When I think of wonderful Christmas activities that I want to do with my daughters I always think about how perfect it would be to have afternoon tea with them. In my mind we are in a beautiful restaurant with holiday music in the background and the girls look and act like perfect little angels. Reality, I think would be pretty far from this picture. At three and six I thought maybe this year they were old enough but wasn't really willing to chance it at the Drake or another downtown hotel where the price for afternoon tea can be $40 per person. Hopefully in a few years we will be ready for that. Instead we decided to try the afternoon tea at the Celtic Knot located at 626 Church Street in Evanston.
Tea is offered at the Celtic Knot on Wednesdays and Saturdays between 2 and 4 PM. The price is $16.99 for adults and $8.99 for kids. We were offered either a common pot of tea for the table (I believe it was an blackberry flavored black tea) or a choice of individual tea bags. We all chose our own since my husband is partial to green tea and we wanted to get something decaffeinated for the girls. Everyone was able to find something they wanted, however, upon trying it, the girls didn't really like the tea. Not a big surprise. I'm not sure if the food is always the same, but we were presented with a three layer tray with sandwiches on the bottom, scones in the middle, and pastries on the top. There are three sandwiches provided per adult and two per kid and consisted of ham, salmon and dill, and egg salad. The scones (one per person) were a big hit at our table since they came with whipped cream and really delicious jam. Of course everyone enjoyed the desserts (two per person), which consisted on mini tarts, chocolate caramel bites, and a raisin cake. Service was a little slow for the girls. They kept asking when the food was coming and were having a difficult time waiting because other families were there having lunch off the regular menu. The pace was definitely better for a relaxing afternoon with adults instead of restless kids.
The Celtic Knot is an Irish pub but the interior is very cozy and family friendly. They suggest that you make reservations for tea and it probably is a good idea, however the restaurant was not busy at all when we were there at 2 on a Saturday afternoon. We were able to find street parking nearby fairly easily and the Davis stop on the Purple line is quite close. My girls are still maybe a little young for doing something like this since they weren't crazy about all of the food or the tea, however my husband and I enjoyed ourselves. It's definitely a great choice for a lower cost afternoon tea where you don't have to go downtown.
