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Lucys Tea House (Closed)
(Teahouse cuisine)
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9
JaT Rating |
650-969-6365
Website Menu vCard
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| Cozy little Teahouse hidden down an alleyway in downtown Mountain View. |
Reviewer: Jason
Total Reviews: 998
Reviewed: 2/2/2004
Rating: 9
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Lucys Tea House is probably one of those restaurants that is spread through word of mouth. Its tucked away in an alleyway with no restaurant name posted anywhere. Who knows that they serve food here.
We walk in and the old lady behind the counter smiles at us and signals to choose our table. After looking around a bit, the atmosphere resembles a game room. There are books, cards, and board games on the shelves. We're not even sure we could order real food here but she brought out this menu that looked like a pocketbook. Food is inexpensive with daily specials ranging from $4-6.
I ordered the chicken special. It comes with a hard boiled egg, small salad, rice, chicken, tea, and dessert. The meal is tiny but enjoyable. The food is good but I think the real treat is the scenery; people aren't too loud, waiters are in no hurry, its just a calm environment where you can relax. If you don't feel like eating, you can sit down at a table and enjoy a book while sipping tea.
One of Mountain Views hidden little jewels and will consider this it for JaTbar favorite restaurant of the year :)
***** Updated 07.16.05 *****
Its a sad day for restaurants...I have been informed that Lucys Tea House closed their doors on June 26th. I drove by today and the furniture and decorations have been removed. Im not sure what replacing Lucys but I doubt it will ever be the same.
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Reviewer: Terry
Total Reviews: 730
Reviewed: 1/30/2004
Rating: 9
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I rate this one very highly. The portions weren't overly large, yet satisfying. They offer a daily special (with Vegetarian offerings every day). Being the Vegetarian, I ordered that special. This amounted to the normal offerings (with Tofu substituted in for the Meat). A large portion of rice with soy sauce dashed on top. A brown hardboiled egg. A tiny salad finished off the tray. The special includes either green tea ice cream or your choice of teas. Order the tea. I got the iced Tea and man it is probably the best tasting tea I have ever had. Thats all I can say. With tax & tip, the meals came out to $7. Definitely worth it. Will go again.
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Reviewer: Eddie
Total Reviews: 47
Reviewed: 8/12/2004
Rating: 8.5
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I have been this place a couple times, and I went there for lunch again today. I don't think I need to repeat what everyone said here, I love the home-cooking meal, nice tea house atmosphere, neat setting, and very very nice host. Every time I eat here, it makes me feel like mom's cooking. Especially the egg, for some reason. The only complain is the portion. The portion served here is probably your standard healthy unit. Not that you would feel hungry after the meal, you just feel you want some more which is probably a good thing to me anyway. I would highly recommend it - if you are not very hungry.
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Reviewer: Julie
Total Reviews: 46
Reviewed: 8/3/2004
Rating: 10
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I have eaten at my first restaurant that was unquestionably a 10. In my opinion, it takes more than just outstanding food to warrant the highest jatbar rating – it has to have be special a little something extra or unique that you don’t find very often. I could not improve on Lucy’s Tea House in any way. It is the definition of the perfect restaurant.
First, the location is wonderful. It’s on a side alley and you wouldn’t even know it was there. The fact that it’s tucked away makes it very cozy and though every table was full by the end of our lunch, you didn’t feel crammed in like you so often do. The decor is beautiful, with cushioned chairs and unique couches and wall decorations. Everything about this place is one of a kind.
The menu is a small pocket book that describes mostly teas. At the back, they have 2 options for food – a few varieties of sandwiches and the combo of the day (today’s was chicken). We opted for the combo and a glass of Forrest Rain Tea. It’s a milk based pearl tea, but it was better than I’ve had at pearl tea places. It wasn’t too sweet, it was creamy, and the tapioca balls were chewy. The meal was small, but more than enough for a lunchtime meal. You also get a scoop of ice cream with your combo meal. Today, we had a choice of Jasmine or Green Tea, and I have to give the ice cream its own paragraph.
It was the best ice cream I’ve ever tasted! I opted for the Jasmine, but I was also able to taste the Green Tea. I was skeptical about ice creams with these names, but I can’t say enough about the Jasmine Ice Cream. It was creamy and sweet, and tasted like you were eating honeysuckle (in a good way). It smelled like flowers, and was so refreshing.
After tasting my friend’s cup of Heavenly Rain tea, I ordered myself one to go. This was the most fantastic cup of tea. It has pineapple and mango flavoring and I highly recommend it on any visit to Lucy’s. I know I’ve said it many times in this review, but it was just unlike anything I’ve ever tasted and was absolutely wonderful.
The woman serving tables was friendly and accommodating. I can’t say enough about Lucy’s. I know this review is ridiculously long, but I didn’t want to leave out a thing about this lovely, quaint, tea house tucked away in downtown Mountain View. I plan to visit often.
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Reviewer: Brandon
Total Reviews: 16
Reviewed: 8/10/2004
Rating: 9
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Lucy needs a sign.
This last time I went, I ordered the vegetarian sandwich, but she brought me the vegetarian special. I didn't care, though. That and the fact our water glasses were empty most of the time technically means the the service is poor, but she's so nice and sweet you hardly care.
The vegetarian special was rice, salad, some green vegetables (Chinese broccoli?), a hardboiled egg, and some tofu without sauce. It's very good, quality tofu and the fact it has no sauce makes it rather unique in a nice way. Everything has a very homemade look and taste to it. I also ordered a banana shake which was excellent. The green tea at the end of my meal was great as well.
My friend ordered the pork special, which was the same plate as mine, just with some shredded pork on top of the rice. He ordered the mango shake which was also excellent.
Lucy's is unbeatable when it comes to atmosphere and comfort. It's more like a parlor than a restaurant, with books, chairs, games, and, of course, the smiling sweet grandma (I guess that's Lucy?). How can you not love a place where at the table next to you an Asian dad is teaching his two tiny kids how to play chess?
9 stars. Could easily make a 10 if the water glasses were bigger or refilled more often and if there were a bigger vegetarian selection. And having just seen that they're open relatively late, I promise you'll see me there often.
I take it back. Lucy doesn't need a sign. It's a pretty great place the way it is. |
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