The Steeping Room

Wow everything was absolutely amazing! If you love tea they have one of the most impressive tea menus I’ve ever seen.
From black tea to white to green and all Inbetween. I had the Brie basil and bacon omelette for breakfast and it was TO DIE FOR! I will be back here tomorrow morning for the same dish. Brava!

Normally I prefer coffee, but today we tried this place. They serve a light lunch and have numerous flavors of interesting tea leaves for sale. We just shared a pot of hot organic Irish tea. Was excellent. The place was crowded but we were seated & served quickly. Located next door to Starbucks in the Domain.

Super chill atmosphere and very friendly staff. I ordered the matcha brownie and the iced hibiscus tea — talk about a match made in heaven! I also took a bite of my friend’s lemon-​lavender cake and it was amazing! Stop in if you want a cool place to chill and eat in between shopping at the domain.

Come here almost everyday for a coffee and scone. Love this place and the friendly staff

My daughters and I really like the food here. The service can be hit or miss, unless you have Jonathan as your server. He is amazing.
The do a great tea service, just remember not to fill up your cup all the way; there are no handles.
Can’t go wrong with the Buddha Bowl or the Tao Salad with chicken.
They can get very busy, so if you want to eat here make a reservation or be prepared to wait.

Love the place! Cool, casual, café style diner. The staff has always been real friendly and informative on the menu items. Love the relaxed and intimate atmosphere. Cool place to stop bye for some brunch or to chit chat with friends over some hot drinks and pastries. Can be a bit pricey but the food is always delicious and on par. Definitely worth checking out if never been before. A sweet tooth lovers paradise.

This place is my favorite dessert place to go to in Austin!
I’ve been here multiple times and cannot get enough of it. The food is topnotch, although quantity might be lacking in some areas. The tea is delicious (try the white tip green tea!). I love eating the scones (ask for it to be toasted!!) and the yummy brunch. The fruit galette is top notch along with many other desserts they have.
However, this place does have some drawbacks. Waiting can sometimes take a very long time. The good thing is that because it’s located in the Domain, you can shop around while waiting for a table (you can give them your number and they’ll call you when your table is ready).
Additionally, service can be pretty poor. Sometimes it takes forever for someone to stop by your table (perhaps not enough servers). And other times they can be downright snarky or rude. This has actually happened multiple times. I’m ashamed to admit that despite all these things I am still a loyal consumer. The place is just too cute and the food is just too good.
I know I am giving ambivalent feelings in this review, but I mean well. I just want to warn you ahead of time. It will be a love-​hate relationship.

I always come here when I’m in town! It’s one of my favorite restaurants in Austin. Everything on the menu is healthy and fresh. Your options range from tea cakes and soups to rice bowls and salads. Thus, the Steeping Room is perfect for snacks or meals. The restaurant has a very relaxed vibe to it, which can be inferred from its name. It makes sense that tea houses have slower service. But if you’re in a hurry, you can notify your waiter/​waitress.
The Buddha bowl here has a medley of vegetables and comes with your rice of preference (brown for me). You can add protein or an egg for extra charge. I love this bowl because it is light, yet it fills you up for hours! Sometimes if I’m extra hungry, I order a side of tomato coconut soup! I highly recommend this. As I’m not a huge fan of hot tea, I opt for tea freezes instead. The green tea matcha is very refreshing! I like to modify the drink by asking for soy and bananas. Give it a try if you’re adventurous!
While I’ve never had the crock monsieur, I’ve heard amazing things about it. My friend orders it every single time we eat here, so it must be good. It comes with a side salad or chips, so it’s pretty filling.

Ok, let’s just get to it. I’m a grown man and I like scones. It can’t be helped. For this reason and its proximity to my office you will often find me picking up lunch here while quietly ordering a candied ginger scone which I hide under my sandwich as not to draw attention.
I am deducting one star because they can’t quite get timing of getting my tea out with my to go order and also forget to pack my jam or clotted cream about 50% of the time.
Also, they remove the crust from tea sandwiches, which I’m conflicted about because I know its traditional, but at the same time I feel like I paid for that crust. That didn’t affect my scoring I just wants to get that off my chest while I had your attention.

I figure this place needs no introduction. Everyone seems to know of her existence, her charms and her wonderful vibe. I can’t go without talking a little bit about this lovely lady, though.
A tea room, is supposed to be a very calming, classy /​snobby place with dozens of teas to choose from, and bite sized sandwiches. The steeping room is all that, but just not snobby.
There are three pages worth of tea to choose from. To make this easier, I’ll just tell you what I usually take. My favorites are the empress cup (rose flavored), flower infused oolong (tastes heavenly) and the Kashmiri chai (something I grew up on). Most pots are $ 4.75, and you can steep your own oolong. This involves two teapots and your hands.
The steeping room is undoubtedly a vegetarian’s paradise. The menu is mostly non meat, which means you can choose from the Thai Napa rolls, Mediterranean plate, Buddhas bowl (one of my faves), PB and J sandwiches, cucumber and edamame … You get the gist.
There’s something called a «tea service» that you definitely need to try at least once. You get to choose from a few sandwich types, scones and a pot of tea. This may not be fancy shmancy English tea service, but that’s the whole point here– to make tea time look un pretentious.
I do know that they serve beer and wine, but I’m here for the tea. (I never thought I’d hear myself saying this, ever.) There is also a wide variety of dessert, including an earl gray chocolate mousse. If you think tea infused dessert is a bit too hipster for you, just relax and get yourself the carrot cupcake or a vanilla ice cream.
I can’t say anything negative about this place. I’ve been coming here for 4 years, and never have I left disappointed. I look forward to my relationship with this lovely lady for many years to come.
Tip: make reservations during the evening hours– there’s a 15 minute policy they have, and they abide by it.

I thought they only served tea. Big mistake.
We had breakfast here on Sunday, and it was great. I had a brie and ham Omelette with mushrooms, and it was really fantastic. It came with fruit and a scone, which was very tasty. The Orange juice was fresh and the coffee was far better than anything you can get next door.
I have a new favorite at the domain

Love the atmosphere. Amazing place to eat when you are with a friend and have lots of time to chat. Service is slow. But it’s so nice to sit, enjoy the atmosphere and get healthy yummy food.
My fav is the Buddha bowl with chicken add cashew and peanut sauce.
Their breakfast is amazing as well and it’s not as busy on mornings during the week.
It can get loud but as long as you don’t mind talking loud you will be fine.
Try the plum and pine nut scone mmmmm.
Also, they sell the best choc cake in the world. Called the deep choc caramel cake.
This place has good karma

Came for Sunday brunch and luckily got a table without reservations. They have a wide selection of teas and delightful scones. I’m not much of a tea person but I absolutely loved the scones. The candied apricot scone was sooo yummy. I had the ham, basil, and Brie omelet which was very flavorful and unique with the basil added to the recipe. Also tried the iced Moroccan mint tea which was very refreshing. This is a small restaurant with quite an extensive menu. I will definitely be back to try the tea service.

The tea sandwiches are a hit and quite delicious. There are so many tea options it’s kind of overwhelming and no one takes the time to direct you to a tea that’s great for you.
The place and tiny and they didn’t do a great job of designing the place in a way to muffle the noise. It’s quite chaotic. I’d love to try more of their tea sandwiches and tea but I think I’ll have to enjoy them outside on the patio next time.

This is the best tea room in town. There isn’t a bad food item or tea on the menu. They get pretty busy and it’s a tiny location, but it’s definitely worth wait. The service is great and they have a large emphasis on accommodating dietary restrictions.
My favorite item is the Century Oaks Tea Service. It is the perfect combination of menu items. It includes the choice of two tea sandwiches, scone, spread, jam, tea cookies, and a tea. It is a very generous portion of food and a great way to try several items at once. The scone flavors, spreads, and jam flavors vary so even if you come here often you’ll be able to get something different each time. I’ve had pretty much every tea sandwich and they are all good. The flavor combinations are smartly created.
In addition to dine in service they also sell bakery items and drinks to go. The delicious teas are also available for purchase so you can enjoy their teas at home as well.

Steeping room is great for food, baked goods and drinks! I love their Chai lattes and coconut green tea. They give you multiple options with Chai so I usually just ask what they recommend. The sandwiches and salads are really good and nice light and healthy portion.
I haven’t bought any loose leaf teas but they have a great selection to look at if you’re waiting on something to go. They have samples put so you can smell them and I always think it’s gum to smell them although I don’t know enough about tea to be able to translate smell into taste. The scones are great and they always are changing the flavors so you can try lots of new ones.
If you’re dining in, the inside and outside both have a nice ambience depending on the weather. They bring out pots of tea if you are staying there. I love to go with friends and spilt a pot of tea and dessert a la mode in the evening.

What a lovely little place! OMG, Unilocal Godfather Errol used to check in here like every day and he was pretty appalled when I bookmarked it. I’m not really sure why I FINALLY strolled on over to The Steeping Room… Maybe because it just seems like a tea and crumpets kind of summer day ;)
I was not disappointed! Except for the fact that this place MAY be a bit too small but it still has several little tables outside (right next to Starbucks mind you, what competition) as well as several nice neatly lined up tables in the inside.
Although I’m not really a tea drinker I recognize the health benefits and the overall vibe of tea time. OMG, the tea selection: they have everything under the sun! I ordered a coconut iced tea because I never go wrong when I order anything coconut. It was delicious. Free refills, too.
I had the chocolate cupcake which was vegan and my friend had the lemon vanilla mousse which was gluten-​free. Both yummy.
This is a great place. Service was great, too… I’d like to go back to try the food!
Thanks for making my Sunday ;)

Afternoon Tea is definitely a guilty pleasure that I don’t feel all too guilty about, and The Seeping Room is just the place to catch a quick fix. Unlike some other places in town, this location is serving tea cakes all weekend! While it’s recommended that you reserve a table, you can wait to sit down if you’re so inclined. The restaurant area is not overly large, but the quality of the tea, cakes/​scones, and sandwiches is top notch. Having had tea in London on many occasions, I definitely get a wafting of that British air whenever I come here. The service is a little slow, so be prepared to wait. Luckily they bring out the tea rather quickly, so at least you get to sip on some caffeinated bliss while you wait. This location also doubles as a retail store selling tea by the gram (similar to Teavana). Depending on your preferences, you’re likely to find some real gems here that cannot be easily found anywhere else in the city– including freaking pumpkin chai seemingly served all year since I ordered one in March.
All in all the seeping room is worth a trip, make sure you break out the old monocle.

After coming here time and time again — I wanted to update my review. The tea is still delicious, and the staff are really knowledgable about tea and the menu.
I’m a huge fan of the desserts — especially that chocolate matcha brownie. Yum.
This is really more of a casual café with outstanding tea and my go-​to order is the Kasbah Express. If you’re looking for a large meal, that’s not going to happen. But if you’re in the mood for a light brunch, or some tea and cookies — you’re in luck.

I bought my grandma theater tickets for Christmas, and since we were going to be dressed up for it I thought doing high tea beforehand would be fun. I’m glad I thought ahead and made reservations or else we never would have gotten a table. It is tiny and cramped here so word to the wise, don’t risk walking in without one unless you have time to wait a while. You can do it online, or via your Unilocal app! ;-)
You have the option to walk up to the counter and grab a drink or snack to go too, and all their baked goods are made in house. We were seated in under 10 minutes and already knew we wanted to do the Century Oaks Tea Service. It’s $ 19.95 and what I liked about it was that it gave us a taste of sweet, savory, and beverages all for a good price. We didn’t want anything heavy and I thought that portion wise it was great.
With it we got to pick two tea sandwiches, a choice of scone and spread, and of course what to drink. I admit I’m not the biggest tea drinker, I was doing it more for her so when she said she might like coffee instead (which is no extra charge), I was very happy. The waitress suggested Columbian and it was delicious. It’s French pressed and they bring the whole pot to you along with cream.
For our sandwiches we chose the cucumber and cream cheese on white bread, and the chicken salad sandwich on wheat. I loved that they cut the crusts off and sliced them in half. And for the scone we couldn’t decide so we asked which one people normally get and she said cranberry walnut. We got a divine strawberry jam to go with the scone as well as clotted cream, which to me tasted exactly like butter but not as rich.
We were too full to touch the Orange tea cake or cookies but everything we did eat was fabulous. We also saw people ordering salads, sandwiches, and even spring rolls that all looked wonderful. They do Sunday Brunch here too! Oatmeal with carmalized bananas anyone?