San Francisco, CA - Samovar Tea Garden; Part of a good meal is the atmosphere and the surrounding environment. The tea house definitely has that going for it. Right there in the middle of the city is a beautiful park, garden, waterfall, decent food, and surprising enough, almost silence, at least the closest you can come to it in the middle of the city.

We started with the Ryokucha Tea, nice and warm on a cool day, sitting outside, and the flavor, not what I was expecting. It actually had a sweet potato flavor, that was from left field. I could only drink so much of it before I was tired of the flavor, but it was good in the beginning though.

It was saved by their sandwich, which was Grilled Agor Cheese, Sun Dried Tomato, Pesto. Now we're talking. I enjoyed every bite. The bread is freshly made, nice and crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside. The pesto complimented the cheese and sun dried tomatoes very well. It all worked well together. It came with a small salad on the side with a balsamic vinegar dressing, which was pretty good, but by the end it could have been slightly over powering.

The tea is overly expensive, but I would expect that since you can grab some tea and sit there for hours. They have to make money some how, right? Enjoy!