Tea Room Review: Afternoon Tea at Prince Tea House in New York (Koreatown)

During my visits to New York, I always seem to only have enough time to do exactly what the purpose of my visit is for. For example, my first New York trip was to see Roger Federer play at the US Open, which I did through tear stained eyes with not much time to do anything else. Last year, we visited New York to experience Pokemon Go fest at Randalls Island Park and the next thing I knew, we had to hop back on the train to get home. Basically, there is no time for afternoon tea built into the schedule, and that’s truly an awful thing.

This year, however, I vowed to rectify that. Xak, Pablo, and I had plans to visit New York yet again for 2024 Pokemon Go Fest, and to atone for our past mistakes, I planned for us to visit not one, but TWO afternoon tea rooms. The first would be Tea and Sympathy on our arrival day and for departure on a Sunday, I hoped to visit one more.

The problem with planning afternoon tea during trips is finding a location that fits all the criteria for your busy schedule. With Tea and Sympathy, we were able to make reservations in advance for a Friday afternoon. However, our second tea room visit needed to meet the following criteria:

• Within walking distance of our hotel
• Open on Sunday
• Open as early as possible (meaning “morning” tea instead of afternoon tea)
• Doesn’t break the bank (not critical, but definitely a nice to have)

Our hotel checkout time was for 11 AM, but luckily Pablo travels so much that he gets late checkout perks and we could store our bags in his hotel room while we had tea. This meant we needed to make sure we could easily and quickly get back to our hotel after tea time so we could grab our things and catch the train that would leave with or without us at exactly 2pm. (Preferably with us)

Our criteria basically eliminated almost every single tea room in New York, but there was still one option that seemed promising: Prince Tea House in Koreatown.

We made plans to visit the moment doors opened on July 7, 2024.

About Prince Tea House in Koreatown

Prince Tea House is an Asian European fusion cafe that opened its first location (of many) in 2014. I heard about Prince Tea House before through Lenny (who introduced me to afternoon tea) when she visited the New Jersey location. I also had previously read a review of the Virginia location on the Destination Tea website which showed a slightly different experience from Lenny’s. 

With the exception of hotel teas, the majority of tea rooms I visit only have one location. There’s nothing wrong with franchises, except you can’t expect the same experience at every location. For example, I know which local Popeyes to visit and which to skip. While the menu may be similar, the food isn’t always prepared in the same way. 

In fact, as I looked up various Prince Tea locations, I saw that the menu and hours of operation all varied slightly. Some places did not even offer afternoon tea!

Luckily, the Ktown location was not one of those places. In fact, they serve afternoon every day from opening (11:30 AM) to close which can vary between 11PM to 1AM. This meant we could have rolled in at 10 PM for a Saturday night tea if we wanted to. Crazy.

Although each location does have its own uniqueness, you will find overlap in the food offerings such as salads, desserts, and sandwiches.

Parking

I honestly have no idea how parking works in New York, and I have no intention of finding out. In our case, we did not have to worry about parking, however this will of course vary based on your location. Many Prince Tea locations ourside of New York City are found in strip malls nestled between other establishments with a shared parking lot containing plenty of free parking.

Reservations

While most tea rooms will require reservations and walk-ins are not guaranteed, Prince Tea is the exact opposite. There are no reservations available in New York locations. Everything is first come first served which is great for people who want to pop in for a spontaneous treat. 

This is terrible for people like me who love making reservations to ensure I have a table. Since we wouldn’t have that luxury and we knew we had to follow a certain time schedule, we made sure instead to arrive the moment the doors opened (aka 11:30 AM).

Note: Dining reservations can be made outside of the New York locations. Private parties/events even in New York locations can be arranged.

The Tea Room

After dutifully following Google Maps to get us to the restaurant, we approached the stone exterior of the building which blended in with the other neighboring shops on the street. The Prince Tea House sign was perched right aligned on top of two tall glass doors which offered a peek for walkers passing by to decide if they wanted to enter. A scannable menu and store hours were attached to the windows for potential visitors to make that decision.

As we entered, I took note of the decor and atmosphere. Everything was very modern including printed wallpaper, fake plaster animal heads, framed mirrors, chandeliers and hanging light fixtures with botanical adornments and flowers, and so much more. There was music playing in the background, and while I couldn’t determine the exact artist, it sounded like Asian pop.

The tea house had a very specific, Pinterest worthy aesthetic to it and I tried unsuccessfully to not take pictures of every inch of our surroundings (and failed). Luckily we were the first people outside of the employees there and in no time, an employee came to the front to seat us at a table in the dining room. We were served a jug of water along with glasses which the three of us gratefully drank.

After rehydrating ourselves, we found a small sign that allowed us to scan a QR code to view the menu online. I’ve been to several restaurants that do this, but never for afternoon tea. To be honest, i much prefer a physical menu so i can easily flip through pages and point directly to items versus scrolling through my tiny phone screen.

The menu has several options for lunch, desserts, coffee, tea menus, and the afternoon tea option which showed options for afternoon tea for one, two, or three. (Note: in some locations you may find “afternoon tea for 4” or not even have it as an option such as Forest Hills). There are also vegetarian and gluten free afternoon tea options.

The sandwiches for afternoon tea were all listed out, but the scone flavor and desserts would be a mystery. At the top of each menu page was the disclaimer to notify your server for any allergens. I also saw that menu items listed when a common allergen was present (ex. Contains nuts)

The Tea Menu

The tea menu section had various black, green, white, herbal, and oolong teas. I knew that I wanted to get the Big Ben English Breakfast black tea, but both Xak and Pablo needed more time to review. 

The menu said that we had “unlimited tea refills with the same flavors” so we figured we could order my English breakfast first to come out with our food and then Xak and Pablo could get their own flavors later (Note: This turned out to be a mistake!)

The server came by again and we placed our order for “Afternoon Tea for Three” with the Big Ben English Breakfast tea. Although we were the first to arrive and be seated, the dining room started to quickly fill up with other small groups of customers and soon the place got very loud.

I can certainly see why there’s a 90 minute time limit during peak hours.

Three teapots were carried to our table along with warmers that held a tea light candle. The table already had a small sugar pot (containing sugar packets) and a small pitcher of milk was brought to our table on request. Noticeably absent from the table were tea strainers which turned out to not be needed anyway due to the servers preparing the tea in the back.

We each poured out our own cup and was relieved to see that the tea was a good temperature and wouldn’t scorch our eyebrows like our experience just two days before.

The Food

Our three tiered tray came out with the expected sandwich flavors on the bottom tier. The second tier contained three scones with two small bowls of what looked like cream and preserves. On the top tier, the mystery desserts contained macarons in three flavors, mini fruit tarts, and some kind of chocolate cake in a disposable cup.

Our server recommended that we start with the scones since they were warm. Although we typically work our way up the three tiered tray (starting with savories), scones sounded like a great way to start.

Scones

We each grabbed a scone from the middle tier and passed around the clotted cream and apricot jam. All three scones were nearly identical in size (no worries about choosing the runt) and warm to the touch.

Pablo was pleased that the scone was tasty with or without any condiments noting that it wasn’t overly sweet like a donut nor did it taste like Bisquik (yes, he said those exact words. And yes, he was right).

Xak, who has eaten probably 20x as many scones as Pablo was also happy with our first course. In particular, he admired the scone’s exterior surrounding a delicious and fluffy exterior.

Savories

I usually stick to around three savories for our afternoon teas at home, so I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of savories. This is my favorite part of afternoon tea because I really appreciate the variety of flavors and textures that you can experience in just a few bites. I love tea sandwiches, but I also especially enjoy when other edible vessels are used, such as croissants or pastry crust. 

The sandwiches during our visit included the following:

• Cucumber with Tzatziki served on bread
• Chicken Salad served in a crunchy phyllo cup
• Shrimp and Crabmeat served in a crunchy phyllo cup
• Wasabi Deviled egg
• Pastrami with Swiss Cheese served in a croissant

Cucumber Tzatziki Sandwich

The cucumber tzatziki sandwich was different from most with the addition of the tzatziki. I enjoy tzatziki, a flavored yogurt sauce or dip, and I typically eat with cucumbers and Feta and it’s always one of the three dips I select for my Cava order. I’ve never had tzatziki before during an afternoon tea, and while it does usually go very well with cucumbers, I think the sandwich which was served open faced could have benefited from another slice of tzatziki covered bread. Despite it’s small size, it was a slightly herby, refreshing bite.

Chicken Salad

The chicken salad in phyllo cup had a sliced green grape half on top. I spent about 30 seconds analyzing if I should take the risk of biting into the crisp phyllo (and inevitably spreading phyllo flakes on the table) or devouring the entire thing at once. I chose the latter, which might have affected my experience: the phyllo was definitely crisp (yay) but I couldn’t really identify that I was eating chicken. It also would have greatly benefited from some more salt. I guess they call them “savories” and not “eat-in-one-bite-ries” for a reason.

Shrimp and Crab

After learning my lesson, we moved onto the shrimp and crab meat phyllo cup. As I carefully took more than one bite, I noticed that it wasn’t as crunchy as before but also that it was extremely tasty! I don’t normally get to experience shrimp or crab meat at afternoon tea so this was nice. It’s also nice when you eat things in more than one bite.

Wasabi Deviled Egg

Moving onto the wasabi deviled egg, I was both excited and apprehensive. I love deviled eggs and I make them every chance I can get including as one of our annual Thanksgiving appetizers. I also eat sushi a lot, but I rarely add wasabi to it intentionally. It was a dryer egg filling and the wasabi didn’t seem to add too much to the deviled egg in the way of spice or flavor.

Pastrami and Swiss

Finally, we took on the massive (in comparison) Pastrami with Swiss Cheese croissant with a large piece of thyme on top. I probably should have taken the time to remove the thyme (heh) but if garnishes are there, I figure they should be eaten… so I ate it. 😄 I don’t normally eat pastrami or Swiss cheese to often so I couldn’t tell you if the sandwich tasted accurate. In fact, I couldn’t taste anything other than the thyme. That was a big mistake on my part. At least it was served in a croissant. Thyme Time to move on to desserts.

Desserts

The desserts turned out to be the following:

• Macarons in 3 flavors: lemon, chocolate, and almond/vanilla
• Blueberry and Mango fruit tartlets
• Chocolate cake in a cup

Xak and I have perfected our technique for splitting macarons evenly: biting it in half and then passing it to the other person. With three people though, this was not a good solution. Macarons are very delicate and the thought of performing surgery during tea didn’t seem like it was worth it. So instead of splitting the macarons, we each took one. We’ve eaten and made a lot of macarons over the years and there’s a reason why these tiny colorful cookies are usually $3+ for one. Xak, the macaron baker, was not in love with the macarons on our plate, particularly due to the exterior and interior not having the expected consistency. He even stated that he would not have paid $3+ for these macarons.

The mango blueberry fruit tartlet seemed to lift everyone’s spirits though. The pastry base was crisp and the fruit was a nice fresh addition. And yes I made sure to eat it in more than one bite. We made sure to eat this one before the chocolate so we could taste any sweetness from the fruit.

Finally, we ended the meal with the chocolate cake. It had chocolate shavings and powdered sugar sprinkled on the top which meant it would be rich and decadent (at least I hoped). I found it a little odd that it was served in a disposable cup versus in a fancy bowl or ramekin. To be honest, I actually have nothing about this in my notes! I think this is a good sign though because if I truly hated it, I would have definitely made note of that.

Restroom

After drinking three pots of the same flavor of tea (still kicking myself over this), I made my customary stop to visit the restrooms before our departure. The restrooms are located past the dining area and beyond an accent wall covered with a botanical print and a lit Prince Tea House sign. There’s plenty of privacy since the restrooms are actually individual rooms (not stalls). Inside, the restroom was clean and also well decorated and match the aesthetic of the rest of the building.

Payment

We received the bill and it turned out to be $108 for the three of us before tax and tip which made me do a double take. This is shockingly low and in fact one of the cheapest afternoon tea experiences I’ve ever had in my life. Tax was $9.59 and depending on your tip, you will probably tack on an additional $21 or so, but even with that all added, you are still coming in at less than $50 per person which is seriously shocking, especially in New York. Since we met the credit card minimum threshold of $15, I paid with my card at our table, signed, and we headed out with plenty of time for us to leisurely walk back to our hotel and catch our train.

Final Thoughts

I’ve visited a lot of tea houses and I always find something memorable about each one, regardless of the overall experience. There’s usually some unique charm to it, such as the owner’s collection of Blue Willow china on display, fancy Renaissance style oil paintings, or crazy shaped teapots on shelves.

To be honest, I walked into Prince Tea House unsure what to expect since I knew it was a franchise. I was pleasantly surprised by our experience. I was very disappointed that we only selected one tea flavor (due to us not understanding that we had to order our three flavors up front), but that’s completely on us. The good news is, the tea flavor we did choose was nice. The food had ups and downs, but the highlight for us was definitely the scones which is always a great sign. I’m also still really excited that the price was so reasonable.

Since Prince Tea House does much more than just serve afternoon tea, it can get extremely crowded and you won’t necessary have the relaxed feeling that you might experience at a dedicated afternoon tea house. If we do choose to return, I would be very interested in checking out other things on the menu instead of afternoon tea.

In fact, as I checked the menu again while writing up this entry, I saw a new menu item called “Dessert Paradise” which serves TWELVE mini desserts. Yes, I am totally intrigued by this and am secretly hoping it’s still there during next year’s PoGo fest 😄

Our experience (particularly Pablo’s) might have been a little biased because of the afternoon tea experience we had two days earlier at Tea and Sympathy. Still, I think it’s safe to say that Prince Tea House does offer a solid experience regardless of if it’s your first tea or your fiftieth. Overall, we had a great time and I’m very happy that we ended our Pokemon Go adventure with a nice afternoon tea. Maybe someone will open a franchise near us soon…

Bonus: Bear Donut

Since I was so worried about us not arriving exactly on time to Prince Tea House, the three of us left our hotel extremely early. So early that the doors were not open, nor would they be for … oh… about half an hour. 😄

Everyone was feeling a little peckish because we left the hotel without eating breakfast. At times like this, it’s best to find something small to tide you over. Something like… a doughnut. After all, this blog isn’t called Scones and Doughns for nothing!

On the way to Prince Tea House, we passed a doughnut shop called Bear Donut. There’s nothing wrong with kickstarting your afternoon tea with an appetizer doughnut right?

As we walked inside, the place looked awesome! A variety of delicious tantalizing round doughnuts lined up in rows behind a glass display greet you upon entering and its truly a beautiful sight.

You can also purchase soft serve and coffee, but really the main attraction is right in the name. After a few minutes of debate, Xak and I selected a Tiramisu donut to split while Pablo chose the strawberry. Most people will grab their doughnuts and go, but since we still had time before Prince Tea House opened, it made sense for us to make use of the small eating area inside the shop.

The doughnuts were incredible and I seriously regret not getting my own! We are definitely returning back to Bear Donut next year!