I promised several people a post about the Mill Creek Manor Tea House. I'm sorry it's been so long in coming, but I have had trouble wrestling my thoughts into a coherent pattern. Still, I've gone twice now, and surely I should form an opinion!

Their food - they serve lunch from noon to 4 - is tasty, although overpriced and mislabeled. I blame the pricing on the fact that Big Bear is a tourist town, and the tea house is primarily oriented towards tourists. The mislabeling I am not quite sure what to think of; the "crepes de la reine" were delicious, but they were _not_ actually crepes.

The selection of tea is acceptable, though not superb: perhaps thirty varieties. However, the selection is also very narrow. All but three of the teas on the table are flavored blends, mostly of blacks or greens (though there are a few rooibos bases tossed in). All of them bear excessively flashy names, designed to attract casual (tourist) attention. What is more, the base tea used in these cases is of mediocre quality at best.

Don't mistake me - I am a frequent drinker of blended teas (Earl Grey, anyone?) There's this fruit blend I know that makes the _best_ iced tea, bar none. But I think any balanced tea collection should contain no more than perhaps 25% blended varieties. What happened to the Darjeeling, the Assam, the Ceylon, the delicate varieties of Formosa oolongs, the Ti-guan-yin, the Silver Needle? Tea is a very old tradition, even in Europe, even in "progressive" America: any place claiming to be a tea house should _not_ bow to the whim and fancy of passing tourists and thus disdain it.

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When I went to the tea house, I took note of the atmosphere and layout. The building was very cluttered with tourist memorabilia. While this was understandable, due to the dual purposes of tea house and gift shop, it probably could have been organized better. As it was, the motley pastels draped and fell over every square inch of shelf, half-wall, and table, leaving me (me, of all people!) with the distinct impression of _clutter_. This was unfortunately compounded by the tendency of tourists to forget any semblance of manners when on vacation. Ladies and gentlemen, undoubtedly pleasant in their normal lives, leaned over diners' tables, chairs, meals, shoved their way behind seats, bumped the tables in their efforts to see something, attempted to find the price tag on the cozy of one's pot! It was nearly enough to induce claustrophobia.

The table setting... lacked. Instead of being served a pitcher of cream and dish of sugar, I was left to contemplate the small dish with prepackaged sweeteners, and the dismal sight of preserved half-&-half. Neither the taste nor the effect was pleasant. Surely it would not have taken much more effort to ask the customer if they would enjoy cream or sugar? When the tea arrived, it was set down, and then the drinker was ignored until the hurried proprietress slapped down a tab. No attention was given, nor any interaction, outside of that exchange.

The redeeming element in setting was the serving of the scone. This pastry was served hot, quartered, and with a dish of clotted cream and jam. The plate was actually quite elegant, and the scone tasty. Alas! the price, for one scone, was $6.50 - an abysmal charge for what was likely a packaged mixture, no matter how good the taste.

Probably I will go again until I have sampled all the blends that look interesting. Probably I will sit at my corner-table with a book, wincing as tourists climb over and behind me, and refrain from ordering the scone, no matter how delicious. But after that -

Well. I doubt it will become a favored summertime haunt.