Hawthorn Tea Room

My girlfriend and I were strolling down the street when we passed this tea room. We decided to check it out. Such a lovely surprise! The server and the owner that we talked with were friendly, passionate, and knowledgable! We’d never been to a tea room before but they made is feel right at home and helped is with our selection. They have a GREAT selection of teas, all varietals and genres. We split a scone, very delicious with a lemon curd and cream! The server told is that their lunch is superb but that they are often very busy during peak hours and reservations highly recommend. There’s a few small intimate tables as well as a few larger if you want to bring your friends!

We love Hawthorn Tea Room — it is the only place to go have lunch or enjoy high tea. Being Gluten Free, it is hard to enjoy sandwiches, cookies, scones or enjoy a special day with family and friends. They make it easy with their AMAZING Gluten Free Options — with no additional charge!
The GLUTEN FREE is amazing. I get the tea set with a tower of sandwiches, desserts, fresh fruit and a warm scone. There is no additional charge for the Gluten Free, just need 48 hours to request. The cucumber sandwiches are amazing! Their scones have no after taste and you won’t be disappointed!!!
The Hawthorn Tea Room has the best atmosphere and customer service in Tacoma. You will feel like your in your best friends kitchen while you sip the most amazing loose leaf teas in cute floral cups. I love the teapot centerpieces with fresh flowers. It is not just the food that makes the Hawthorn Tea Room wonderful; it is the two wonderful hostess that talk to.
Going to the Hawthorn Tea Room is an experience and it is great for special occasions. My daughter took me there for mothers day twice, we have had birthdays and my daughters going away to college. You don’t feel rushed, they make you feel like your one of the family.

The Hawthorn Tea Room is definitely one of my favorite places for tea. Unlike other tea rooms, it’s much, much cheaper and very cozy. The place is always completely clean. I do not think I have ever been here and saw any sort of mess.
The staff are absolutely wonderfully kind people and very attentive while being very courteous and accommodating to anyone who has any dietary restrictions and allergies. The service can sometimes take a bit, but it’s a very small place that can get very busy so it’s completely understandable. I recommend that if you have a large group to definitely call ahead with your orders if you’re an impatient person. It also makes it much easier on the staff.
As for the food, it has always been very wonderful. I get very excited anytime they have English Toffee Scones. Unlike most places, they have a much wider selection of scones and even carry gluten free ones! Their sandwiches are very light and extremely refreshing with sweets that are not too cloying sweet. Everything balances each other rather well.
Their tea is always so lovely. They staff are extremely knowledgeable with them and can recommend something that suits your tastes PERFECTLY. I always bring friends who are unsure of themselves when it comes to tea, and they can always pick one that my friends fall in love with. They also sell loose leaves of their tea for such a stellar price! Also, free tea refills? Amazing!
The downside is that if it’s packed it can get rather loud. Again, completely understandable since it’s a very small shop and there’s not too much you can do with a small place.
All in all this place is very quaint with lovely food and an absolutely stellar staff.

I adore this place! The ladies are so sweet and they know me and my kiddos. We go about once a month to have tea, hot chocolate for the kids, and scones. It is so relaxing and welcoming!
They also have amazing tea sets and lunch if you are interested in something more substantial to eat. The food tastes so good with fresh ingredients! The presentation is simple and classic.
They have a great selection of tea. I really enjoy the Fruits of Summer black tea. Sunset in Seattle is an really good herbal tea option. You can also purchase some loose leaf to take home with you.

Some friends and I recently had a small baby shower here for our friend. It was really delightful. Our hostess was bubbly and engaging, and the prices were just right for Tacoma residents. It’s a really lovely place, but casual enough for us Pacific Northwesterners who want to wear a fleece and jeans on occasion.
The prices are good, the food is excellent. This is a great place for high-​tea or just a small lunch. Highly recommend!

I’m a tea sandwich fanatic, and the Hawthorn Tea Room is an oasis (especially when you work on Tacoma Avenue where prostitution, assault, and drug-​dealing is happening right outside your window on a daily basis).
Everything I’ve ordered has been amazing, and I’m grateful for that after reading some of the other reviews. I love the chicken salad sandwich on croissant. Not enough places serve this combination — chicken salad should not come on any other kind of bread, in my opinion. Their desserts have been to-​die-​far. The scones are crumbly and buttery, and come with a selection of lemon curd, butter, and jam to spread on it. The last time I was there, I ordered an oatmeal cake. Sounds healthy right? It was like bread pudding — SO good.
The tea is also quite good. When they refill the pot for you they brew you a fresh pot, and I like that. And the staff is always sweet and friendly. We once had a small bridal shower here for one of our coworkers and they were very accommodating with our small party. Highly recommend!
P. S. One suggestion for them — for some reason no music is ever playing. Some nice classical music playing in the background (chamber music maybe) would be awesome.

The servers were extremely nice but not very attentive. We had to get out of our seats about every 15 minutes to ask for things like water and our check. Every single item on the «tea set» menu was apparently made to order (even the Damselfly) so it took too long to get our food. When the food came, most of it tasted good. The scones had a nice flavor but tasted as though they had been sitting in a Ziploc and then reheated in a microwave. The texture was just off (rubbery on the outside). The child’s butterfly cookie was adorable, but didn’t taste fresh. The waitress informed us they were frozen so they could be served fresh. What??? And finally, the portions were SUPER small. Don’t go if you are hungry. We paid way too much money for the tiny plate of food we had. The Damselfly included tea, sandwiches (which included 2 chicken salad sandwiches each on a croissant about the size of an egg, and a cream cheese, cucumber and watercress salad on a slice of white bread about the size of a small french toast stick), one scone (about half the size of a Starbucks scone) and a tiny fruit skewer that had 4 tiny grapes, 2 slices of strawberry, one slice of orange and 2 small pieces of pineapple). The tea was very good. And again, the food wasn’t all bad. It was just a tiny portion with pastries that didn’t taste fresh. My 7 and 11 year olds and I had to get an extra snack when it was all over. And we are not normally huge eaters. We probably would not go again. There are too many other good tea rooms to try.

I’ve been to twenty tea rooms in the PNW and nothing comes close to the Hawthorn. Kathy and Alison create a personal, welcoming experience with amazing food, superior tea selection properly brewed, in an open, homey, and bright space that is comfortable for everyone. No dolls, no doilies, no plastic flowers on the table, no leaves left stewing in the pot turning your tea bitter while you lunch. For tea room novices, this is a great way to get started — just remember to always call ahead (tea room etiquette). And for tea room veterans, this is the gold standard.

Love, love, LOVE The Hawthorn Tea Room. My first experience was for my girlfriend’s bridal shower, in July 2011. Cathy & Allison were EXTREMELY accommodating and made everything special & wonderful. We all had a great time, including the bride’s very difficult, English grandma. She was here for 4 months and the only compliment was for Cathy’s tea and scones.
I recently hosted a get together for a bunch of Army wives. We had a wonderful time. Again, everyone enjoyed themselves & raved about the food. Cathy & Allison worked with me to prepare an evening within our budget; however, nothing during the evening felt «budget».
Aside from special occasions, my daughter (6 years old) & I often stop in for a weekend or special event lunch. She loves it and the ladies always make her feel special.
Cathy’s scones are fantastic. Secret — you can order scones «to go». We have started doing this for holidays and other family events.
The Holiday Tea is fun with amazing food.

It was fun to have High Tea with a friend. Upon walking into the Tea Room, the waitress greeted us from across the room. We were promptly seated, given the menu to choose our tea, and offered our choice of scone. I had a Living Social Voucher so we didn’t have to actually make a selection as far as what food we wanted. The voucher said High Tea for two, but we were actually given the menu choice that was one category less than what the restaurant called «High Tea.» That didn’t really matter to me. I’m glad though I had the voucher. The lunch really wasn’t worth $ 40 for 2 people. I think $ 20 was about right. I suppose you are paying more for the area you are in. It was an ok experience. I really enjoyed the company of my friend. The waitress was very nice, but too loud. I forgot to mention she yelled an order across the room. That would/​should NEVER happen at High Tea. Lol. We aren’t in England, so I guess that’s all we will get in Tacoma.

Food was ok, scones were burnt and had to wait for ever to check out due to difficulty with credit card machine! Have to say the scones should be all you can eat like The Secret Garden in Sumner!!!

I completely agree w/​Jay S. $ 57 for tea for 2 (Monarch tea). I am not a huge eater, but I could have eaten both portions — no problem. We were not made aware of the unlimited tea, but our 2 different flavors were a little bitter for us to want to order more. Plus where are the shi-​shi desserts? Ours were all monochromatic tans & browns. Cookie, sweet bread slice + truffle. No cakes or tarts. The bread for the sandwiches seemed a little stale, too. The micro quiche + other savory thing were amuse-​bouche sized, but my mouth was not amused. Scones were great & fruit-​packed, but not your typical scone.

Old Town (Tacoma) needs more cute places & I want to support them, but I’ll be recommending The Secret Garden in Sumner.

My best friend and I took my mom here for her birthday tea this weekend, and we had a wonderful time!
Although you should be prepared to wait awhile (as they’re making everything themselves, and I found it worth it), it was nice to just relax and chat and enjoy slowing down a bit.
It is a little pricey, but for what we ordered, I thought a good deal. We had the Hawthorn Tea which was $ 19.50 a person, had unlimited tea (and in as many different flavors as you wanted), homemade scones (OMG THE WHOLE BERRIES FELL OUT OF MINE), lemon curd (OMG again), devonshire cream, and then different delicious tea sandwiches. We also had fruit kabobs, and then little cookies and other delicacies for dessert.
We were all full and happy by the end, and it had been a delightful afternoon. The people who served us were so sweet and warm, and it had a great ambiance. They could use a little work on the décor, but for a nice little time together, it was great.
I have promised my youngest niece that we’ll go and she’s already chomping at the bit.

Mediocri-​tea. The Hawthorn Tea Room would be a much needed & welcome addition to Tacoma’s Old Town District if it had more going on. If you are about «tea time», this wouldn’t be the place to splurge… but you could have a decent cuppa. Just don’t expect them to refill your tiny pot automatically — they don’t. I had to ask… and wait… for more Irish Breakfast.
Hawthorn is kinda pricey for the little it has going on. Case in point, today’s lunch: My mum had the daily special sandwich, a «California wrap». Not very tea-​like, for starters, it was a cold, medium sized tortilla with turkey, avocado, a sour cream type spread, tomato & sprouts. Fairly tasty, but not worth $ 11. Yes, $ 11. (see the menu on their web site!) My bowl of soup, a homemade potato soup — again «okay» — was served with a spongy (as in microwaved?) savoury scone, reasonable at $ 5.50, but pretty boring. A children’s tea is $ 12. My daughter had ½ of an — again — mediocre turkey sandwich, a tiny bit of fruit, a small blueberry scone, and 2 little cookies with hot cocoa. She was underwhelmed by it (didn’t care to finish the cookies) and I thought it totally overpriced.
«Where’s the tea food?» was my big question. Aside from the wrap, they serve deli sandwiches (turkey & ham), pb&j, and a caprese sandwich. Huh? I heard a woman at a nearby table asking them to put chicken salad on a sandwich for her… they don’t offer chicken salad sandwiches outright…“huh?”, again.
The menu is ungainly, with strange combinations, & confusing. They mention scones on the menu, but there are no cakes or tarts. If you really are into tea — they do have a large selection, including Mad Hatter tea. But it seemed more of a tea «house» than a proper Brit-​type tea «room». Save your cash for a place like Queen Mary or White Heather if you really desire proper tea… sorry, I know they’re out o’ town.
Please believe — I strive to support local businesses and don’t LOOK to fault them — but this little place is a disappointment. They’d be better off trying to be a lunch place that features tea rather than attempting to be a tea room. It’s rather like putting lipstick on my dog and calling it a makeover.