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Tea Room Review: Afternoon Tea at Cafe Renaissance in Vienna, Virginia

Last Updated: April, 14, 2025

April 2025 Update from Dani: This original review is based off a private event experience and may differ from the normal Cafe Renaissance afternoon tea events. You can read our updated 2025 experience is at the bottom of the page.

Xak and I have several afternoon tea experiences over the course of 5 years, and none of them have been cheap. Most tea rooms we visit average around $60~ per person. Multiply that by 2, add tip, and the cost of parking, and you’ve now paid enough to cover about 12 Chipotle burritos and maybe even some guacamole.

So when our company announced they were hosting an afternoon tea event, we were ecstatic. Afternoon tea on the company dime? Sign us up!

For this particular event, the afternoon tea was being hosted at a restaurant named Cafe Renaissance in Vienna, Virginia. I have never been here before either for a meal or afternoon tea, so I was thrilled for a chance to visit a new tea place. Luckily, I was able to cross it off our list thanks to our June 6, 2024 visit.

About Cafe Renaissance

Cafe Renaissance is a family owned restaurant that began serving French/European cuisine 30 years ago. It’s mere steps away from other well known Vienna locations like The Virginian Kitchen, Jammin Java, and the now closed Amphora (RIP 3 AM runs). Since Cafe Renaissance’s main focus is dinner time, they don’t open until after 3 PM. This explains why I never had a chance to visit during my Maple Avenue breakfast walks.

Special events include monthly wine dinners and afternoon tea events which are only held on the last Saturday of the event, or in our case, a private weekday event.

Reservations for dinner are typically made online through Open Table or by phone call, but tea reservations are only handled through calling.

Exterior and Parking

Cafe Renaissance shares a parking lot with the other Glyndon Park establishments. There’s limited parking spaces directly in front of the entrance, but there’s a good amount of free space behind the back. Everyone in my group had plenty of parking options.

There are several potted plants lining the side and a brick retaining wall of flowers leading you to the entrance that read “Fine Dining” on the door underneath the restaurant’s sign. From the outside, the restaurant looks like the other buildings and casual eateries in the strip mall.

Tea Room and Decor

Walking into the foyer, there’s quite a lot to look at on the entrance wall including framed pictures and awards and a large gold mirror above a console table. However once you walk into the dining room past the podium, you’ll likely be surprised at the restaurant’s dining room since it’s a lot fancier than the exterior.

Since this was a private event specifically for company employees, round tables were pushed together to allow for closer seating. The tables were adorned with real tablecloths and beautiful flower arrangements consisting of real hydrangeas and peonies (I might have touched a petal to check)

Murals, framed paintings, and wall sconces hung on a textured wall with gold trim and wainscoting, which was far different than what I expected based on the outside.

As we settled into our seats, water was served along with glasses with champagne. At most afternoon teas, champagne is available as an upcharge or part of a “Royal tea” course. I don’t drink too much alcohol outside of celebratory toasts, but I don’t mind imbibing a little when someone else is paying the bill. Tea pots were brought out to share among the table featuring two types of tea: Earl Grey with cardamom for the black tea option and a fruity, lemongrass tea for the herbal tea drinkers.

Strainers were available to place on an individual tea cup while pouring and there were fresh lemon slices and sugar cubes offered. Milk and cream were not readily available on the table, but most (including me) opted to drink the Earl Grey with just the lemon.

Drinking tea with a large group is certainly an experience that I’m not used to. With the exception of my visit to Boulder Tea House, it’s usually Xak and me and we get pots all to ourselves. I never have to share my English Breakfast with him if I don’t want to (but of course I will if he asks). Passing the tea pots around the tea table was quite difficult due to the heaviness of the pot and the heat. Since there were limited tea pots and space on the table, we stuck to passing one’s teacup down to the person closest to the pot.

Food

Scones

As everyone was taking pictures of the dining room and the table settings (including me), the owner came out carrying a tray and used tongs to plate warm scones on each of our plates.

There was no clotted cream on the table, but pats of butter and strawberry jam were available to spread on the scone, if desired. I’m not much of a butter person when it comes to dressing my scone, so I chose to eat it plain. The scone itself was more on the flaky biscuit side than the denser cream scones you’ll find at tea rooms. This doesn’t mean it tasted bad; it just means it wasn’t like a traditional cream scone.

After we finished our scones, three tiered trays came out for every pair of two at each table.

On the bottom tier were tea sandwiches including an open faced filet mignon sandwich, cucumber sandwich, and salmon. The middle and top tiers contained four total desserts including a cream puff profiterole, baklava, a linzer cookie, and chocolate mousse. 

Sandwiches

The cucumber sandwich was a fairly large square (About the size of two finger sandwiches) and had an herby, spiced flavor in the cream cheese which I was happy about. The salmon sandwich was salty and served open faced with raw onions on top. I’m not a big raw onion fan (is anyone?), but I do appreciate salmon in Philly rolls, on bagels, and during tea. Cucumber sandwiches are definitely the most common item you’ll see during the afternoon tea savories course. I’ve also seen salmon sandwiches (like during my Lady Camellia visit), but this has only been a few occasions. Usually it’s during teas where you can choose the food you want. I wish more tea rooms served these, but I guess not everyone enjoys fish. The point is, salmon isn’t an uncommon type of tea sandwich.

However… I was very surprised to see an open faced filet mignon sandwich. Roast beef at tea, fine, but never almost a full sized filet mignon. It was basically the size of an entree steak served on a small bed of arugula and bread. Truthfully, the sandwich was quite difficult and awkard to eat without making a huge mess, but as a steak lover I was fine making a fool of myself in front of my coworkers. I’m not really sure why this one was open face, but no matter. I love filet mignon.

desserts

After I mentioned how awesome it was to have filet mignon during tea for the tenth time during the table conversation, we moved on to the desserts course.

Thanks to Great British Bake Off, I’ve heard the term profiterole enough to know that the more commonly known term is a cream puff. Outside of beignets, I’m not a huge fan of choux pastry (what profiteroles are made of), but I wouldn’t turn down a chocolate eclair if it was available. At most tea places I’ve visited (like my visit to Miss Minerva’s), you’ll likely see a basic cream puff: choux dough encasing pastry cream or custard.

For this particular profiterole, there was powdered sugar sprinkled on top and a normal cream filling (sadly, no chocolate). Nothing wrong with this cream puff, but it’s still not my number one choice for a tea dessert nor do I think it ever will be.

Baklava, the second dessert, is something I’ve eaten before but never at afternoon tea. It’s a layered phyllo pastry filled with nuts, like walnuts or pistachios, and a sweet syrup and will have different variations and shapes depending on the country. You’ll likely find it on the dessert menu of Greek and Turkish restaurants, among others. While the top of this baklava had the characteristic flaky phyllo pastry and the flavor tasted close to what I expected, the overall dessert was soggier than usual on the bottom which wasn’t the most pleasant. I noticed not everyone chose to eat the baklava.

The top tier’s desserts seemed more promising (maybe that’s why they were top tier 😄). Linzer cookies have Austrian roots and consist of two buttery shortbread cookies sandwiching fruit jam and sprinkled with sugar. Although they have similarities to the Viennese Whirls Xak has made in the past, one characteristic that make Linzer cookies so appealing are the distinct top cutout showcasing a preview of the appetizing jam filling.

Although I’ve had store bought Linzer cookies in the form of Jammie Dodgers, I’ve never had Linzer cookies at an actual afternoon tea nor have I ever had a homemade one. They’ve been on my “Xak to-bake” list for a while. The Linzer cookie was good and I think/hope Xak agrees we should add it to a future tea menu, especially if it’s with his homemade raspberry jam. 😋

The final dessert was chocolate mousse. I’ve had chocolate mousse now at quite a few teas (like my visit to The Tea Cart) but I still am surprised by its existence on the tea tray. I find it an interesting dessert for tea since it’s very decadent and rich on its own, and honestly I don’t really think it fits in with a lot of tea flavors. However, I’ll never complain about silky chocolate mousse being served anywhere or at any time. Even though chocolate mousse to me is basically a fancy adult pudding cup, it’s still a nice way to finish a meal. (After all, I love pudding)

Final Thoughts

I’m very grateful I had the opportunity to cross off another tea room from my list thanks to my company. I had an excellent time learning about everyone else’s afternoon tea experiences, including finding out this was some people’s very first afternoon tea. Believe it or not, I don’t necessarily go out of my way to talk about tea with my coworkers on a regular basis, so it was great to share and nerd out in an appropriate setting.

Since I didn’t pay for anything out of my own pocket, obviously the food tasted much better than normal 😄. If I think past the price though, I would say that there were certainly some aspects of the tea that I would have done a little differently such as offering additional tea flavors. Since this was a private event and we were a fairly large group, logistically it would have been impossible for everyone to have their own tea pot, but I felt like tea was definitely an afterthought and the focus seemed to be on the food. Since Cafe Renaissance is first and foremost a restaurant, this makes sense.

I am still shocked that we were all basically served filet mignons as one of the sandwiches. (Yeah!!) I imagine that the regularly scheduled afternoon tea events are handled a little differently and I am a little curious to see what that experience is like. While I may return one day (and pay my own way), there’s plenty more tea rooms that I would like to visit first before I make my way back.

March 2025 update – revisiting Cafe Renaissance

As it turns out, Xak and I did indeed return to Cafe Renaissance sooner than expected. One of our friends, who we introduced to afternoon tea at The Ritz Carlton a few years ago, was interested in visiting another tea place with us. Our influence is spreading. 😏

A mid-point between our house and his house is the Tysons Corner/Vienna area, which meant that Cafe Renaissance was an ideal place to meet. This time though, we would be paying our own way, and I was eager to see how the experience would change.

The Cafe Renaissance website states that afternoon tea is served on the last Saturday of every month which worked out perfectly for us since March 28th (the day we decided to meet) was indeed the last Saturday of the month.

Since it was already Thursday afternoon, I was a bit worried that there wouldn’t be any available openings for that upcoming Saturday. The restaurant isn’t huge and with tea being limited to once a month, I was sure that my luck wouldn’t hold.

Reservation Process

Reservations are only available via telephone, so I called the number on the site and asked if they were still taking reservations available for Saturday. There are two tea seating times: 12 PM and 2:30 PM. Apparently, the 12 PM time was already fully booked, but there were still some openings for 2:30 PM. I quickly gave my name for 2:30 to reserve a table for four people.

the Dining Room

Living in the DC metro area, you know there is always going to be traffic, even when Google maps “claims” that your entire route is green. Although we didn’t have to be there until 2:30, Xak and I still left with quite a lot of time to spare.

We walked in through the narrow entryway and stopped at the podium to wait to be seated. Even though our full party wasn’t there, I hoped we could still get a table since there was no other place to wait except outside.

The owner came by to check our name and told us we could choose whatever open table we wanted. I opted for one in the corner of the restaurant facing the front window. As we sat down, I quickly touched the flowers (very gently) just to see if they were real, which of course they were. Just like last time, whoever the florist is for this place is excellent. Every table had a different bouquet of beautiful flowers.

While we waited for our friends to arrive, we watched a few other parties enter to be seated and servers dropping off food and tea at the existing seated parties. Our friends (who were caught in traffic that pesky DC traffic) finally arrived, and we were ready for tea to begin.

The Food and Tea

We were served Earl Grey and Lemongrass tea (same as our 2024 visit) along with two three tiered trays (1 tray per 2 people). The table was already crowded, so and we ended up having to remove the flowers. 😞

Not the best picture, but I was so hungry, I couldn’t wait to dive in!

After dropping the trays off, the servers were on their way without explaining the food to us. This was a little surprising considering I heard it being explained to other tables, however since the food was pretty similar to my experience last year, I took over explaining to our table.

Bottom tier consisted of the same three sandwiches we were previously served: open face filet mignon, cucumber, and smoked salmon.

The middle tier contained scones and chocolate eclairs. Butter and jam were in little bowls already placed on the table.

The top tier had the linzer cookie that inspired me to want to make my own, baklava, and crème brûlée.

Although the majority of the meal was the same as my previous visit, there were still a few surprises: the crème brûlée and the chocolate eclair. Ironically in my previous post, I mentioned how I wouldn’t turn down a chocolate eclair and lo and behold…. we got chocolate eclairs! (Did someone from Cafe Renaissance read my review?)

I’ve only been served crème brûlée at tea time in the form of a macaron which has been really tasty, but it’s also really nice cracking the sugar layer on top and being able to savor an actual spoonful of custard. Yum!

Another pleasant surprise was the baklava. Previously it was quite soggy and I left it half uneaten, but this time around it was flaky and crisp. A huge improvement and much more enjoyable. The linzer cookie was also in much better shape than before thanks to the generous dusting of powdered sugar on the top.

In total, our tea experience was $103.70 for two people (including tax and tip). Surprisingly, I had a better experience paying out of my own pocket versus the previous event I attended which was covered by my company. I’m guessing it’s because that event had about 20 people together in one party and it’s more difficult to ensure that all the food is served warm at once.

If someone from Cafe Renaissance actually reads my reviews, if it’s no trouble… it would be great if there could be another slice of bread on top of that filet mignon sandwich! 😊

If you’ve visited Cafe Renaissance, what did you think?

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2 Comments

  1. Hi Dani, I always enjoy reading all yours and Xak’s posts though I’ve never commented. This afternoon tea looked, frankly, cumbersome and inelegant due to the large portions and especially the weird way they served the tea sandwiches. I agree filet Mignon would have been an expensive and tasty treat on the menu but how on earth could you eat it, and with sharing the tea trays between two people, how did you even diplomatically decide who got what? Don’t you think it would’ve been better if they’d split the portions in half? Anyway, keep the posts coming- I always love checking in! Thanks so much! Judy in Australia 🇦🇺

    1. Hi Judy, thanks so much for reading and I am so happy you’ve been enjoying the posts! I appreciated my company covering the cost of the event, but I definitely felt awkward and clumsy while eating and I agree it would have been beneficial (and less messy) if the portions had been split. Xak and I are big eaters, but for our afternoon teas at home, we actually prefer making pretty petite bites… and then we will get seconds (or thirds) 😄. Thank you again for reading the blog and I hope you will enjoy the new reviews I’ll be posting soon!
      -Dani

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