Tea House 60/64 Chinese

Before I get into my reviews I'm sure you all missed me! I moved into a new place in Ellington and took a week to get internet service.

My best friend Josh used to work at Rein's Deli in the shops at 30 in Vernon. Next to it used to be a little restaurant called Joy Luck. I think there still might be a place operating under that name but people who used to go to Joy Luck 5+ years ago now this place isn't the same. We used to often go there for the best Chinese food I've ever eaten. One day we went in and the same waitress / host wasn't there and we were alarmed. Then our food came out terrible and we were heart broken. Until one day passing through Ellington I saw a new place named Tea House had opened up. We gave it a shot thinking nothing could be as good as Joy Luck. But much to our surprise either they had gotten the chef's from Joy Luck or at least their recipes because the food was just how we'd remembered it. Tea House is in Ellington (3.3 miles from my apartment!!!) right on route 83. For those who want an address it's 89 West Road Ellington, CT 06029. The hour of operation are roughly 11am to 11pm Tuesday through Sunday and regrettably they are closed Mondays. The number to reach them is 860-872-8818 and the website is http://www.asiaticmall.com/teahouse/ for menu listings and other information. As you can already tell my expectations for this place are always VERY high.

The dining room is set up with a number of tables to seat various sizes. The walls are colorfully decorated with Asian themed items. The music is classical Japanese or Chinese music featuring harps and string instruments. It's very relaxing and easily blends into the background so as not to disrupt your conversations. The host area features a wide variety of tea pots and bagged teas you can purchase for your own use. The dining area has about 15 tables and can probably seat about 75 or 80 people. It is always immaculately clean and very rarely will you see dishes laying on a table. I give the setup and layout of the dining area a 15/16. It is set up very well and I can't think of much to add to or change it without taking away from it's simple elegance.

The menu design is listed and organized by types of cuisine and by the protein for the most part. I stick to the same three or for items generally but they offer a wide variety of Asian cuisines. They have many different vegetarian dishes, as well as all of the usual items you think of from a Chinese or Thai restaurant like Mushu Pork, Pu Pu Platter or Pad Thai Noodles. The biggest down fall of this menu is some times with the wide variety it's hard to choose one item. But who says you have to just eat one thing? :) I give the menu design a 14/16, the only real thing I could suggest to help with the menu would be a few pictures of the food to further entice the diners.

Upon taking your seat the servers are quick to bring ice water, hot tea and clear away any unnecessary table settings. I went the day I unpacked all of my belongings into my new apartment with my friends Josh and Slade. The three of us were famished and ordered Cold Sesame Noodles, PuPu Platter for one and Crab Rangoons as an appetizer. The noodles came out almost instantly and had us salivating quickly. We hadn't even finished them when the PuPu platter and Crab Rangoons came out. The flaming sterno on the platter is always so fun to cook your items on. As we finished up these our meals came out. I give the execution of the staff a 15/16 as the meal came out perfectly. We weren't waiting on an item however when we were seated the waitress did rush our order if we wanted to get the lunch special even though we had been sat before 3:30. Other than that everything was very well.

I had ordered Sesame Chicken and Beef, Josh got the General Tsao's as did Slade. My main pet peeve at a lot of places is the difference between these two is Sesame seeds sprinkled on top of General Tsao's magically transforms it into Sesame Chicken. However it's not like this at Tea House both items are entirely different from the other. And the chicken isn't those odd balls shaped soggy lumps many places serve up. The chicken they use is clear chicken breast instead of processed meat, and all the ingredients were easily identifiable in the items. This told me everything was quite fresh, also the crab rangoons you could taste the crab instead of just cream cheese. The fried items were also all a golden brown instead of a dark stale brown. I give the meals taste and quality a 16/16 as despite having frequented Tea House many times, this meal was perfect like every other time.

I mentioned the server brings tea over at the beginning of your meal. If you are a tea drinker or enjoy an exotic tea, chances are Tea House will carry it. I have tried many different kinds here and though it's a bit bitter the Chrysanthemum Tea is delicious.

My overall rating for Tea House is 60/64. I am pretty sure even before I lived so close to Tea House this is the restaurant I frequent the most. It's worth the drive from where ever you are and the food is a generous quantity for the price.