Leland Tea Company - Burlingame

I'm surprised by the glowing reviews. My review is for tea service and I was left disappointed by bizarre charges, mediocre food, and ungracious service. For some context, I adore afternoon tea. I'll start with the good: the staff was friendly (but see below); the tea was lovely, with some really interesting blends (I had the fig black tea and enjoyed it); the scones were pretty good, although not as flavorful as I would have liked (I tried both kinds); the jam was really nice. But I was disappointed with the small things that added up and made me feel like I was at the Spirit Airlines of tea houses. I've never been to afternoon tea where I'm charged for milk. They didn't even have dairy, so we were left with almond milk. It was laughable how little milk they brought out for one pot of tea. We didn't find out about the up-charge until we paid. We were asked if we wanted to add lemon curd and clotted cream for a charge. We received literally a spoonful of each. The spoonful of curd was $3 and clotted cream a whopping $5. The lemon curd wasn't good. I love homemade lemon curd, so this was a bummer. Turns out it's thickened with corn starch, which is what made it taste off. The last straw was having to pay the 3.5% credit card fee. I'm actually going to reach out to Visa about this one. Half an hour before closing, the server brought out to-go cups for our tea and cleared the table because they needed to do the dishes. What?! If you want to go home earlier, change your hours. If I wanted tea in a to-go cup, I would've saved $50 and gone to Peet's. Leland Tea has some odd ways of approaching tea service that certainly didn't feel like the gracious experiences I've had both locally and all over the world. I will not recommend Leland Tea to friends looking for delightful afternoon tea, but it seems fine for takeaway tea.

Cute spot for a date.

Food and service is delightful. Completely charming!

It's my favorite afternoon tea place.

Calm atmosphere with hand crafted, delicious lunch options. Would recommend bringing a laptop and enjoying the ambiance during the weekdays.

Great place

I came in to get some tea, and walked away having had an amazing experience.