We stopped in Bread & Cie this past weekend to get some bread and pastries since we had just eaten lunch nearby. While I was paying for my purchases, DH excitedly pointed out that Bread & Cie was offering afternoon French metro tea. DH loves afternoon tea ever since we went to Europe during our honeymoon.
Since we had a fairly open afternoon, we decided to check out the tea service.
Tea is $15.95 per person, which I thought was quite reasonable and cheaper than most places in San Diego. You don’t need to make reservations in advance; simply request the tea service at the counter when you order. Because of the casual nature, not everyone in your group needs to order it either. We both ended up getting it, but you can easily just order tea service for one and other people in your group can get other things.
There was a long list of teas to choose from. After you select your tea, you pick a table and soon things start coming out.
The tea service includes scones and jam, finger sandwiches and pastries.
Top tier: black currant scones with clotted cream and blueberry jam
The mini scones were delicious and not too dry.
Second tier: cucumber walnut & watercress, parmesan crusted grilled fontina, smoked salmon & dill, goat cheese & thyme peppered jam
I really enjoyed all the sandwiches that were provided, especially the smoked salmon and the grilled cheese.
Third tier: mini chocolate ganache cupcake, mint chocolate and hazelnut macarons, cream puff, lemon bar
Bread & Cie makes such wonderful pastries, so of course these were good.
What I really enjoyed about the tea here was the food quality and the price. It’s quite a bit cheaper than most afternoon tea places in San Diego and I really loved everything on the plates, whereas when I visited Shakespeare, I had been a little disappointed with some of the items.
On the other hand, the tea service here is quite casual and you don’t have that charming experience of Shakespeare, with the fancy pots and tea sets, the sugar cubes, an area reserved specifically for tea service.
Overall, we had a good time here. Our tower of treats attracted quite a bit of attention from neighboring customers and we saw a few others order it after seeing ours. While this may not might work if you want the full-on tea experience, it’s a good casual one with really good tea food.
Bread & Cie
350 University Ave
San Diego, CA 92103
https://www.breadandcie.com/
Wow this looks delicious, and super reasonable for an afternoon tea!
Everything was delicious! Given the prices for their pastries, this was a great deal.
The pastries look delicious!
They were! I’m surprised at how many were included.
I love afternoon tea and have been looking for one besides Chloe Cafe and Shakespeare. And it’s also a great price. I can’t wait to check this out. (I’m also envious that DH enjoys afternoon tea. Mine doesn’t.)
DH usually doesn’t like “girly” things, but for some reason he really loves afternoon tea. I think he was more excited about it than me. haha.
OMGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG I LOVE EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS!
Sorry for the over dramatic post but I have been waiting for an affordable afternoon tea place for a long time. I have never tried it before but everything about afternoon tea sounds amazing. Thank you for this post! I’m definitely going there very soon.
Haha, dramatics are sometimes necessary! I think this is fairly new for Bread & Cie. I like how affordable it is too and even though it might not be as nice as some of the places that specialize in tea, the food is so good!
Looks really good! Does each person get the tower or do you guys have to share it?
You share the tower. Depending on how many people get tea service, they put that many servings of food on the towers. So there is enough on the towers for each person to get one of everything.
This looks awesome! The price is super reasonable, too. It’s not always easy to drag S out to “afternoon tea” but sounds like a great place for a girl date, haha 😛
Haha, yeah it usually is more of a girl thing. But DH loves it!
That looks really nice actually – does $15.95 include tea selection as well (can’t find/see their afternoon special on their website). Will have to try this place out – is it on the same side as Trader Joes?
Yes it includes the tea. I posted the flyer menu for the tea service at the end of my post. I’m not sure what you mean about the same side as Trader Joe’s.