio district has a small town kitschy feel to it. Even pulling into the tea house, you’ll find people walking up and down the main road. It’s pretty common to find repurposed craftsman homes turned into galleries or gift shops selling wares by local artists. I ended up picking up some handmade soaps from one of the shops. There was also a cute coffee house down the road. If you walked further down, there was a petting zoo that you could get into for $10. I tried selfie-ing with one of the alpacas, but that wasn’t happening anytime soon.
Overall, this was a nice outing for tea. It’s not very often I get to bust out the frills from the closet, but it’s an excuse to dress up and enjoy tea with good company…just cus.
– Eri Kagami (IG: erikagamisews)